RajivBuzz

A detailed independent study titled “Bhandura Nala (Mahadayi Diversion)”, prepared by a group of committed environmentalists from  Karnataka  and  Goa , has strongly questioned the ecological and social viability of Karnataka government’s ambitious plan to divert water from the  Mahadayi river basin  (locally known as  Mhadei in Goa ) through the  Bhandura Nala tunnel project .

  Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch (BBSM), a nationwide network of Indian seed savers and farmers, has written to the Prime Minister of India seeking urgent intervention against proposed amendments to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), currently under negotiation at the 11th Session of the Governing Body in  Lima, Peru , from November 24, 2025. The group has also issued an open letter to national leaders of the  Global South , warning that the changes could cause grave harm to India’s national interests,  seed sovereignty  and  farmers’ rights .

A few days ago, I met a veteran Gujarat-based economist, the author of several books offering a critical evaluation of the state’s economy, poverty, and  gender discrimination . Also present was a retired Gujarat-cadre bureaucrat with an economics background, known for his popularity in the cities and districts where he served during his heyday.

 In a significant development, the Supreme Court’s Centre for Research and Planning (CRP) has released a comprehensive  report  examining 75 years of  judicial discourse on caste , analysing  Constitution Bench judgments  from 1950 to 2025. The report, authored by  Dr Anurag Bhaskar ,  Dr Farrah Ahmed ,  Bhimraj Muthu  and  Shubham Kumar , highlights how the court’s language has evolved—and at times faltered—in addressing  caste , discrimination and  affirmative action .

The  Asian Development Bank  has released a major  policy report,  'Bridging Climate and Biodiversity Law: Coherent, Rights-Based Governance in Asia and the Pacific', warning that Asia and the Pacific, including  India , face deepening climate and biodiversity crises unless countries urgently integrate their legal frameworks to deliver on both the  Paris Agreement  and the  Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework .  Published this month, the document highlights that the region is warming faster than the global average,  greenhouse gas emissions  continue to rise without peaking, and extinction rates are accelerating, while  fossil fuel subsidies  reached a staggering 1.3 trillion dollars in 2022 alone.

I usually avoid being interviewed. I have always believed that journalists, especially in India, are generalists who may suddenly be assigned a “beat” they know little—sometimes nothing—about. Still, when my friend  Gagan Sethi , a well-known human rights activist, phoned a few weeks ago asking if I would join a podcast on  civil society  and the media, I agreed.

  Housing in South Delhi  has become even more expensive, with builders increasingly focusing on  luxury independent floors , according to new data from Golden Growth Fund (GGF). Prices of floors in the city’s most premium neighbourhoods rose between 12% and 17% year-on-year in the July–September quarter of 2025, signalling a market where high-end redevelopment is driving both demand and rates upward.

Environmental policy expert Shankar Sharma  has  written  to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and its affiliated institutions, expressing grave concern over India’s deteriorating ecological health. Citing the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s latest global review, which found that only  Khangchendzonga National Park  received a “Good” rating among 107 national parks, Sharma warned that the findings reveal a “serious concern for the overall health of the country’s flora, fauna, and environment.”

I have in my hand a representation addressed to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Gujarat, urging the Election Commission of India (ECI) to stop “atrocities on teachers and education in the name of election work.” The representation, submitted by Dr. Kanubhai Khadadiya of the All India Save Education Committee (AISEC), Gujarat chapter -- its contents matched  what a couple of teachers serving as Block Level Officers (BLOs) told me a couple of days esrlier during a recent visit to a close acquaintance.

A  new report  by a firm describing itself as a "digital real estate transaction and advisory platform,"  Proptiger , states that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has been the largest contributor to housing units among India's top eight cities currently experiencing a real estate boom. Accounting for 26.9% of all new launches, it is followed by  Pune  with 18.7% and  Hyderabad  with 13.6%. These three cities collectively represented 59.2% of the new inventory introduced during the third quarter (July to September 2025), which is the focus of the report’s analysis. 

India’s ambition to transition to a resource-efficient and waste-free economy is hindered by fragmented regulation, weak enforcement, and uneven infrastructure, according to a new  213-page report  by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

  In a landmark judgment on November 3, 2025, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Central Zone Bench in Bhopal upheld the “Right to Life” of villagers from Jodhpura in North Rajasthan, directing wide-ranging remedial measures against environmental and health damages caused by the mining and stone crushing activities of UltraTech Cement Ltd. The order was delivered by Judicial Member Sheo Kumar Singh and Expert Member Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi in the case Jodhpura Sangharsh Samiti vs Union of India & Ors (O.A. Nos. 143/2024 and 144/2024 CZ), marking a victory for the villagers after more than 1,060 days of struggle.

By Rajiv Shah    A recent, well-attended meeting of Gujarat civil society activists in  Ahmedabad , held to discuss the impact of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, has decided to file a petition in the  Supreme Court  against the controversial exercise initiated by the Election Commission of India (ECI) across the country. Announcing this, senior High Court advocate  Anand Yagnik , who heads the Gujarat chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), said that a committee has already been formed to examine the pros and cons of SIR. “While the SIR exercise began in Gujarat on November 4 and is scheduled to continue for a month, we will file a supporting petition in the case against SIR in the  Gujarat High Court  or the Supreme Court after observing how it proceeds in the state,” he said. Yagnik’s announcement followed senior advocate  Shahrukh Alam —who is arguing the SIR case in the Supreme Court—urgi...

A new  Climate Inequality Report 2025 , released by the World Inequality Lab and UNDP, warns that global warming and economic inequality are tightly linked — with the richest 1% responsible for 41% of all emissions linked to private capital ownership. The report argues that climate change is not only a scientific crisis but also a “capital challenge,” driven by unequal ownership and investment patterns.

  A new report by the German environmental and human rights NGO Urgewald has revealed that banks and institutional investors have poured nearly $52 billion into the expansion of metallurgical coal, or “met coal,” despite global commitments to phase out coal financing. Between 2022 and 2024, banks provided $21.96 billion in loans and underwriting to met coal developers, while investors held $30.23 billion in securities of companies expanding coal mining operations. The report, Still Burning: How Banks and Investors Fuel Met Coal Expansion, warns that loopholes in coal exit policies have allowed continued support for coal used in steelmaking — a sector responsible for about 11% of global CO₂ emissions.

The Esya Centre  has released an issue brief titled  Free-Ranging Dogs in India: An Empirical Analysis of Human–Animal Interactions , providing new national-level data on community dog management amid the ongoing debate following recent  Supreme Court directives  on the removal of stray dogs from  Delhi–NCR . Based on a survey of 1,063 respondents across ten Indian cities, the report advocates for humane and evidence-based approaches aligned with public health and ethical obligations.