What it takes to clean a river
It is the tale of two European rivers. The Rhine and the Danube. No river system in the world has a density of industrial agglomerations …
‘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 …
On The Warpath
They prefer to be called the 'forest castes'. They are the 2,000,000-odd villagers living in some 10,000 villages across Orissa. After …
Standing the test of drought
After the 1999 monsoon failed in several areas of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, there is a serious drought. Summer is a good four months away, and …
Enter -The green rating project
Indian industry is huge. But most environmentalists believe it has done little to reduce pollution, which will only rise as the economy grows. …
Pollution of Hinduisim
Simply put it is an amazing gap between theory and practice. Yet it is one of the main reasons why India's environment is as degraded as it is …
Power the people
For the country where only 15 per cent of its population have access to electricity, Nepal has come a long way. It took 84 years to achieve power …
Singapore: Breathing Easy
It's all about taming traffic: keeping a tab on the number of vehicles on the road, and promoting public transport. Singapore, one of the …
FIGHTING FOR AIR
Weighed down by extremely high levels of particles in the air, some Indian cities seem to be coming of age with regard to vehicular air pollution.…
A belief in tradition
It was a unique ceremony for a unique award given to a unique rural community of India. In what is perhaps the first ceremony of its kind, …
MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION
Knowledge without power, and power bereft of knowledge. This, in sum, is the story of mismanagement of wildlife and protected forests in India. …
Elementary failure
Since the Right To Education Act came into force on April 1, 2010, India has been witnessing an experiment that involves parents in enforcing a …
Predicting the future
A severe shortage of medicinal plants and herbs threatens ISM. Cultivation may be the only way out. But currently medicinal plants that are …
Saga of two villages
Sukhomajri was a dirt-poor village in Haryana. It started pulling itself out of its hole in the late 1970s, making a dizzying ascent to …
Hiware Bazar - A village with 54 millionaires
Hiware Bazar, a village in Maharashtra's drought-prone Ahmednagar district, was sliding into an abyss after degrading its environment. But in …
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 …
Eye on the storm
Cyclone Phailin has not taken many lives but has left behind a trail of destruction that severely cripples people’s livelihood. What did it …
The past and present of rivers
Author(s): Karuna Futane We are a generation that has turned flowing fresh water rivers to rivers of sewage and garbage. We have lost rivers. …