'We have no reason to be secretive'
The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (geac) braved roaring controversy to approve commercial plantation of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) …
DIVINING ROUND THE CLOCK WATER
Urban India’s water story is beset with contradictions.Municipalities in India supply much more water than those in Europe and North America,…
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 …
Trading in contraband
While tiger parts, ivory and sandalwood smuggling continue to attract all the public attention, what India is losing is its medicinal wealth to …
We must move from the reverse to the forward gear
Raghunath Anant Mashelkar is the director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and a former director of one of …
"Desertification is a global problem"
Ambassador BO KJELLEN has seen it all, from diplomacy and development to even sports. A "family man", as he describes himself, …
Polluted and ignored
Talk about air pollution in India and everybody thinks of the four metropolitan cities. But the ambient air quality in even smaller cities and …
"Indian science is run by a mafia"
p m bhargava is the founder-director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (ccmb), Hyderabad. He has also been a former fellow of …
'Workers' safety is connected with the environment'
The increasing risk of industrial closure on environmental grounds seems to be stirring many trade unions in India to sensitise themselves to …
"We have set up a toothless pollution control board"
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB): one would expect an organisation with a name like that to penalise polluters and care about the quality …
"Tribals are being treated like stray cattle"
Twenty seven-year-old chekkoth karian janu has never attended school. But this has not prevented her from becoming a champion of the rights of …
"We hope to encourage alternative lifestyles"
Having successfully brought the plight of the peasants and tribals of Narmada valley into international focus, MEDHA PATKAR continues her crusade …
Africa is heading for trouble
The founding president of African Academy of Science, Thomas R Odhiambo , has been working to evolve a framework necessary for stimulating …
We want to ensure an NGO in every village
Anna Hazare's name is synonymous with rural development and people's power. Hazare had once again hit the headlines in May by undertaking a fast …
'Development paradigms should match tribal culture'
SITAKANTA MAHAPATRA'S poetry got him the prestigious Jnanpith award for 1993. His poems, written in Oriya, have been translated into many Indian …
Droughts in India were caused by El Nio
Richard Grove , a noted environmental historian from the Australian National University, Canberra, takes an active interest in the climatic and …
I can't just close down a polluting industry
As chairperson of the Karnataka state pollution control board (KSPCB), 39-year-old K V Bengeri has to contend with more than environmental …
"The awareness here is dismal"
Karnataka High Court's Justice M F Saldanha has emerged as one of judiciary's standard bearers in the ongoing battle to save the environment. His …
"We don't intend to threaten India"
The Environmental Investigation Agency ( eia) is one of the leading international environment organisations in London. Recently, it has …
Fabled Fruits!
Taking off from its climatic range - Himalayan to tropical - India has much to offer in terms of fruit diversity. Large varieties of major fruits …
A tale of two peoples
Just as Brazil and Nigeria lie Geographically parallel to each other along the Atlantic, the fates of their seem sealed in a similar fashion. …
'There is a conflict in gene patenting in India and abroad'
ASIS DUTTA, a senior biologist at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, is the first Indian scientist to have applied for a gene patent in …
"It is wiser for industry to invest in pollution control"
He was the archetypical activist-bureaucrat. For A N YELLAPPA REDDY, former special secretary to the government of Karnataka's department of …
"Right should belong to scientists"
For the first time in India, the draft of the Plant Varieties Protection (PVP) Act is being finalised by the ministry of agriculture. India, as a …
'I am rewriting Ayurvedic knowledge'
Vaidya Balendu Prakash is presently carrying out research work on Rasayan Shastra (metal therapy), based on ayurveda. He has been successfully …