'Maps of resource-rich, poverty stricken tribal India overlap'
Ethnic conflicts have dogged India since independence. The problem has attracted a lot of scholarship. Amarjyoti Borah talks to two eminent …
Financing emissions from jets and cows
Environmental scientist Robert Goodland , who served the World Bank Group between 1978 and 2001 is credited with authoring some of the Bank's …
'Adopt decentralised, low-energy approach'
Manu Bhatnagar, an urban environmental planner, has been heading the natural heritage division of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural …
'Breakthroughs in material sciences key to sustainable economy'
Peter Littlewood is the associate laboratory director for physical sciences and engineering at the Argonne National Laboratory in the USA. He …
A civilisational loss
For more than two decades, Huta Ram Baidya has led the Save Bagmati River campaign. An affable, octogenarian activist and Nepal’s first …
We plan to involve panchayats in monitoring pollution levels
Sheila Rani Chunkat has recently been appointed chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). She spoke to Binayak Das on how …
Farmers can only teach traditional knowledge
P S Ramakrishnan , former director of G B Pant University in Nainital, Uttar Pradesh and currently professor at the School of Environmental …
"Governments should try for 100 per cent pure water"
HANS JEURING is the chairperson of Codex Committee on Pesticides Residue (CCPR). It is responsible for establishing maximum limits for pesticide …
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 …
Johan von Schreeb on humanitarian aid
Johan Von Schreeb, a surgeon who has worked for the group Medicins Sans Frontieres, is a public health scholar with the Karolinska Institutet, …
'Developing countries are treated in a very unfair manner'
Bernarditas Muller, a seasoned member of the Philippines negotiating team, is among the rare few who call a spade a spade. Speaking to Indrajit …
Idea of farmer wisdom is relentlessly manipulated
As a visiting American academic, Glenn Davis Stone has put in over 60 weeks of field research on the impact of Bt cotton on farmers in Andhra …
‘My mentor Laurie Baker’
BENNY KURIAKOSE began his architecture career in 1984. He was one of the privileged few who worked under the tutelage of Laurie Baker which …
Effluent treatment plants have not proved effective
Tishya Chatterjee , member secretary, Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) spoke to Manish Tiwari on the presence of persistent …
Nurturing the future
A comprehensive set of rules is essential to regulate research and facilitate commercialisation in biotechnology. Patricia Sierra Blzquez , …
Stuart Cole on effective transport management
Transport economist Stuart Cole is director of the Wales Transport Research Centre in Cardiff. On a recent visit to Mumbai, he spoke to Nidhi …
On the impacts of nanotechnology
Barry Castleman, an environmental consultant and expert on workplace health hazards, tells Arnab Pratim Dutta about nanotechnology's impacts