Changing diets

Muddy Water

A look at world urban population

Delhi’s dream of clean air goes up in smoke

Women, children worst victims of indoor air pollution

National biodiversity plan admits India has failed to conserve biodiversity

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.…