Debate renewed on blame for global warming

Basing methodology on global justice N S Jodha

Common sense about common salt

WHEN I WAS a child, illnesses in traditional Indian families were not remembered as connected with germs, but with events and the suprarational. One heard that at a marriage, somebody's third son broke out with the measles and somebody's aunt sprained her ankle in her anxiety to catch a glimpse of the bridegroom. Or, it was of colic brought on by the evil eye of someone in whose lap earlier that day the baby had been gurgling happily.

Justice remains mirage for Bhopal gas victims

THE RECENT ammonia gas leak in a Haryana factory claimed 11 lives ans brought back the nightmare of the Union Carbide (UC) and Shriram gas leaks. Now, as the eighth anniversary of the UC disaster in Bhopal draws near, some questions remain: How were the victims compensated? What roles did the government and social organisations play? How did the courts acquit themelves?

Defining environment stories

I'VE JUST made a rather chastening, even humiliating, discovery. To prepare for this piece, I glanced through the two huge files of yellowing cuttings, which record my 70 months or so of subcontinental reporting for The Guardian. And in all that time, I've written only a couple of dozen longish articles on what might fairly be described as environmental issues.

Industrialising agriculture dooms the sources of life

WHEN THE slogan "Declare agriculture an industry" was raised at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session in Tirupati some months ago, it was an attempt to include rural toilers in the ruling party's grand policies of social reconstruction.

Early education is the key to reducing birth rate

I WAS lucky that my childhood memories and later my life as a civil servant gave me insights into demographic behaviour. My boyhood recollection of an evening of listening to my father and his friends soon after the 1931 census results were published, left an abiding impression of the reasons for the continuous decline in the male females proportion in our population.

Arunachal's green could soon turn brown

TRAVELLING north through the Brahmaputra valley, you come to a diversion to Tejpur and a three-km bridge, the second spanning the river. On the north bank, a national highway goes all the way to North Khimpur. You pass by tea gardens standing in disciplined rows and you are overwhelmed by the abundance of green beauty all the way to Bandardeva and the paradise of Arunachal Pradesh.

Why are we begging for eco-clean technology?

I HAVE been uncomfortable with the "transfer of technology" demands of developing countries during their environmental dialogue with the North. Let me explain:

When fathers harass their sons

Child weavers toil till the day is done

IT WAS a typical Indian village, with low, thatched roofs, mud walls and floor. Yet, as I went around I was told, "This is Germany, this is Canada and this, America". Strange names for huts in a village? Not if the village is UP's Varanasi district, also known as Dollarland because it is the core area of the hand-knotted carpet industry. Each cluster of huts is called by the name of the country to which its carpets are exported.