While people worry about patenting of upmarket plant products like neem because of transnational interest, India's unique biodiversity of domesticated animals is disappearing because of lack of attention. Indira Khurana of the Centre for Science and Environment investigates

GEAC orders destruction of transgenic cotton grown illegally. The affected farmers demand compensation

A campaign by an organisation to clean up the polluted lakes of Udaipur has finally paid off. The Rajasthan High Court clamps down on erring government officials

Monsanto talks too much. Misinformed activists rush in to burn fields in protest against the company. And India's government authorities, sitting in smug silence, do little to clear the confusion. The science of biotechnology gets a bad name

Worldwide, traditional medicinal systems are in the process of being modernised. Besides health care and conservation of medicinal plants, the rights of the local communities that have preserved these systems for centuries are also at stake

Unlike allopathic medicines, Ayurvedic products are not clinically tested before they are introduced in the market. This raises doubts about their effectiveness

Even as microbes -silent and efficient behind-the-screen
contributors to the ecosystem -continue
to revel under the spotlight abroad, in India, it has yet to
acquire its due importance. Indian
germplasm, aided by non-existence of biodiversity conservation
laws, thus finds its way into leading
research laboratories in different parts of the world