Invisibilised localities

AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY ON THE NETWORKS, CULTURAL TRADITIONS AND OBSTACLES FACED BY RESIDENTS OF JHUGGIS AND TRANSIT CAMPS WHILE DEALING WITH EVICTION POLITICS AND INEQUALITIES IN DELHI

TUNNEL VISION

Bengaluru's civic body must ascertain suitability of the city's geology before moving ahead with its tunnel road project for seamless travel

SAFETY IN CIRCULARITY

Global standards of water availability show that India is water stressed. Reusing treated wastewater can augment water supply while solving the problem of its safe disposal. FARAZ AHMAD and SUMITA SINGHAL analyse wastewater management practices of 16 cities in seven states to understand the challenges and potential areas of reuse

AGAINST THE GRAIN

India's two most valuable timbers-sandalwood and red sanders-have long been bound by restrictive regulations designed to curb illegal trade. Encouraged by the government decades ago with promises of windfall profits, farmers took to commercial cultivation, investing years of patience and effort. Now, as they prepare to harvest, a harsh reality is setting in-the promise of big profits is not quite holding up. HIMANSHU NITNAWARE travels to 19 villages across Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to explore the reasons

Guardians of forest

Communities across Maharashtra take on the mantle of biodiversity conservation; replicate sacred groves on common land

Climate talks

Anil Agarwal Dialogue 2025 sees discussions on the state of India's environment, energy ambitions and emerging health threats

Mission for inclusion

Vidya Rajput leads the fight for transgender community's rights and acceptance in Chhattisgarh

Ready for power shift

An unprecedented drought forces hydropower- dependent Zambia to diversify its energy portfolio, embrace solar power

THE GREAT FARM HUSTLE

Agroforestry is fast emerging as a win-win strategy to mitigate climate change and improve farmers' income. It is particularly so in India, home to one-fifth of the agroforestry carbon projects in the world. Over the past months ROHINI KRISHNAMURTHY has travelled to almost 20 villages across the country to understand how this market works. At all locations, she finds that communities and their land and labour are central to the projects. But they do not always benefit from the carbon revenue

CAN AGROFORESTRY CREDITS BE SAVED?

Ensure that farmers benefit from the carbon revenue and stay protected against market failure

Urban trap

Fearing loss of autonomy and access to government schemes, several villages across India are protesting against the decision to change their status to town

Dubious distinction

How Madhya Pradesh displaced Punjab as the country's leading state in stubble burning

TRADE TENSIONS

Why the benefits of agroforestry carbon trade do not trickle down to farmers

A fantastical lens

BIOPECULIARIS A LAUDABLE ATTEMPT TO CARVE A SPACE FOR SPECULATIVE CLIMATE FICTION WITHIN INDIAN LITERATURE. WHILE THE STORIES MAY NOT ALWAYS HIT THEIR MARK, THE ANTHOLOGY IS AN IMPORTANT STEP IN A GENRE THAT DESERVES MORE ATTENTION

Help on hold

US' decision to pause foreign aid could lead to hunger deaths, ruin economies of nations across Africa

Irrigation by snow

Declining rain and snowfall make farmers collect snow from higher altitudes to water their apple crops

Stem the rot

A fungal disease has hit the most widely sown sugarcane variety in Uttar Pradesh, threatening the country's sugar production

The mythos of ancient India's scientific excellence

Policymakers are obsessed by a fuddled idea of resurrecting a glorious civilisational past, and even IITs have fallen in line

A LEGACY THAT STINKS

India faces several significant challenges in remediating its legacy waste, which could derail its goal of becoming garbage-free by 2025-26

TERMITE TRAP

A common tall grass variety provides a chemical-free option to control termites, highlights the need for mainstreaming local ecological knowledge

CLIMATE'S UNSOLICITED PAYOUT

Rising weather extremes is destabilising the insurance industry, driving up premium prices and pushing insurers out of high-risk markets. The crisis is also spurring re-invention of insurance sector.

NOTHING PSEUDO ABOUT IT

The fibre-rich banana pseudo-stem is a treasure trove of minerals and health benefits

Organic move

After 10,000 farmers in Dantewada district secured Chhattisgarh's first organic certification, the entire district now gears up to transition fully to organic farming

No more a rarity

What has caused widespread outbreak of the rare Guillain-Barré syndrome cases from seven states of the country?

DeepSeek AI model is a sobering idea for India

The Chinese artificial intelligence breakthrough reveals how far behind India is in the race for technological prowess

'Fragile terrain not the cause of tunnel collapse but an excuse'

In November 2023, the under-construction Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand collapsed, trapping 41 workers under the rubble. The rescue operation in the 4.5 km tunnel lasted 17 days and involved multiple teams. Australian geologist ARNOLD DIX, who is also the president of Switzerland-based International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, as well as an engineer, a barrister and a farmer, assisted in the mission at India's request. Dix has now written a book on the incident. In an interview with ADITYA MISRA, Dix says the mishap was a failure to adapt construction methods to the rock conditions encountered. Excerpts:

BUDGET SQUEEZE

Poised to woo the middle class and tame fiscal deficit, Union Budget 2025-26 cuts corners on key welfare schemes, offers little for climate adaptation and decarbonisation

Decoded script

Genomelndia project creates genomic sequence database of 10,000 Indians, moving a step forward in disease detection and treatment

Introduce layers in poverty measurement

This is with reference to the article \"Convenience of poverty lines\" (16-31 January, 2025). Poverty is not like atmospheric pressure, which can be scaled down with high-precision instruments. It is a matter of deprivation. Poverty is also highly misunderstood. At one extreme, poverty means no food, no clothes, bad health and inadequate shelters; in essence a dearth in common and customary amenities. One can recognise this poverty. But, even if a person's conditions are only a notch above this level, their situation slides through the slick fingers of all the measurement of figures and wielders of statistics.

On an equal footing

A mixed-gender cricket tournament in Madhya Pradesh boosts girls' participation in sports, empowers them to be changemakers