Now Money Decides Lives

As COVID-19 makes inroads in rural India, state GDP losses will kill more people than the disease

How much is zero?

Paddy farmers of Andhra Pradesh are saving water, energy and money by adopting Zero Budget Natural Farming

THE HILLS ARE COMING ALIVE

Deserted villages of Uttarakhand are springing back to life as residents return to the hills after decades. The state government has announced several schemes to retain them, but has it reached people?

More action than words

Rajesh Choubey has stopped ration shops from pilfering, sensitised people and assisted them in finding livelihood during the pandemic

Only 35% cities partially segregate waste at source

THE GOVERNMENT recently released the Swachh Survekshan 2020 report, with much fanfare.

Supercharged water

HERBS CAN TURN AN AVERAGE GLASS OF WATER INTO A FRAGRANT, HEALTHY BEVERAGE

From where did the tiger come?

GENETICISTS, HISTORIANS AND EXPERTS HAVE SEVERAL THEORIES ON THE BIG CAT

Left to starve

The COVID-19 lockdown is likely to render millions of children in India malnourished

619,097

This is the number of assets created across rural India in the four months since the COVID-19 lockdown to tap natural resources. This is also the potential of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA), a programme envisaged to alleviate poverty among the rural people by using their only capital—labour. So, what has helped the program that over the years got mired in controversies make a comeback? Down To Earth travels to districts that witnessed reverse migration on a large scale to understand this transition. They find a script that can change the rural-urban dynamics forever. Demand for MGNREGA works shows an unprecedented spike—more than 30 million households have asked for employment for three consecutive months. Governments are harnessing the surplus labour to create assets that will ensure livelihood even after people are weaned off the wage support. People too are using this opportunity to pick up the pieces of their lives in villages they had once left.

World Sees Spike In Polio Cases Due To Oral Vaccine

The fight against polio through massive vaccination efforts since 1988 has helped reduce the number of cases by more than 99 per cent worldwide—but there remains a worry. Instances of vaccinederived poliovirus (VDPV), caused by the virus strains used in the vaccine by regaining their ability to cause the paralytic disease, have seen a spike between 2010 and 2019.

“Communities need more benefits for conservation”

V B MATHUR, CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY AUTHORITY, CHENNAI, TALKS TO ABHILASH KHANDEKAR ON THE COMING OF AGE OF THE COUNTRY’S BIODIVERSITY GOVERNANCE. EXCERPTS

Gardens of hope

Krishna Mawasi and 230 other residents in Madhya Pradesh opened their kitchen gardens to vulnerable families to help them tide over the lockdown

Softening the blow

In absence of a robust forecasting infrastructure, mobile phones can improve climate resilience of African farmers

THE FACADE OF RECOVERY

While the government harps on recovered cases, it must also closely track them as studies hint recovery offers no surety of good health

And there was light

Scientists have for some time now theorised scenarios in which black hole mergers are accompanied by light. We now have evidence, maybe

DHARAVI, THE SURVIVOR

Dharavi has proven the doomsday predictions wrong and is now being hailed as a global model to combat COVID-19. How did one of the world’s biggest slums curtail the spread of the pandemic, when at least 10 people live in a cramped 1-2-metre shack? How did it manage to keep the number of cases and deaths low despite pathetic hygiene conditions and without proper medical facilities?

BLACK BUSINESS

On June 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at an event to auction 41 coal blocks for commercial mining, said that India needs to use its domestic coal for energy needs.

Celebrating knowledge

Creating a People’s Biodiversity Register is more than a legal requirement. It is an exercise of empowering communities and spreading their knowledge of biodiversity

A SHARP BITE

On July 3, Nagaland chief secretary Temjen Toy tweeted that the state government has decided to ban import and trading of dogs and the sale of dog meat, both cooked and uncooked. In the message he tagged Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Maneka Gandhi, Member of Parliament and founder of non-profit People for Animals. A day later, the government issued a notification, which says violations will attract punishments under sections 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, which deal with “mischief” against animals and the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act, 1960. Though Nagaland does not have a formal dog meat industry, certain Naga tribes consume it for nutrition. The ban might look logical to the outsider, but the Nagas believe it infringes on their cultural freedom and will lead to stigmatisation and further alienation. Small wonder, when ISHAN KUKRETI spoke with several organisations and individuals across Nagaland, he found many opposers but hardly any supporters of the ban

Disease Of Inequality

COVID-19 has drilled deep holes in an already unequal world, making life for the underprivileged unlivable

WHO Is Tracking India's Health?

The burden of mysterious ailments mounts in India as its disease surveillance system lies in a shambles

Rain rupture in monsoon pattern

While some parts of the northeast, especially Assam, are suffering from unprecedented floods, other states are receiving deficit rainfall

Toxic row

Industry lobby is at work to dilute the proposed ban on 27 widely used hazardous pesticides

Predicting a shock

In the past few months, India has been rocked by numerous small earthquakes. But science to predict them is still in its infancy

Peril in the hills

THE NILGIRI HILLS ARE WITNESSING ECOSYSTEM COLLAPSE DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS TRIGGERED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

Grounded in wisdom

TRADITIONAL MINI FLOUR MILLS MAY NO LONGER BE IN VOGUE IN OUR HOMES, BUT THEY HELP PREPARE NUTRITIOUS FOOD

Corona 2.0

The next coronavirus is round the corner. But scientists don’t know when, and how it will explode

Let There Be Blue Sky

The nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has unwittingly given us a glimpse of what our cities can look like if we wean away from polluting vehicles and industries. Let’s make this an everlasting reality

Mobility redefined

The pandemic offers probably the last chance to reform our public transport and make way for walking and cycling

Silver lining

From real-time monitoring to flying drones, Indian cities are innovating ways to handle COVID-19 biomedical waste