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Contents page
Mar 1-15, 2003
Cover Story
How has the river that flows through one of the most industrialised regions in India fared since it was first written about in 1993? Down to Earth revisits the coal dust and slurry-ridden Damodar basin to see if anything has changed - for better or worse
Editor's page
News
Two incidents of illegal handling of waste oil have come to light recently, underscoring the fact that trade in the hazardous product continues unabated in India
The provisional figures for India's forest cover are now ready, and Down To Earth has managed to acquire a copy. The figures, when compared to earlier ones, show an overall increase of 236, 800 hectares of forest. But is that really so?
It's a drab piece of plastic, with a black-and-white screen and a few buttons -- features that hardly warrant a second look. Nevertheless, Simputer -- a portable alternative to personal computers -- can empower masses with a host of applications, ranging from microfinancing to providing medical information
Tamil Nadu seems set to gift community land to corporates under the name of wasteland regeneration
US politicians and insurance companies claim to offer the best healthcare services in the world. Recently, however, top US experts have admitted that the system is about to collapse. During the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ways to revive the system were mostly discussed. The new concern stems from the fears of bioterrorism
Both her birth and death stirred a raging debate. Dolly -- the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell -- was put to death on February 14, 2003. The six-year old sheep was suffering from the fatal progressive lung disease
Factsheet
Over 15 billion cigarettes are smoked everyday!
Analysis
How has the river that flows through one of the most industrialised regions in India fared since it was first written about in 1993? Down to Earth revisits the coal dust and slurry-ridden Damodar basin to see if anything has changed - for better or worse
The CSE's recent expos has blown the lid off the bottled water industry's tall claims on the purity of its products. Simultaneously, it has brought to the surface a much larger problem: contamination of groundwater by pesticides
Feature
Two events separated by one hundred years mark scientific revolutions that symbolise, more than anything else, the web of life. The first event was the publication of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species in 1859. In this book Darwin pointed out that life on earth was a product of evolution.
Then in 1953, came the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick. There is a curious parallel between the achievement of Watson and Crick, and that of Darwin. Even before Watson and Crick made their discovery, there was evidence to show that DNA and the carriers of heredity - genes - were very likely the same
Our houses gobble up energy and spew out carbon dioxide. Shocking, but true. Buildings, primarily residential and commercial facilities, are responsible for approximately 35 per cent of US greenhouse gas emissions. Ventilation and insulation are not given adequate emphasis in urban layouts. Consequently, urban sprawls manage to use more energy for air conditioning and warming. The result is 'heat islands', characterised by temperatures higher than that of the surrounding areas
The polio virus is possibly the most innocuous virus that affects humans. The improvement of sanitation standards across the world has meant fewer people are afflicted by polio as infants, upsetting the historical balance between virus and host. But, since poorer sections still live in squalor and consume water and food contaminated by faeces, the virus remains a threat to the global community
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 years. This village is home to India's largest biogas plant, run by Silver Jubilee Biogas Producers and Distributors Cooperative Society Limited. "The biogas plant has been running since April 25, 1987, with minor repair works, and supplies gas to the villagers. Our cooperative runs the plant with no external assistance," says Kasimbhai Khan, former supervisor of the cooperative society
A quintessentially Rajasthani protein-rich desert dish
Debate
Intention and execution are not always related. That's the Swajaldhara lesson. Swajaldhara is a national-level rural water supply scheme that seeks to put in place a people-oriented, decentralised and demand-driven water management regime. To this end, it aims at utilising pachayati raj institutions across the country, empowering them in the process. At present, though, the scheme throws up more questions than answers
The 2001 Bhuj earthquake was something of a watershed in Indian disaster preparedness. Several state governments, most so in the Northeast, and various central ministries were shocked into a comprehension of the dangers. However, national capital New Delhi, which is under perpetual latent seismic threat, is blissfully unattended. Neither the local nor the Union government has initiated any measures to protect the city
The recent imbroglio on interconnectivity between cellular and fixed/WiLL-CDMA subscribers left many speechless. The response came via a proxy war involving MTNL and BSNL. This is worrying; for interconnectivity is the basic technical and legal requirement of a public switched telephone network. The issues in the instant case were then 'resolved', not by the regulatory process, but through political intervention
Opinion
People's relationship to the forest
For more info on Auroville:
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Congratulations, it is an eye opener to other states that are thinking of such schemes.
In Hyderabad, the government...
Thanks. You have raised a very pertinent issue. My family is a great lover of Makhana and we use it in different ways. Slowly...