View from the top

Planners must stop looking down at hill-stations

Centre, state battle over electricity

Plague is spreading to new areas

No pesticides no debts

Bee farms to shops

Big firms control honey supply

Two incidents that made me ask: Whither forestry extension?

Extension programmes in forest institutions are meant to benefit stakeholders, mainly farmers, villagers and rural communities

Yellow rust strikes wheat in northern India

ICAR, agricultural universities and state agriculture departments issue advisories, alerts

High risk

Problem: Tall buildings risky in high seismic zones; Status: Hill-stations are getting concretised and growing vertically; Challenge: Use local …

What goes down

Problem: Lack of space for garbage disposal; inadequate sewerage; Status: Garbage disposed on hill slopes ends in streams/rivers; Challenge: …

Defying gravity

Problem: Terrain forbids water supply systems that work in plains; Status: Water crisis in peak season every year; Challenge: Develop …

Local travails

Problem: Tourist influx too large; earnings flow downhill; Status: Residents forced to share meagre facilities with tourists; Challenge: Regulate …

Think institution

The need of the hour is to decentralise drought management and think long-term

Counting the cost

Is Span motel's punishment commensurate with its crime? Experts wonder...

Jaypee powers ahead in Himachal

‘Company built power plant illegally; managed clearance’  

Testing time

Revisits by Down To Earth reporters to villages that undertook water harvesting offer some valuable lessons in drought management

Made to fail

Employment Guarantee Scheme, first of its kind drought relief scheme has had no impact on the drought-prone areas of Maharashtra in almost 30 …

Out of focus

The government's drought relief programmes are bound to fail in the long run. Even the Planning Commission acknowledges that funds for the …

The Monsanto way

How the US multinational won state governments and influenced policy

Grim reminder

A fleeting reappearance of plague exposes India's lack of preparedness

Pinewood smoke: Cause of lung problems

Making money through herbs in Himachal

Medicinal plants can improve the fortunes of state's rural poor

Himachal denotifies sanctuaries for hydel projects

Caution: pastures ahead

India’s health expenditure down to 3.2% of GDP in 2018-19

National Health Accounts report shows out-of-pocket expenses down, but still significantly higher than global average

Too cut & dried

Does the style of conserving forests currently dominant in India require an overhaul? Yes, say state governments and affected people. ruksan …