Global environmental risks
Environmental risks are perceived to be the five most critical long-term threats to the world as well as the most potentially damaging to people …
On privatising water
What about privatising water? Should India move to do it? What tips the scales in its favour, and what doesn't? In 2003, two editorials in Down …
The water bearer
ANNA HAZARE bids a heavy-hearted farewell to the late Vilasrao Salunkhe, better known as 'pani baba'. Salunkhe's revolutionary concept of '…
Need vs greed
There is little talk of curbing water use in urban India. Cities’ insatiable water demand, coupled with leaky pipelines, is leading to …
Rain check
The column width dedicated to rain in the mainstream print media has hit an all-time high. A few days ago, television news reporters with that …
A midsummer dream
Anyone will tell you that follow-ups are not a story. Journalism is not about following stories of specific villages and how they fare year after …
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, …
Keeper of the nation's water kitty
MADHAV Chitale, former secretary in the ministry of water resources, is a recipient of The Stockholm Water Award, given by the Stockholm Water …
Book review: Water: Perspectives, Issues, Concerns
This is a work of encyclopaedic scope. The subjects it deals with range from an in-depth study of the treatment of water in the Indian …
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 …
Andhra's groundwater crisis & a trail of suicides
Groundwater has failed Andhra Pradesh’s farmers. Between 1997 and 2006, about 4,500 farmers committed suicide, unable to repay loans they …
Renal emergency
Sri Lanka’s north-central region has been facing a health crisis for two decades. A large number of people in the region suffer from …
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 …
Pure myth
When was the last time you drank water straight from the tap at your house to slake thirst on a hot summer day, without hesitation. Chances are …
"Over 15 per cent of Russia is ecologically unsafe"
Professor Alexei Yablokov is head of the inter-departmental commission for ecological security under Russia's National Security Council. He …
The drowning of a city
There are both in Delhi - criminal waste, unendurable want. And in this city of verdant veneers, nowhere does the callous politics of …
The negotiators
Of India's 18 major rivers, 17 are inter-state. In all cases, the water is intensely fought over. In all cases, there seems no resolution. 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 …
PUBLIC OUTCRY
For the past several months, Delhi has been witness to a half-hearted government being prodded by a determined Supreme Court to clean the Yamuna. …
Pesticide residues in bottled water
Packaged drinking water or natural mineral water is everywhere. It is now available in pouches, cups, bottles and bulky transparent jars. It is …
Will the Aral Sea ever come back?
"Forgive us, Aral. Please come back." These words written in chalk, on a ship sftKk in a sandy wasteland, which was once the bustling …
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.…
Waters of life
Tarun Bharat Sangh of Alwar is well-known for its work on reviving traditions of waterharvesting. But few know about the economic advantages of …
Controversial plan to sell water from Sheonath river
Ajit Jogi, Chhattisgarh chief minister, has announced an enquiry into the legality of India's first private project to supply water to industry …
India's groundwater is flooded with fluoride
Fluoride is an acute toxin, with a rating slightly higher than lead. It is, in fact, one of the most bone-seeking elements known to human beings. …