Rajat Ghai

1 week ago | downtoearth.org.in | Rajat Ghai

Prominent activist from Sikkim, Gyatso Lepcha, has condemned a recent scaling up of the Khangchendzonga massif, sacred to the state’s indigenous peoples. Speaking to Down To Earth, he called it part of the ‘ongoing attack on the entire Himalayan range’. According to Lepcha, after emptying India’s plains and highlands, corporate interests are racing to empty the Himalaya by exploiting it commercially.

2 weeks ago | downtoearth.org.in | Rajat Ghai

Increases in supply of critical minerals in 2024 led to a decrease in prices despite rapid growth in demand, according to a new report released on May 21, 2025. Major supply increases, led by China, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), led to low prices, especially for battery metals, the Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 stated.

3 weeks ago | downtoearth.org.in | Rajat Ghai

Africans could smelt and forge their own swords with technological sophistication, according to a new study. The research showed that Dahomey, an independent kingdom in West Africa, did achieve this landmark, contradicting the assumptions of the few existing historical reports.

3 weeks ago | downtoearth.org.in | Rajat Ghai

Indian state legislative assemblies continue to meet for less than 30 days on average, according to a new report by PRS, a non-profit and non-partisan organisation. Assemblies met for 28 days on average in 2017. The number of sitting days of Assemblies came down to 16 during the pandemic affected 2020. Since then, it has remained close to 20 days a year, according to PRS’ Annual Review of State Laws 2024.

3 weeks ago | downtoearth.org.in | Rajat Ghai

The vast majority of countries in the Mediterranean littoral across Europe, North Africa and West Asia are failing to deliver on their pledge to halve the illegal killing, taking, and trade of birds (IKB) by 2030, a new study has found. The study, titled The Killing 3.0: Progress on Eradicating Illegal Killing of Birds in the Mediterranean and Europe, has been brought out by BirdLife International and EuroNatur. Bird populations have plummeted at shocking rates in recent decades.