Land subsidence is serious
India depends heavily on groundwater. But overextraction can cause the land to sink. A recent study found that signs of land subsidence are …
Organic goes online
India’s organic food exports have found a new strength—online traceability. Web-based TraceNet can trace an organic product right …
GM maize and its health implications for humans
Michael Antoniou, head of the Nuclear Biology Group in the UK, has been studying the health effects of genetically modified (GM) crops since 1995.…
River restoration is not just an ecological act
Despite decades of restoration efforts by a rich ensemble of state-development actors, cultural heritage votaries and rights activists, the …
'Poor nations need Codex education'
Sanjay Dave, director of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), was recently elected chairperson of …
Energy transition is now a must
Marie-Hélène Aubert, adviser to the French president for international negotiations on climate and environment, was recently in New …
'CBD has lost its track'
Bolivia is one of the few countries that has consistently been opposing treating biodiversity as a commodity at the ongoing Conference of Parties …
Affected people can even approach the criminal court
JUSTICE N VENKATACHALA former judge of the Supreme Court, is currently chairperson of the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA). Set …
'They asked me to withdraw my court case'
P PARDHA SARADHI is tenacious. This mild-mannered professor at the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Delhi (DU) has …
My report is not an industry report: T S R Subramanian
The High Level Committee (HLC), constituted by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) three months ago to …
‘South-East Asia must remain polio-free after certification’
Poonam Khetrapal Singh became the first woman to assume the office of WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia on February 1, 2014. Her priority …
Village protesting Kundankulam bans poll campaigning by any party
S P Udayakumar, coordinator of Peoples’ Movement Against Nuclear Energy, has been spearheading protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear …
'Biodiversity authority needs autonomy'
Balakrishna Pisupati was the first biodiversity expert to head India's National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and had more than six months to go …
‘China growth model cannot be universal’
Wen Teijun, dean of Renim University in Beijing, has been documenting the world's agrarian history and turmoils. He initiated the New Rural …
'It is strange that government promotes products which directly cause cancer'
Pankaj Chaturvedi, associate professor and head and neck cancer surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, was recently honoured with the Judy …
‘Forests can’t survive without communities’
Nepal’s Forest Act of 1993, which allows communities to manage their forests, is admired and emulated by governments and movements across …
Profiting from disaster
Zoramthanga , the chief minister of Mizoram, has many reasons to reminisce the birth of his party, the Mizo National Front, an insurgent group …
Former militant Bijoy Hrankhal on Tripura's tribal needs
Bijoy Kumar Hrankhal was the founder member and vice-president of the Tripura National Volunteer, the first militant group in Tripura. He laid …
Linkage between science and public policy has weakened
M S Swaminathan, popularly known as the father of India’s Green Revolution, has been associated with national agricultural research system (…
'We are using the sea as a dustbin'
The Indian coastline no longer belongs to its traditional custodians—the small fisher people. A jamboree of development—cities, SEZs, …
'We need to promote the culture of donating breast milk'
Armida Fernandez, founder trustee of Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action, started the first human milk bank in India in 1989 in …
‘Watershed conservation can benefit 700 million people in 100 big cities’
Indian cities are struggling to fight water stress. Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Jodhpur are going to areas located far away to source …
‘Separate power feeders can greatly improve rural electrification’
Over 65 years after Independence, nearly half of the 800 million people living in rural India are yet to get access to electricity. A major …
Southeast US will bear the worst of this year’s winter, says AccuWeather
This US-based independent weather agency set off gasps of dread and many counter-forecasts last week when it indicated “the return” …
`Many doctors are simply businessmen'
Samiran Nundy, chairperson of the department of surgical gastroenterology and organ transplantation at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and editor-in-chief …