For common sense
Down To Earth articles on shahtoosh and Veerappan provoke comment. We decided to excerpt them. But first, the editor's rejoinder
Solo Performances
Besides the communities who have done exemplary work in the field of environment, several individuals are making a difference in the lives of …
Hamlets reborn
Although Bhaonta-Kolyala village walked away with the Down To Earth-Joseph C John Award, the judges came across several such communities worthy …
Awarded : Bhaonta-Kolyala
... for reviving the Arvari river, for showing that a healthy ecology and good water management mean prosperity, for proving that drought is a myth
TRAMPLED DESTINIES
What happens if conservation is based on half-baked knowledge? Ask a person rendered homeless by wildlife managers "No conservation strategy …
WORKING IN ISOLATION
A mutual lack of trust and understanding between forest officials and wildlife scientists may be responsible for the mismanagement of India's …
CONSERVATION TO DEATH
Misguided conservation efforts are leading to depletion of biodiversity and exploitation of poor people
Lessons from two cities
Pune aims to become a zero-landfill city by 2015. With a range of solid waste management options, the target does not seem too ambitious. …
Walk the village talk
After raising the political profile of village councils, government wants to downsize them
Children of endosulfan
Several unusual diseases afflict a Kerala village. Residents blame aerial spraying of the pesticide endosulfan by the Plantation Corporation of …
Rivers, up close and personal
Over centuries people have learnt to live with rivers. They are part of our lives but over the past 150 years this association has weakened. A …
Driven for and by the people
GRP has emerged as a truly democratic indicator of the direction in which corporate environmental governance is headed
REVIVING WISDOM
Rainwater is abundant in India. So is its mismanagement. This has led to a human-made water scarcity. The only way to solve modern India's water …
Highs and lows
The government's vanaspati van scheme is good news, but for it to succeed small-scale farmers and local communities have to be brought in its fold
Grow more
There is no land to cultivate medicinal plants, neither are there any legal provisions, nor market access. At present, the risks involved are …
A Himalayan Tragedy
People who have no idea about forests step in to further trade, while the indigenous herb gatherers get exploited further
Herbal heist
Hand-in-glove with the forest department, traders of medicinal plants and herbs make hay while communities who depend on herb gathering for …
Discontent
This is a story about the environmental clearance mechanism in India. Arguably legally strong, it fails in implementation. The project proponent …
Poor enforcement, weak laws make poaching an easy game
Salman Khan might be in the arclights because of his poaching misadventures. But many people routinely get away with killing protected animals; …
A million opportunities lost
The ruling alliance’s flagship rural employment programme took unprecedented strides in creating water conservation structures across the …
Dying wisdom
Rise and fall of traditional water harvesting systems in India They are called kuhals in Jammu, kuls in Himachal Pradesh and guls in Uttarakhand.…
Labour vs pollution
Ever since the Supreme Court (sc) ordered closure/relocation of polluting units in Delhi, which subsequently left nearly 50,000 people jobless,…
"We are not afraid to lay down more lives for our rights"
Chilika, Asia's largest brackish water lake in Orissa, is in the midst of a controversy that refuses to die. At stake is the livelihood of …
Chronicle of a journey foretold
Water trains aren't a strange sight anymore. Not the least in the parched areas of Gujarat. But while many villages await their erratic supply, …
Another world is possible
Optimism is a great friend but a bad guide. The Asian Social Forum meeting in Hyderabad, India, deliberately avoided this truism while …