Inefficient as always

In violation of guidelines, most coal power plants guzzle massive amounts of freshwater, even in water-stressed areas

NOT ONE TO BUDGE OR HIDE

More than a priest, Father Stan Swamy was a fearless activist

A POOR REPLICA

Hailed as Patna’s Marine Drive, the 20 km-Ganga Pathway Project will only make the capital city prone to flash floods and render the riverfront project redundant

Accidental protagonist

JANE JACOBS’ FIRST CITY IS A BEAUTIFUL DESCRIPTION OF THE EVOLUTION AND SURVIVAL OF THE SMALL INDUSTRIAL TOWN OF SCRANTON, MAKING THE CITY THE REAL PROTAGONIST IN THIS OTHERWISE HAGIOGRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF JANE JACOBS’ LIFE

COVID-19. MAD SCRAMBLE

Inequitable distribution amid acute shortage has derailed the global vaccination drive against We need to act fast to win the race against emerging virus variants

Why is India afraid of compulsory licences?

While rich nations are discovering virtues of CLs, India has turned its back on this tool despite nudges from the court

‘Vapour on Venus will tell us if it's alive'

More than two-and-a-half decades after its last missions to Venus, NASA has planned a trip to Earth’s nearest neighbour. On June 2, the US space agency announced DAVINCI+ and VERITAS missions to the planet in 2028-30 under its Discovery Program, going on since 1992. Space agencies have explored Venus since the 1960s, but focus shifted around mid-1990s. Venus regained interest after researchers from the UK detected phosphine, a gas released through organic processes, in the Venusian atmosphere. A week after NASA, the European Space Agency announced a Venus mission later this decade. India and Russia, too, have been planning Venus probes. Described as Earth’s twin due to its similar size and density, Venus’s atmosphere is full of carbon dioxide and clouds of sulphuric acid with a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead. NASA’s DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) will drop a descent sphere to measure the gases in Venus’ air, while VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) will orbit the planet to map its geological features. We’ll also learn about phosphine, THOMAS P WAGNER, who leads the Discovery Program, tells DAKSHIANI PALICHA in an interview. Excerpts:

WAGING CHANGE

Guaranteed employment is an effective poverty alleviation tool. But it works only when governments know how to use it

PLAN FOR THE WORSE

A slew of administrative and land reforms initiated in Lakshadweep pose an existential threat to the islands and have provoked widespread protests

MAY GET LOST IN DETAILS

That’s the concern among environmentalists as Uttarakhand sets the gross environmental product in motion

CAUGHT UNAWARES

Even as India attempts to understand the sudden rise of COVID-related mucormycosis, its treatment throws up a different set of challenges BANJOT KAUR NEW DELHI

Talking, thinking trees

Can trees communicate, have consciousness or memories? German forester PETER WOHLLEBEN’S new book explores the latest research in the field. Excerpts from the book:

MAY 16-31, 2000 | DROUGHT - A POLITICAL DROUGHT

Drought in India is a human-perpetuated crisis

SEPTEMBER 1-15, 2008 | HYDROPOWER - MYTH OF POWER

Nourisher of an ancient civilisation, the Ganga could be gasping for its survival

JULY 1-15, 2009 | VACCINE SHORTAGE - GET YOUR OWN VACCINE

How a plan to promote private vaccine makers boomeranged

JANUARY 1-15, 1995 | DISEASE RESURGENCE - THE MICROBES STRIKE BACK

Diseases that were cheerfully believed to have been eradicated are inexplicably cropping up again in India

NOVEMBER 16-30, 2018 | MOBILITY - DUMPED BY THE RICH

Low-income vehicle importing countries of Africa and South Asia are turning into a scrapyard for old, used and close-to-being-scrapped vehicles of rich nations

OCTOBER 1-15, 1997 | BANDIT VEERAPPAN - CATCH ME A COLOSSUS

What gives rise to people like Veerappan who openly flout the law? Is it the result of a policy which increasingly alienates people from what should be theirs and encourages them to support outlaws? Is something rotten in the State machinery?

FEBRUARY 16-29, 2020 | COVID-19 - CORONAVIRUS PANIC

More than a month after the first case was reported from China, there is little the world knows about the new coronavirus. What’s certain is that the virus is highly contagious. Is the world ready to face a pandemic?

JANUARY 1-15, 2003 | FOREST RIGHTS - DEEP IN THE WOODS

A murky battle rages inside India’s forests and court rooms. Are the recent eviction drives misdirected at forest dwellers?

DECEMBER 16-31, 1994 | BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY - THE LIVING DEAD

The world’s biggest industrial disaster is now rendered trivial

The Pain Of Getting The Jab

The COVAX Facility and the African Union are struggling to bring some relief to Africa which has been suffering from vaccine apartheid

Spring back to life

A non-profit's technological approach for springshed rejuvenation helps Uttarakhand women end their water woes

NOT JUST ANYWHERE

Water structures built under rural employment guarantee scheme must be suited to local geography

Viable model to save rainwater in India

This is with reference to the editorial “Water in age of climate change” (16-31 March, 2021).

CHALLENGE 2021

India has enhanced its global standing by supplying COVID-19 vaccines to rich and poor countries alike. It must now scale up its manufacturing by roping in public sector units to cement its position in the changing geopolitics

VACCINE APARTHEID

AFRICA IS WITNESSING A SECOND WAVE OF COVID -19, BUT LESS THAN 2 PER CENT OF THE 690 MILLION VACCINE DOSES ADMINISTERED TO DATE GLOBALLY HAVE BEEN IN AFRICA. THE WORLD WILL DO WELL TO REMEMBER THAT NO COUNTRY IS SAFE TILL EVERYONE GETS INOCULATED A report by Kiran Pandey and Vibha Varshney from New Delhi, with Maina Waruru from Kenya; Christophe Hitayezu from Rwanda; Bennett Oghifo from Nigeria; Elsabé Brits from South Africa; and Mekonnen Teshome from Ethiopia

Uneasy spring

The world is heating up even in La Niña years that are associated with cooler temperatures

Nepal chokes under forest fires

ON MARCH 30, Nepal was forced to shut down all its educational institutions for five days after air quality of the Himalayan country dipped to hazardous levels. The country, in its advisory, also asked the elderly to stay at home.

Breaking new ground

The world’s longest running agricultural study adds to the debate on organic-inorganic farming