Wild management
India's forests are not wilderness but habitats. Our wildlife management strategy must for this reason be inclusive of people who live in our …
Unfounded euphoria
The CSIR may have managed to shoot down one US patent on turmeric but Indian biodiversity needs a strong law to protect it
Rivers don't have borders
After having improved the state of the Rhine, Europe is cleaning up the Danube. A lesson for India
Cutting it short
The Biosafety Protocol has just been adopted. In some ways it is a step forward. But it may turn out to be powerless to check trade in …
Needed: a spine for Delhi government
There are two sets of rules for polluters. The rich and the powerful can pollute without fear, but the poor have to bear the brunt of their …
The crossbreeding scam
Local animal breeds are better adapted to their specific environment than foreign imports, but today in India they are under threat
Common knowledge
Let the government begin its long march into Freedom of information by making its proposed bill public even before it goes to Parliament
In steaming hot curry
Curry is probably the most Indian thing in the world. How could the Japanese even want to patent it?
Bidding farewell
The Morse Code, the communication link that held many an empire together, has finally been laid to rest
A bad bargain
If the atmosphere is a common resource shared by everyone then should the South let itself be bullied into accepting a US diktat on emission …
A rice by another name
Thailand threatens to take the US to the WTO for allowing a Texas-based company to use "jasmati" as a trademark for a variety of rice
The last fetter
-- involving use of symbolic communication -- there is evidence that our ancestors could speak.
Luna's law
The discovery of water will make it possible to set up a colony on the Moon. But will there be a repeat of the East India Company?
The thorn buds
Parisians see red and intercept a consignment of Indian roses meant to reach French women on Valentines day, turning it into a thorny issue
Safeguards against autos
The Supreme Court decides to crack down on three-wheelers by banning further registration of vehicles in Delhi
From Adam to ape
God, says the Kansas State Board of Education in the US, created the world in seven says. Evolution therefore doesn't exist. A new curriculum …
The colour my village was
A French artist has attempted to recreate pre-industrial systems of land management through his paintings. Has any Indian painter tried to do …
Splendid isolation
The people of Iceland have been living in genetic isolation for the last 1,000 years. Now their government wants to sell their genes
The last lesson
There is a need to learn from the rainwater harvesting drive that has been carried out in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat
On the dotted line
India's decision to ratify the Biosafety Protocol is meaningless unless domestic laws are tightened
Beware of the Ganga
A dip in the Ganga was meant to purify both body and soul. But devotees in Bihar have had a bad experience
Khaki stripes
Should the police be put in charge of sanctuaries and the locals who live near these? Should India be made into a police state?
You take my heart away
When it comes to recieving hearts and kidneys, men do better than women. Women do better when it comes to donating organs
The beetle and the bureaucrat
Eleven lakh sal trees face the axe in order to exterminate a beetle that is boring a hole into the image of the forest bureaucracy
For all the wrong reasons
Limiting the number of projects awarded to a NGO will do more harm than good. The civil society is an important ingredient of governance. Why …