Conservation and Development

Analyzing the ever-growing battle between environmental conservation and development goals.

Can Uttarakhand’s Push for GI Tags Revive its Traditional Crops?

Why have some Indian GI-tagged crops found international popularity, while others face competitive prices and the threat of reducing biodiversity?

The Making of Increasing Tiger Attacks in the Sundarbans: Common Forest Dependencies, No Compensation,...

In February 2022, West Bengal’s Forest Department entrusted the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to look into the causes behind the surge in human-tiger conflict in the Sundarbans. The answer lies in the interplay between forest livelihoods, the pandemic, weak social security recourse post-attack, and the history of conservation in these mangroves.
Criminal Code Tribal

How Colonial Era Policing Impacts Communities Today

Hosted by Vaishnavi Rathore Edited by Manasi Nene This April, the Parliament passed the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022. The Act authorises taking fingerprints, handprints, footprints,...

Behind the Facade of Forest Conservation Lay One Lakh Displaced Residents of Khori Gaon

The abuse, mistreatment and erasure of the residents of Khori Gaon in the name of forest conservation is emblematic of the challenges that marginalised residents (being termed as ‘encroachers’) face across the country.

Laws, Leases, and Land: The Story of Adivasis Resisting Bauxite Mining in Mali Hills

12,000 Adivasis have been impacted by the Hindalco mining lease in Odisha. How could the law have come to their rescue?

A Conservation of Convenience: The Politics of Exclusionary Conservation Models in Rajaji National Park

This article is the final instalment of our three-part series on how exclusionary colonial conservation plays out in Uttarakhand’s Rajaji Tiger Reserve. Click here...

Budget Cuts for Five of India’s Environment Institutes Puts Research and Education in Jeopardy

How does financial and administrative disengagement impact wildlife and conservation education and research at India's top institutes?

The Different Hues of Green Painting the 2022 State Legislative Assembly Elections

How have contesting parties waging the 2022 state assembly elections in Punjab, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Manipur been talking ‘green’?

A Conservation of Convenience: State Apathy Towards Van Gujjars and Forest Rights in Uttarakhand’s...

What are the impacts of colonial conservation models on the Van Gujjars, a Muslim pastoral community historically living across Rajaji Tiger Reserve?

A Conservation of Convenience: The Tussle Between the Developmental State and Wildlife at Uttarakhand’s...

The Rajaji Tiger Reserve has emerged as a battleground between the State’s developmental aspirations and the conservation of a critical ecological habitat.