Reports and Documents

The report examines the nature and extent of development-induced displacement in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa. More than 40 percent of India's indigenous people live in this zone.

Poverty remains to be the most important development issue facing India with an estimated 301.72 million Indians (27.5 percent) living below the poverty line in 2004-2005. In 1975, Ralegan Siddhi was just another drought prone, poverty stricken village, but it has had much success in poverty reduction since then.

The sudden increase in human-wildlife conflict in Jammu & Kashmir has caused immense loss to human life and property which has translated into a public outcry. The government on its part has been concerned and instituted a study conducted jointly by the Wildlife Trust of India and the Department of Wildlife Protection, Jammu and Kashmir.

This paper examines the Saurashtra recharging movement as a response to growing water scarcity conditions and increasing agrarian-based livelihood challenges.

The elephants of India that exist in captivity are one of the greatest sufferers among captive animals. The high level of intelligence, social requirements and capacity to suffer makes that an unfortunate reality for elephants, anywhere in captivity. Yet they exhibit different symptoms of maltreatment and suffering from other forms of captivity, say in zoos in the western world.

Bears have been rehabilitated in several countries of the world. However, it is surprising that in India rehabilitation of bears has not been practiced before. One of the limitations must surely be the very few areas left in the country where carnivores can be put back.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, (NREGA) was notified on September 7, 2005. The objective of the Act is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

In August 2007, the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) published a technical paper, Investment and Financial Flows to Address Climate Change, which estimated that USD200?210 billion in additional investment will be required annually by 2030 to meet global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets.

This report examines the development dilemma that India faces. India has an extremely large economy and a rapid rate of economic growth, so will emit large amounts of GHG. However, the population overall is very poor, and development will require access to basic energy services; meanwhile the Government is Very nervous of taking on costly decarbonisation commitments.

Reviewing the Stern Report (Stern, 2006), Martin Weitzman notes