How MGNREGA blew Rs 10,853 crore
The “little known” success story of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has unfolded as a disaster. …
Need or greed?
The Union Ministry of Finance has recently alleged that green clearances are holding up the country’s infrastructure development and growth.…
The development dream
Economics sans money drives the developing world. But the the United Nations (UN) wants it to integrate into a monetised dream. Developing …
Species census
Total number of known species on Earth are rising. A report by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University, US,…
Delhi breeds water inequity
The water thirsty capital is the perfect example of how not to manage water. Tracing where the three billion litres disappear everyday
Fall of the bees
Population of bees, the main pollinators of food crops, is declining. This can constrain food supply, warns a UN report
The dark side of knowledge
Beyond research spending, the gap in scientific output between developed and developing countries is glaring
Spilling doom
As vast amount of oil is spilt into the ocean, threatening sensitive marine and coastal biology, operation clean-up has turned out to be a large …
Poor amenities
Basic services can work against poverty but are usually elusive, shows the latest World Development Report
How clean is my country?
A collation of statistics on population density, water, sanitation and hygiene for 100 countries throws up disturbing trends
Turn it off
2,700 million units of electricity lost annually through appliances in standby mode
How rural India spends
Contrary to general perception, rural people in India are spending more on commodities that are considered major urban expenditure
Unfair price shop
Open markets to free trade, says the US. Yet it doles out sops to its farmers. Highly subsidised US produce floods global markets, bringing down …
A safety valve!
Alarmed by super rapid industrialisation in Asia and the Pacific, the Asian Development Bank suggests urgent corporate 'voluntary' action and …
High growth, few jobs
Unemployment has grown despite high GDP growth in developing economies, says the latest UN report
No parking
Made the down payment, signed installment papers and ready to hit the road with the new car. See how much your new buy would cost the city
Still in the bind
Least developed countries (LDCs) are caught in a vicious cycle of debt and aid. Stiff and biased trade barriers by industrialised countries helps …
Health class
Enemies of health and allies of poverty join hand to create global havoc, leaving different marks on different classes
Tropical pill
Medicines are for the rich, not for fighting tropical diseases afflicting millions in developing nations. Pharmaceutical companies seem to have …
Eating into the seas
Squeezing life out of oceanic ecosystems, communities around the world leave the waters contaminated and dirty, unable to sustain the vast array …
Unbalanced sheet
According to the WWF Living Planet 2002 report, people are consuming more natural resources than nature can produce, and some more so than others.…
All about Ebola
With WHO declaring the current Ebola outbreak an international health emergency, here are some facts about the disease and tips you might want to …
The idea of a clean city
could well become a myth by 2007. More than half of the world' s population by then would be urban dwelling. The urban ecological footprint would …
Antibiotic resistance: The magic bullet’s toll
What if a saviour turns into a killer? After 80 years of use, overuse and abuse of antibiotics — termed magic bullets — microbes have …
The silent killer
Symptoms of hypertension rarely show, and an increasing number of children, adolescents across India are falling victim to it