Feature Article

On February 26, as night fell on the tranquil Gahirmatha beach in Odisha, thousands of Olive Ridley turtles crawled in. Using their rear flippers, they dug pits in the soft beach sand and started laying eggs, more than 100 at a time. Then they skilfully covered the nests with sand and zigzagged their way back to the ocean as if to confuse predators about the exact location of the nests.

A village in Andhra Pradesh has become the epicentre of an eight-month-long fight against a power plant in neighbouring Kakarapalli. Following two deaths in police firing on February 28, people from 29 villages near the plant site thronged Vadditandra village in Srikakulam district to show support and mourn the deaths. “My brother gave his life to protect our livelihoods. None of us can give up the struggle now,” says Jeeru Murli, brother of Jeeru Nageshwar Rao of Vadditandra who was killed in the firing. “The plant will not happen on our land.”

The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) and adjacent Scotia Sea support abundant wildlife populations, many of which were nearly extirpated by humans. This region is also among the fastest-warming areas on the planet, with 5–6 °C increases in mean winter air temperatures and associated decreases in winter sea-ice cover.

In October 2010, a virulent South Asian strain of El Tor cholera began to spread in Haiti. Interventions have included treatment of cases and improved sanitation.

A crack in the western part of the red mud pond of Vedanta Alumina refinery has leaked into nearby water bodies and hence into the Vamsadhara river.

Several assets of Unani medicine are available in different languages, includ-
ing Urdu, Persian and Arabic. These literary assets are easily accessible and