Whose responsibility is it anyway?
Two years after the Supreme Court directed the setting up of two independent fuel testing centres in Delhi, one is yet to be commissioned
Raw Deal
Scepticism hangs over Kerala's Tribal Rehabilitation and Development Mission and its master plan
Wasting Away
Despite the deadline for hospitals to set up bio-medical waste disposal methods having expired, nothing has changed
Fighting for a cause
K N Narayana Pillai, 75, is an ordinary citizen who has been suffering because of pollution from an industrial unit operating beside his house. …
Meta Outstripped
The pace of construction at a controversial copper plant in Goa has not slackened despite protests from the people and the church
Panchayat Raj Half a cheer for democracy
There is a great push to make panchayats the fulcrum of rural development in India. But 16 years after the third tier of government was created, …
Bamboo flowering
People in northeast India fear bamboo flowering. According to an ancient belief when bamboos flower, there is death and destruction.
Guilty, but bailed
Seven Union Carbide officials get two-year jail term for Bhopal gas leak that has killed 20,000
Shrouded in controversy
A mountaineering expedition into the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve revives the debate on ecotourism and people's rights over forests.
Phulmai's walk - a day in the life of a headloader
Headloaders - collectors of fuelwood in India's woodlands. On the one hand, seen as forest destroyers, on the other, they are the sole support of …
How did it go wrong?
The corrupt and inefficient among pollution control authorities have surrendered India's groundwater to unscrupulous industrial units
Disasters in the making?
Groundwater contamination in India is verging on disastrous proportions, especially with regard to mercury
Going off course
As the Cauvery river dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu gets reduced to a politico-legal wrangle, focal issues remain unaddressed
Battle zone: Humans vs elephants
Afterwards, an eerie silence envelops the field. There is only the crop -- no longer standing -- and the heavy tread gouged in the mud. This is …
Drought is in the mind
GOOD NEWS: There is more evidence to show that water harvesting can go a long way in dealing with drought and solving the water crisis, and even …
Political harvest
Report card: A scheme that can help solve the water crisis has become a tool to promote political interests of the ruling party Success level: Poor
Learning the mantra
Report card: The government realised its failures and learned from the civil society. Despite cases of corruption and some errors in planning, …
Missing the bus
The whole world is moving towards CNG. But the crisis of governance in Delhi keeps the air filthy
Union ministry of surface transport
Saboteur-in-chief. Is responsible for making procedures. Has botched them up, discouraging those keen on CNG
Rules and renegades
Pesticide regulations in India are lax. The industry has exploited the loopholes to corrupt the system. And the government has turned a blind eye …
Industry's Nemesis
A report by the National Institute of Occupational Health nails endosulfan. Is that why the pesticide establishment wants to keep it under wraps?
Super Market
Secretive. Exploitative. Is the market in Minor Forest Produce unmanageable? sopan joshi finds out
State inaction
The traditional forest dweller has had very few entitlements down centuries. Guardian of the forest, he has been regarded as encroacher by the …
Biotech industry has a new patron
Department of Biotechnology is playing venture capitalist to private companies to push biotech research in agriculture
Tata Energy Research Institute In service of polluters
The Swedish experts have identified traces of over 40 substances in diesel exhaust that are listed by the epa as hazardous air pollutants and …