In a world which is increasingly becoming spatially aware geography and geographic information system (GIS) need realignment to enable geographers to fit in.

Among the various transhumant tribes that inhabit the Himalaya, the Gaddi herders share a causal relationship with the deodar and chir forests. Guarded by ferocious dogs the sheep and goat owned or loaned by the herder, forage through ancestral tracks to reach the alpine meadows every summer. With the enactment of the Forest Rights Act in 2008, the lives of the Gaddi are slowly but surely changing for the better as historic injustice is being undone.

The G‘n’Y team conducted a questionnaire based double season - summer 2006 and winter 2008 - structured study with the objective to understand the status of wind power station largely built by the private players Suzlon and Enercon, viz-a-viz local amenities and socio-economic conditions in and around Jaisalmer city.

The village of Isapur Sarki, home to 140 Hindu families, boasts of painted pucca houses and brick laid roads – a veritable picture of a prosperous Indian village. About 50 per cent of the farmers have a holding size of 5 to 7 acres and between them own about 30 tractors and 22 motorcycles. With no landlessness in the village, the poorer section too is able to afford basic amenities and own cycles and bullock drawn carts for transportation. Yet, they are a dissatisfied lot.

Shared among brothers, a Jaunsari woman suffers multiple masters. With gender relations biased against women, single marriage norms need to be encouraged to mitigate the problem.

CFLs are long glass tube filled with mercury vapour and argon or xenon. As CFLs contain toxic mercury, suppliers and manufacturers need to play a pivotal role in setting in place a safe disposal system.

Tharu women, inhabiting the Valley of Don in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve, present a unique blend of tradition and progress worth emulating.

A farmer’s child is less likely to turn asthmatic as compared to the child of a white collared employee living in the city. And no, it is not always related to urban pollution.

Young Jalaluddin clambered on to the falling roof, balanced himself on the still firm bamboo pole, first of many that plunged through the clayey soil, braced against the swirling winds, and stretched out his hands to grab the last gourd. Without warning, the soggy walls came crashing down, yielding itself to the relentless surge of the angry oceans. Jalaluddin swung his lithe body to escape unhurt, but the gourd was gone, bobbing in the churning seas. Food had never been a problem in this bountiful little island of Mousuni, deep in Sunderban, yet Jalaluddin fell upon the wet ground and moaned the loss of his gourd - the insignificance of their existence hit him like a bolt. As the salt of his tears fell upon the salty waters, Jalaluddin rose, a black shadow against the grey skies, determined to build again - a home beyond the reach of the dark eddying seas. Jalaluddin is no longer young - a retired school teacher, he lives at the centre of Mousuni, a pretty mud house, a little flower patch, a caked portico at the back, an outhouse toilet and kitchen, plenty of room, it is a appealing gram Bangla picture - only the underlying grim truth is far from happy. Mousuni is an island under siege – just like millions of other islands and coastlines along the Bay of Bengal that are experiencing enhanced erosive action.

I shut my eyes, there it was, it’s clear waters rippling around my ankles, as I idled away on the fisherman’s oblong boat. But alas, my twitching nose, detecting the veritable stink of decayed vegetation, broke my reverie and landed me on a muddy bank. Where was the water, I gasped, as I stared at the remnant limbs of one of the most beautiful lakes, Damdamma, upon the shores of whom, many years ago, I had found true love. Alarmed, upset and indignant I began my search – to prove this drastic decline with data, and shake everybody up to stop this unwarranted disappearing act.