CATEGORIES

Delayed by decades

Centre-state tussle and bureaucratic incompe-tencies withhold compensation for land acquisition in Jharkhand's coal belt

Known unknowns

India's apex food regulator has no data on presence of genetically modified organisms in fresh produce imported by the country over past five years VIVEK MISHRA NEW DELHI

Scientist, activist, advisor

Saleemul Huq championed locally led climate adaptation and greater involvement of all stakeholders in global discourse

Vehicles behind Delhi's poor air quality

ON NOVEMBER 5, 2023, three Indian cities— Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata—recorded some of the worst air quality levels in the world.

Lending voice

A journalist in Malkangiri, Odisha, helps tribal girls and women take charge of their own health and share their stories ISHAN KUKRETI

Claudia Goldin on Career and Family

A century ago, it was a given that a woman with a college degree had to choose between having a career and a family. Today, there are more female college graduates than ever before, and more women want to have a career and family, yet challenges persist at work and at home. Claudia Goldin, who has won this year's Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences traces in her book Career and Family how generations of women have responded to the problem of balancing career and family as the twentieth century experienced a sea change in gender equality, revealing why true equity for dual career couples remains frustratingly out of reach.

COLLABORATE TO RESTORE

Delhi is making efforts to bring back the Sahibi, but the river's true rejuvenation will require its revival in the neighbouring states of Rajasthan and Haryana as well

Devastating societies through war and drugs

Generics giant Teva is top among drug firms found guilty of fuelling the US opioid crisis, agrees to pay $4.25 billion

Headed for failure

Almost 60% of low-income countries are struggling to repay their loans. This is hurting their development and climate preparedness

CAUGHT UNAWARES

In a rapidly changing climate, early warning systems are a critical, cost-effective way of protecting people from extreme weather. But effective implementation of the system to protect every person on Earth by 2027, as envisioned by the UN, is a huge task. Countries highly vulnerable to climate change impacts lack the know-how or finance. Technologies, too, need upgrading to accurately predict disasters.

Easy targets

High-income nations across the world appear focused on agriculture as the sector to enforce emissions cut for meeting national climate goals

Bt's takedown

The worst pink bollworm attack in over two decades in north India raises question over the efficacy of Bt cotton in fighting the pest it was created to resist. As the attacks become regular and severe, cultivators quit cotton farming en masse, reports

India extends sugar export curbs

CONCERNED OVER the rising prices and the impact of a weak monsoon on sugarcane crops, India has extended curbs on exports of sugar beyond October.

Watch and earn

An initiative to protect the Sinhagad fort and forest in Maharashtra also helps people earn a livelihood

How companies got their way on biodiversity

Amendments to the Biodiversity Act let companies off the hook on having to share the benefits of using biological resources

Flood-proof Himalayas

Spatial planning, nature-based solutions can make cities in Hindu Kush Himalaya climate-resilient

RAINY RAJASTHAN

The harsh deserts of Rajasthan bear testimony to human adaptability and ingenuity. They receive just 300 mm of annual rain, making Rajasthan India's driest state. Yet they are home to a third of the state's population and, by some estimates, the most populous deserts in the world.

Hybrid takeover

DALJIT SINGH usually harvests 10 tonnes of rice from his 1.5-hectare farmland. But in 2022, the yield was just 1.9 tonnes. Most of the crop was dwarfed due to a Fiji virus infection. \"I had used hybrid seeds manufactured by German company Bayer.

Sterile measure

Maharashtra and Gujarat propose to sterilise leopards to control their booming population, amid rising conflicts between the animal and humans. Is the plan feasible?

BLATANT VIOLATIONS

India's flagship health insurance scheme for the poor remains riddled with irregularities and corruption, shows an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India

SANITATION CRUSADER

Bindeshwar Pathak's steadfast determination improved the state of public sanitation in India

Decoding organic

“FOR THE past three years, my tomato crop has not been infested by a single pest. I have got a healthy and sizable yield. My spinach, too, has flourished,” says Kamraj of Govindapuram village in Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu.

BOOKS

Book Review

Climate Change Behind July Heat

ANTHROPOGENIC EMISSIONS made the heatwaves seen in North America and Europe 1,000 times more likely, according to latest analysis by World Weather Attribution (WWA).

World of the gazer

For editor, author and bibliographer Aasheesh Pittie, birdwatching is a lifelong philosophical pursuit rather than a pastime. His latest book, The living air: The pleasures of birds and birdwatching, is a set of essays on his birding journey, written over 30 years. Excerpts:

Waterborne monster

A lethal marine bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, could become a major threat to coastal populations, with warmer oceans and high rainfall creating ideal condition for its proliferation

HOW ROBUST IS INDIA'S TIGER CENSUS

During the 50th anniversary celebrations of Project Tiger on April 9 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the animal's population in India had increased to 3,167. Less than four months later, on July 29, a new set of numbers were released that pegged the population at 3,682 tigers; over 500 more than the April estimate. This has sparked debates over the accuracy of tiger census. RAJAT GHAI speaks to government officials and independent experts to decode the riddle of tiger estimation:

ROAD TO CITY COOL

Urban India is a heat trap, but road orientation, building materials and zone-specific master plans can drastically enhance thermal comfort

Frittering away Nehru's momentous legacy

India initiated production of critical drugs in 1951 with the aid of UN bodies to keep out patent blocks-a model we have forgotten

Plastic solutions

India needs robust data, along with recycling infrastructure to curb plastic pollution in rural India