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

Cautiously Modern

Indonesia's 600-year-old paddy-growing community has embraced modern lifestyle while preserving ancient traditions

Popeye Would Like It

Tree spinach, or chayamansa, is nothing less than a superfood for humans as well as livestock

Speaking Trees

In Around the World in 80 Trees, JONATHAN DRORI brings out the unsung botanical heroes out of their recondite existence. He describes their geographical phylogeny, ecological services, and most importantly, their sociological importance. In fact, it is the human stories of myths and beliefs around their flora that make the book so extraordinary. He speaks to S S JEEVAN.

The Trick Is In The Treaty Text

When rich nations insist on patent linkage provisions in bilateral and regional trade pacts here is a way out

Casting A change

Young entrepreneurs see opportunity in biomass waste, help India curb air and plastic pollution

Climate Champions

Youths are rejecting cushy jobs perceived as harmful for the environment

Sweet Cousin

It is a little-known vegetable called meetha karela that grows abundantly in the hills of Uttarakhand

Star Collision

How scientists solved a centuries-old mystery

Up In Arms

Shrinking of the world's largest desert lake has triggered a survival battle among nomadic tribes in the Kenyan-Ethiopian border. JITENDRA travels across Kenya's Turkana county to see how climate change and human activities have led to the crisis

Under Siege

India's demand for teak wood is endangering Ecuador's rainforests and agricultural land ISHAN KUKRETI | New Delhi 

No More Horsing Around

Glanders, a bacterial, zoonotic disease that affects equines and is a potential biological weapon, has been breaking out regularly across India since 2006. Should India be worried? RAJAT GHAI | New Delhi 

Is Activism The Cure?

As prices of life-saving drugs skyrocket, people from diverse fields are getting together to fight Big Pharma

Pitfalls Outweigh Potential

Government is pushing for biofuel production to reduce crude import bill. Can it steer clear of the food versus fuel dilemma?

Unholy Chase

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made cleaning of the Ganga again a high priority national agenda. He had the advantage of learning from the failures of the past 30 years in cleaning the national river. And he had the missionary zeal to proclaim a deadline for doing so. A year before his promise of a clean Ganga in 2019, the river is far from being so. In many stretches it is dirtier than before. An analysis by BANJOT KAUR on why the river will remain polluted despite river-friendly budgets and politically correct rhetoric

The Wake Up Call

THE UNITED Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) consists of scientists who can by no stretch of the imagination be called radical or activists.

A Contentious Solicitation

India's most ambitious health insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, is definitely a lure. Millions of Indians bleed to pay their ever-increasing medical expenses in private healthcare and end up becoming even poorer. Experiences of public-funded health insurance schemes in the last decade show that these initiatives have not been effective as they are not supported by the proportionate creation of public health systems. India simply doesn't have enough well-equipped public health infrastructure. So what does this new scheme mean for millions of poor and sick people? KUNDAN PANDEY travels to Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana and Kerala to understand what the new scheme needs to be cautious about.

Dormant Breakthrough

Scientists are working on induced human hibernation, as seen naturally in animals, to treat a range of diseases

Fault Lines In Expressway

Construction of Char Dham national highway has cost Uttarakhand its ecological balance, as ISHAN KUKRETI discovers in his 250 km travel through the devasted terrain

Politicisation Of Rights

What impedes the Forest Rights Act, 2006, from being implemented in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in West Bengal?