ON JANUARY 15 this year, Kerala-based environmentalist M K Prasad signed a letter presented by a group of citizens and development professionals to the state's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The letter raised apprehensions about the proposed multi-crore high-speed rail project, Silver Line, which Prasad and the other signatories say would spell disaster for the state in multiple ways. Two days later, the 89-year-old succumbed to COVID-19-related complications at a private hospital.
A celebrated botany professor, Prasad had a rich legacy of environmentalism since the 1970s. While teaching at the University of Calicut, he wrote an article in Malayalam weekly Mathrubhumi on severe environmental and social costs of a mega hydroelectric power project planned in Silent Valley National Park in Palakkad district. The article evoked public response and ignited India’s first successful movement against a dam project. Then prime minister Indira Gandhi scrapped the project in 1984.
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In leading role again
MOVIES AND WEB SERIES ARE ONCE AGAIN BEING SET IN RUSTIC BACKGROUNDS, INDICATING A RECONNECT BETWEEN CINEMA AND THE COUNTRYSIDE
One Nation One Subscription comes at a huge cost
As top US universities scrap big deals with top scientific publishers, India’s ONOS scheme seems flawed and outdated
Return of Rambhog
Bid to revive and sell the aromatic indigenous paddy variety has led to substantial profits for farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Terai region
Scarred by mining
Natural springs of Kashmir drying up due to illegal riverbed mining
Human-to-human spread a mutation away
CANADA IN mid-November confirmed its first human case of avian influenza, with a teenager in the British Columbia being hospitalised after contracting the H5N1 virus that causes the disease. The patient developed a severe form of the disease, also called bird flu, and had respiratory issues. There was no known cause of transmission.
True rehabilitation
Residents of Madhya Pradesh's Kakdi village take relocation as an opportunity to undertake afforestation, develop sustainable practices
INESCAPABLE THREAT
Chemical pollution is the most underrated and underreported risk of the 21st century that threatens all species and regions
THAT NIGHT, 40 YEARS AGO
Bhopal gas disaster is a tragedy that people continue to face
A JOKE, INDEED
A CONFERENCE OF IRRESPONSIBLE PARTIES THAT CREATED AN OPTICAL ILLUSION TO THE REALITY OF A NEW CLIMATE
THINGS FALL APART
THE WORLD HAS MADE PROGRESS IN MITIGATING EMISSIONS AND ADAPTING TO CLIMATE IMPACTS. BUT THE PROGRESS REMAINS GROSSLY INADEQUATE
