Floods cause havoc in drought-prone Barmer, Rajasthan

There's a popular saying in western Rajasthan Jaankhiyon laare meh. Loosely translated, it means a good rain always follows dust storms. This summer when Rajasthan's Jaisalmer and Barmer districts witnessed dust storms, people thought it augured relief after six years of drought. The rains did come but the boon fast became a bane. Barmer was deluged with 750 mm of rainfall in the last week of August five times the district's average annual rainfall.

Fig leaf for the business world

India is obliged under the Montreal Protocol to gradually stop the use of ozone-depleting substances (ODS) such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which cause unimaginable damage by burning a hole in the Earth's stratospheric ozone layer. The industrialised countries have already phased out some of these substances. The first deadline for India and other developing nations comes on January 1, 2010, when these countries are expected to entirely stop using CFCs.

Rescued or doomed

"I hear no objections, it is so decided," Jan Pronk, president of the meeting, said in obvious relief as he brought down the gavel at the resumed session of the sixth conference of parties to the climate change convention.

Watch your footprint

IN recent times, there has been a spurt of online resources that inform people of their carbon footprints.

Burnt reputations

The WikiLeaks revelations have made governments around the world nervous.

Science and Technology - Briefs

ARCHAEOLOGY Dino with a horn

Here comes the sun

A short time ago, a friend requested help in sorting out the fundamentals of setting up a solar photovoltaic, or PV system, for his household energy needs. My first reaction was: “Too expensive, long payback period.” But my friend was insistent, and after a while the idea started appealing to me too. After all, solar energy is in the news almost every day. I started off with some basic research on where solar energy stands in India today.

Science and Technology - Briefs

TECHNOLOGY Sound, light and gold

Bidding exposes solar tariff game

BIDDING for the first phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission has put a question mark on the ambitious target set to augment the country’s energy needs through the solar route.

Whither Cancun

Unlike previous UN climate meets, the 16th Conference of Parties (CoP) held in Cancun in Mexico witnessed very few strong words being tossed between developed and developing countries till this magazine went to press.