CATEGORIES

Mountains of Sanjeevani

The Uttarakhand government's initiative to spend R25 crore on an elusive mythical herb should trigger a wider quest to identify,document and analyse life-saving Himalayan herbs.

Tame the Mosquito

India does not have to bear the onslaught of vector-borne diseases year after year. It is possible to control mosquitoes that spread these diseases. Here's how.

Town Today, Gone Tomorrow

Morwa town, built to serve mining companies, faces the ugly truth of its own displacement.

God is in The Detail

Can the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ensure safe and quality food at places of worship without hurting religious sentiments?

Punjab's Contrarian Approach

Safe waste disposal is a big challenge for the national sanitation overdrive. Punjab has been experimenting with centralised systems to tackle this. Has it worked?

A Legacy That Still Resonates

Indira Gandhi was a conservationist who saw the protection of India's rich natural heritage fundamental to its economic growth 

The Green Crusader

The 1970s under Indira Gandhi were the best thing to have happened to India's environment

Powerful Weed

Karisalankanni is a medicinal weed found across the world

Clinical Trials- Trial by Hire

Laissez-faire in clinical research has unleashed a ruthless profit-making machine blind to notions of justice or equity. It is time to rein in Big Pharma

One More To Go

There are no revenue records for a wetland in Srinagar. Is that why it is being encroached and constructed upon by the government?

Malaysian CL Exposes India

India gave Gilead a patent for sofosbuvir whereas Malaysia has issued a compulsory licence for the hepatitis C drug

Solar Power Tariff Will Soon Fall To ₹1.50 Per Unit

Bringing affordable solar power on the doorsteps of common citizens and enabling Universal Energy Access seem to be the guiding force behind the unassuming, soft-spoken UPENDRA TRIPATHY, the Interim Director of the International Solar Mission. He speaks to MOUSHUMI BASU on the future of solar power in India and the world

Cities Of Joy

Last year, the South African city of Cape Town was in the news for running out of water. It managed to avert Day Zero, but the threat has not disappeared. With changing climate, more cities across the world will face similar crises. But there are a few metropolises that have overcome water shortage despite heavy odds. Though these cities still need to keep adapting and innovating, they have done well so far. Here's how they did it

Mortgaging Our Ecological

A climate change narrative lost in rhetoric and catchy metaphors.

To No One's Gain

Government takes back land it gave to people as their right. Now, people of three districts face eviction and have nowhere to go.

Clearing The Air

Science may have become our only crutch against bad air, but it is time we invented a new politics of space that privileges the walker and the cyclist

When N Means Noxious

India is under the grip of nitrogen pollution, finds the country's first assessment on the impacts of the nutrient

Inconvenient Truth, Retold

Every issue is contested because it is the contest of ideas and of realities. These exclusive excerpts from Sunita Narain's new book, Conflicts of Interest remind us of the politics behind climate change that threatens our common future

Remodeling The Climate Negotiations

After 25 years of its existence, UNFCCC has not been able to address the complex realities of climate change. It's time that we remodeled the UN climate convention for deep emission cuts and for saving the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable populations

Germany Goes The India Way

Germany has issued a compulsory licence to a US firm to make a patented HIV drug and it's a big deal

Evolutionary Battle

A new book unravels the unusual ecological relationship between the monarch butterfly and the milkweed

'Natural Disasters Are Shaped By Social And Economic Inequality'

In the early hours of October 31, 1876, a devastating cyclone emanating from the Bay of Bengal drowned at least 0.21 million people and another 0.1 million died in the cholera epidemic and famine that followed. Such events are often described as "natural disasters". But historian BEN KINGSBURY turns that interpretation on its head in his book, An Imperial Disaster: The Bengal Cyclone of 1876, showing it was not simply a "natural" event, but one shaped by all-too-human patterns of exploitation and inequality—by divisions within Bengali society, and the enormous disparities of political and economic power that characterised British rule on the subcontinent. RICHARD MAHAPATRA spoke to Kingsbury on the untold narratives of "natural disasters". Excerpts

A Mountain Lost

The Aravalli mountain range extends for more than 692 km from Champaner in Gujarat to Delhi and beyond. Its role in defining the shape of the Indian subcontinent and its climate, and the fact that it triggered the explosion of multicellular life, are under-appreciated. The rugged mountains guide the monsoon clouds and protect the fertile alluvial river valleys from the assault of cold westerly winds from Central Asia. However, over the past four decades, the world's oldest mountain range has been destroyed by mining, deforestation and over-exploitation of its fragile and ancient water channels

'I Am A Farmer About To Commit Suicide. Can You Help Me? My Aadhaar Number Is...'

Ishan Kukreti reports on how psychologists are now intervening to help distressed farmers

Paddy's Last Straw?

Haryana has launched a scheme to dissuade farmers from growing water-guzzling paddy, but most remain sceptical JITENDRA & MEENAKSHISUSHMA KURUKSHETRA, HARYANA

Battle Ready

Chhattisgarh stays mining operations in a Bailadila hill after protests by tribal people. But can it withstand pressure from mining giants?

The Real Weed

There's a little bit of glyphosate in everyone's body. Glyphosate's weed-killing properties were accidentally discovered 20 years after the chemical was first synthesised. Today, it is omnipresent across the world. The WHO says it causes cancer and studies link it to many diseases. Countries have been struggling to ban or restrict its use due to pressure from the industry and farmer groups. But a new movement to ban this chemical as well as to find alternatives is gaining ground. VIBHA VARSHNEY tracks the toxic trail

Kicking Up A Stink

India has been dragging its feet over abating odour pollution. Does it lack in infrastructure, or will?

Gearing Up For Space Wars

Space is becoming the new destination for weaponisation and world dominance with the United States leading the charge

Cut The Noose

The worst affected in India's farm crisis are small, marginal and tenant farmers. It's time to strengthen their hands