Counterview

By Dr Ajit Kumar Babu   The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026, has brought the fiscal relationship between the Union and mineral-producing States back into focus. The Act, which came into force on 22 August 2026, restricts State governments from imposing taxes, cesses or other levies on mineral rights and mineral-bearing lands except under conditions or restrictions prescribed by the Central Government. While the Union government argues that the change will bring greater certainty to the mining sector, concerns remain about its implications for the fiscal powers of mineral-producing States.

By Vikas Meshram*  In Banswara and the tribal belt around it, one scene has repeated itself for years. The kharif harvest is cut, and a few days later the men of the house tie up their bundles and set out for Gujarat. Sometimes the whole family goes; sometimes the children stay with their grandparents. Small landholdings, rain-fed farming and a scarcity of work nearby push livelihood far from the threshold of home. Into this reality, the organisation Vaagdhara brought women's "Saksham Samuhs" to village after village. These groups are not grand buildings or heavy schemes; they rest on something simple: sitting together once a month, listening to one another's troubles and finding a way forward with the resources already lying in one's own courtyard. The stories below come from different villages, yet a common thread runs through them all: when confidence meets the right information, the same land and the same hands begin to shape a new future. Varet's Kamla De...

By Bharat Dogra   Three years is a very short time in the history of any village, and it is generally considered very difficult to bring changes of durable benefit in such a limited period. Yet a project nearing completion in Jaitpur block of Mahoba district in Uttar Pradesh, covering about 50 villages, suggests otherwise. If efforts closely linked to the actual needs of villagers are taken forward sincerely and in thoughtful, friendly ways, significant and durable benefits can be realized even within about three years.

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  The history of tribal communities and their ancestors cannot be confined to any particular date or period. It is a continuous process through which indigenous communities have preserved their identity by learning from the struggles of their ancestors, their relationship with nature and their traditions. For thousands of years, tribal communities have lived in harmony with forests, rivers and mountains. This way of life and accumulated knowledge continue to form the foundation of their culture.

By A Representative   As the world approaches World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) 2026 (November 18-24), global health leaders are issuing a stark warning: the gap between political commitments and on-the-ground implementation in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains dangerously wide. With bacterial AMR already associated with more than 4.7 million deaths in 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Quadripartite partners are urging immediate, funded, and measurable action across human, animal, agricultural, and environmental sectors.

By A Representative   A group of civil society organisations, social activists and citizens in Telangana has called on the state government to suspend its technology and business partnership with Israel and put on hold a T-Hub meeting with Israeli companies scheduled for November 16. In a joint statement issued today, the signatories said the engagement risks enabling Israel's military operations, and they pointed to the contradiction with the Bharat Summit, which the state is hosting this week.

By Shankar Sharma*  As India pursues its renewable energy ambitions, the Central Electricity Authority has identified an enormous pumped storage potential, flagging 320 projects with a combined capacity of approximately 345 gigawatts. Maharashtra alone accounts for nearly 67 gigawatts of this potential, while the Southern Region holds roughly 97 gigawatts, shared principally by Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. However, these figures represent an identified potential, not an established requirement or a binding commitment to construct every proposed project. 

By A Representative   A new satellite-based study has found that the notorious November smog choking Delhi cannot be blamed on any single source, with most of the pollution originating from outside the city and trapped by stagnant winter weather.

By A Representative   As COP31 places zero waste at the centre of its climate action agenda, the newly announced Global Zero Waste Districts initiative offers an important direction for how cities should address their waste crisis: prevent waste at source, promote reuse and repair, compost organic waste, reduce dependence on plastics, and recognise the contributions of waste pickers. Importantly, WTE incineration is not recognised as an eligible intervention under the initiative and will not receive funding.