How MEA torpedoed the Bangladesh-India gas pipeline
Mani Shankar Aiyar is known for the many controversies sparked by his provocative comments and controversial ideas. As minister for petroleum and …
Bill will push PDS reform
Development economist JEAN DREZE, known for his work on issues such as hunger, famine, social and human development in India, child health and …
No land for best option: composting
Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, does not have a municipal waste-treatment facility. Its only plant to treat solid waste, located …
I am green by choice , not by chance
Probably the first chief minister of Delhi to have taken a keen interest in the environment, Shiela Dixit has got a mixed response for her …
The many ways of GM contamination
Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist in the food and environment programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), is among the most …
‘Tribals turn extremists because states are too busy making money from land’
The world’s largest democracy is facing a surge in tribal uprisings. The recent killings of Mahendra Karma and other Congress leaders in …
'Building and retaining capacity is the toughest challenge'
Balakrishna Pisupati is in the hot seat as chairperson of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), where he has to deal with regulatory and …
'Most countries don’t want to recognise indigenous people as people'
Mohammed Taghi Farvar, former director of Avicenna University in Iran, is a well-known ecologist and social scientist. At present, he is the …
Dealing with crop stresses and scandals
Subbanna Ayyappan has made history in the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (IACR) by becoming the first non-crop scientist to head this …
Whitley Award winner's mission hornbill
Hornbills, the awkward-looking birds with over-sized beaks, are important for the regeneration of Himalayan forests in north-east India. They are …
How to contain Himalayan tsunamis
The Himalaya has one of the most fragile topographies among mountain ranges of the world on account of being the youngest. Even though its phase …
Secretive tribunals, hidden damages
Canadian academic Gus Van Harten is well known for his efforts to reform the global investment treaty regime through his research papers, …
India’s many investment treaties make it vulnerable
Senior international lawyer Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, who heads the investment programme of the International Institute on Sustainable …