What's the right strategy to fight the scourge of open defecation?
The inaugural edition of Down To Earth Hindi carried a cover story on the challenge of sanitation in India. The story analysed whether, and how, …
'The world's entire gene-pool is open for manipulation'
INDRA VASIL was one of the first scientists to successfully manipulate wheat plants using genetic engineering techniques. Before he came in, …
The political economy of defecation
This is a story about Delhi and the Yamuna, about the relationship between one of India's richest cities and one of her most revered rivers. The …
Melting Pots
Of the 10 persons defecating in the open globally, six are Indians. By 2019, six will be from African countries, and none from India, as the …
"The world needs a new work culture, not just jobs"
Austrian-born Frithjof Bergmann, a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, USA, founded the Center for New Work in 1984 to help …
`Growing food is like printing your own money'
Ron Finley grows food and for this he has been branded as a guerilla gardener, a renegede, an ecolutionist. It all began four years ago, when Ron,…
ENDOSULFAN CONSPIRACY
It was in February 2001 that Down To Earth broke the story A link was established between the unusually high incidence of deformities and …
A little "war" between the North and South
The public debate between Dutch environment minister Hans Alders and Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment, covering a whole …
Hell and high water
The incendiary Sardar Sarovar Dam project came to a head on March 15 this year, when Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) agitators, led by the …
Developed nations are not bothered about marine resources
Fifty-five-year-old thomas kocherry , one of the founders of the National Fishworkers Forum -- a trade union network of 200,000 traditional …
Theirs to mine?
This is the question angry and beleaguered tribals in Orissa and Jharkhand are asking, as mining companies set up shop in the midst of their land …
Meltdown
Till a couple of decades ago Bangalore was a sleepy city -- running to the rhythm of old trading networks and retired people taking their evening …
Foss time in India
Microsoft is the most familiar term in the proprietary software industry. The company's penetration in people's minds is so deep that it is often …
Mining firms set up shop in Orissa
Lanjigarh block, Kalahandi, Orissa, May 17: At its summit, the northeastern ridge of the Niyamgiri hill range has a bald patch, typical of …
After WASH report, burden of eradicating open defecation shifts to Africa
Around 196 million of the 494 million people practising open defecation in the world are from sub-Saharan Africa
Temple and open defecation: Shifting narratives of sacred and profane
How did people of Karnataka’s Berambadi village strategically redefine the nature of open defecation spaces?
Open defecation in an ODF district in Rajasthan
Here's a travelogue to four tribal villages in Rajasthan's Sirohi district, which has been declared open-defecation free; but there are …
Open defecation continues despite new toilets
Removing open defecation was one of the most touted goals of Swachh Bharat Mission, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Lakhs of toilets have …
Despite toilets in place, a quarter of rural population stuck to open defecation
New study on changes in open defecation in rural North India says pace of toilet construction increased under Swachh Bharat Mission, but there …
Drought hinders efforts to make Maharashtra open defecation-free
The drought scenario in Maharashtra forces us to think what will happen to the ambitious plan of making the state 100 per cent Open Defecation-free
Begging to whistling, rural India doing everything to end open defecation
Several villages in India are coming up with out-of-the-box ideas to discourage open defecation
Open defecation linked to stunting in Indian children
Research finds 10 per cent increase in open defecation associated with a 0.7 per cent increase in stunting in 112 districts
Is open defecation back in India?
The latest WHO-UNICEF data shows at least one-sixth of India’s rural population still defecate in the open and a quarter doesn’t have …
Is India really open-defecation-free? Here’s what numbers say
15% of the total population in India defecates in the open in India, according to WASH report 2021
Open defecation in Nigeria: Faecal sludge is country's clicking time bomb
The country, which has the largest number of people defacting in the open, needs to frame a safe toilet technology and treat its faecal sludge, …