Whither liberalisation
The post-GATT liberalisation era has come to India not only with its enchanting platter of economic efficiency, technological treasure trough …
Foss time in India
Microsoft is the most familiar term in the proprietary software industry. The company's penetration in people's minds is so deep that it is often …
Indian science must stop merely aping West
Cynicism is perhaps the natural fallout of a long career within the government machinery. But when Yash Pal, one of the country's leading …
Atmospheric chemistry shifts blame around
Research in atmospheric sciences is booming because of the impending threat to4he world's climate. Every month there is a new study showing new …
Archaeology helps to unlearn too
Archaeology is the science that studies the remains of past cultures by investigating and analysing the objects people leave behind. It is a …
Smooth sailing by cleaning up fumes
Controlling the polluting sulphur emissions of ships has become imperative after recent research has proved that they are as harmful as the …
Beads that can heat water
With fossil reserves fast depleting, new technologies promising more efficient use of renewable energy sources, especially the sun, are flooding …
"It happened by sheer accident"
More great discoveries in the realm of science get stumbled upon by the unprepared mind than untangled by methodical research. dna fingerprinting,…
What's cooking in India's largest biogas plant
Methan village in Sidhpur tehsil, Patan district of Gujarat saves 500 metric tonnes of fuelwood annually. They've been doing it for the last 15 …
Pollution pays
Whenever the issue of how to end pollution is raised, it hits a block: technology. Take the case of air pollution: among other things, the issue …
`Top scientists misuse power, funds'
It seems like a lost cause but Kasturi Lal Chopra battles on. As president of the Society for Scientific Values (SSV), he leads the charge to …
Software freedom
On Richard Stallman's personal homepage it says, "America means civil liberties. Patriotism is protecting them." Words that sum up the …
Science for ecology
Down To Earth and the Centre for Science and Environment announce the winner of the 2001 Green Scientist Award. In the exercise to rate the …
Lessons from the colonial past
Twenty-two years ago, the publication of a book, Indian Science and Technology in the 18th Century, by an unknown Gandhian, DHARAMPAL, took the …
A hybrid car, at your doorstep
The California Air Resources Board -- the world's trendsetter of air pollution standards -- was clearly being quite ambitious while mandating …
Gone with the wind
When the wind energy sector was opened to private investors in 1993, there was a virtual boom. However, after the initial rush of activity, …
'Ministries play the blame game'
Jagdish Bahadur, an expert on glaciers and former joint advisor, department of science and technology, and Syed Iqbal Hasnain, who heads the …
Clash of the cyberworlds
In an increasingly digital world, the issue of Internet freedom and governance has become hugely contested. Censorship and denial of access occur …
On paper
The Green Rating Project (GRP) of the Centre for Science and Environment was conceived as a means to track the environmental performance of India'…
Shift grain bowl status from North to other regions of India
Balwinder Singh Sidhu, agriculture commissioner and chief conservator of soils in Punjab, is known for giving his opinion in a frank and …
Will the boom last?
Fifteen years after it rose and went limp, the biotech sector, globally, as well as in India has seen a bull run of sorts. In January this year, …
Technology interventions that save water
It was early June. Jaspal Ram of Lehra Turkot in district Bathinda of Punjab was busy in his field putting gunny bags filled with mud on a plank …
Exhausting Practices
Prescribed as the antidote for all problems related to vehicular pollution, Pollution Under Control (PUC) certificates have been an obsession …
Two technologies that shape our future
Battery and meters are two widely used technologies, yet no one stops to think how they work. They determine our future. They dictate how we …
'They asked me to withdraw my court case'
P PARDHA SARADHI is tenacious. This mild-mannered professor at the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Delhi (DU) has …
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