Global democracy tilts at the axis
Are the "forces of freedom" in the West muscular enough to deepen democracy at the global level?
Earth health
Clinically clean, gleamingly coloured, hermetically sealed fruits and vegetables face the challenge of organic food
A green front is not enough
It is time to question whether the new green urgency of big business is a genuine change of heart
Straight from the puppet's mouth
Why should it matter if messages are effectively conveyed through tales, songs and plays rather than from the mouths of scientists bogged down in …
Sprucing up
...production techniques could go a long way in creating a pollution-free milieu as the final aim would be to achieve a no-waste company discipline
Urbane and stupid
Sitting in urban comforts and planning for a rural set-up can only spell doom for any activity on the development front, for the village is a …
Wealth engenders debt...
... seems like a paradox, but when that wealth is produced by affluent countries through importing undervalued resources of the poorer regions,…
After the last tree is felled
'Sustainable development' cannot afford to be another epithet in the lexicon of development, but should dispel myths about human-made and natural …
The silver spoon
Development in the small-farm sector holds the key to a holistic progress in the Asia-Pacific countries
Good but not true
The United Nations does not take into account sustainability of the environment in assessing progress using the Human Development Index, …
Turning to God
Godfrey Baseley, the man behind "The Archers", BBC's popular serial on agricultural information, is dead. His 'gossip' was valuable advice to the …
A beaten path
Suresh Prabhu is by no means breaking new ground. He is merely mouthing the same promise made time and again, but never fulfilled, by his predecessors
Who US, what sanctions?
By conducting nuclear tests, India was only asserting its sovereignty. Now, if it gives in to US pressure tactics, it will tantamount to begging …
Reaction time
Electronic conferences can speed up decision making which lengthy, costly and conventional deliberations cannot
Locking horns with the bull
International agreements like the Basel Convention are not enough to defeat corporate agendas firmly rooted in the stock market
No laughing matter
Activists are increasingly resorting to attention-grabbing techniques to bring development issues into the public domain
Agenda for people's participation
Two new amendments to the Constitution promise greater effectiveness in civic administration and urban planning; but is that enough?
Southern solutions?
Sustainable industry could emerge in the South if it does not repeat the follies committed by Northern nations during their industrialisation process
Dam alert
The construction of the Thoubal multi-purpose dam and the Tapaimukh dam in Manipur has sparked off protests
the key to prosperity
It's time India realises that it is trade and not merely technological innovation that holds...
When the water begins to stink
...Yet another rainforest disappears and a way of life dies as "development" catches up with the Guaranis of Paraguay
Healer extraordinaire
The death of Arun Kumar Sen, the inspiration behind the Students' Health Home, the biggest medical insurance scheme run by students in the country,…
If you want to read a book
...the near universal necessity of being the owner of a book to read it needs immediate and drastic revision
Women in power
Women elected to panchayats in Karnataka and Rajasthan function in two ways: some live up to expectations and other succumb to the pressures
Bed and breakfast available, only for a year
Researchers probing parasitism among birds say the hosts are cleverer than those living at their expense. The great reed warbler, for example, …