Across India, campaigns against invasive alien species (IAS) are gathering administrative and judicial force. Authorities now identify, map, classify, and remove species deemed ecological threats. In the last year alone, India’s English-language press has carried sustained coverage of ecological-loss studies, State eradication drives, and human-wildlife conflicts linked to such species. What was once a niche...
Category: Environment
Critically endangered Peacock Tarantula in spotlight after Pawan Kalyan post
A striking, electric-blue spider from the Eastern Ghats has spun its way into public conversation after Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan shared a post on Instagram, calling the Peacock Tarantula “a rare jewel of the Eastern Ghats… finally getting the attention it deserves.” The species in focus, Peacock Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica), is among...
What it takes to move heat action plans from advisories to mandates
Large commercial complexes, textile shops, and jewellery showrooms blast cold air onto the high street in T. Nagar, Chennai, where the average summer temperature is over 35 °C. Shoppers dart from one air-conditioned building to another. But these ACs also cause an urban heat-island effect, making it one of the top 20 most vulnerable spots...
How AI helped promote community-led development in Rajasthan
India is in an artificial intelligence (AI) moment. Across agriculture, health, finance, and governance, the race is on to deploy AI-enabled services that reach the last mile. Chatbots answer farmer queries. Agentic tools navigate entitlement schemes. And advisory platforms push the right information to the right person (presumably) at the right time. Many of these...
Earth Day 2026: Unwrapping India’s plastic packaging problem — from boom to burden
In 1957, an Indian plastic-packaging maker chronicled the happy fate of a hosiery brand that had begun wrapping its products in plastic. The result, he wrote in an Indian daily, was a 65% jump in sales. Paper, wood, aluminium, tin and other containers had been on the market for decades, but were opaque. “It is...
Unwrapping India’s plastic packaging problem: from boom to crisis
In 1957, an Indian plastic-packaging maker chronicled the happy fate of a hosiery brand that had begun wrapping its products in plastic. The result, he wrote in an Indian daily, was a 65% jump in sales. Paper, wood, aluminium, tin and other containers had been on the market for decades, but were opaque. “It is...
Extreme heat threatens global food systems, UN agencies warn
Extreme heat is pushing global agrifood systems to the brink, threatening the livelihoods and health of more than a billion people, according to a new report by the U.N.’s food and weather agencies. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said heatwaves are becoming more frequent, intense and...
Experts, academicians share concern and possibilities of animal and fish breeding rights at WBNUJS
Academicians and experts came together at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS) in Kolkata to share concerns and discuss the possibilities in the area of the animal and fish breeders’ rights. The discussion titled “Animal and Fish Breeders’ Rights: An Imperative in India’s Economy” brought together judges, scientists, legal experts, and policymakers...
India not to host COP 33 in 2028, Government confirms
India will not host the 33rd edition of the Conference of the Parties (COP), scheduled for 2028, the government confirmed on Friday (April 17, 2026). “We can confirm that India has withdrawn its offer to host COP33. Several issues were taken into account, but India remains fully committed to meeting its responsibilities towards (mitigating) climate...
‘Civil war’ among chimpanzees recorded for the first time
They were once a convivial, unified group that lived, fed, groomed, and patrolled together, with may be the odd scuffle. But then one day, on June 24, 2015, their social fabric began to fray. And very soon, an organised lethal conflict, akin to a ‘civil war’, ensued among one of our closest relatives — chimpanzees...
