National plan on non-communicable diseases

the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently launched a national programme on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases--diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke--in the country.

Tiger cubs missing in Ranthambore

a tiger cub went missing from the Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, in early November. Officials of the Rajasthan Forest Department are still looking for the cub. Villagers in the neighbourhood have been asked to keep their domestic animals safely. The cub, called Yuvraj, had run away from the park in 2006 too, but had returned on its own.

Why are vultures dying?

The anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac has been incriminated as the main cause for decline in vulture numbers in South Asia. The birds, it is said, perish after feeding on carcasses that have residues of the drug. The argument seems logical but is not based on scientific evidence. The diclofenac-toxicity argument, in fact, obscures a deeper malaise in vulture conservation: a shortage of skilled hands and a lack of seriousness.

Miles to go

A little over a year before the Janadesh march, a working group appointed by the Planning Commission had termed land reforms in India a "forgotten agenda". It minced no words in explaining why. "Policy makers are finding existing land reforms enacted on the basis of central guidelines of early seventies not only unwanted roadblocks but also obnoxious to the free play of capital in the land market," said the working group on land relations set up for the 11th Five Year Plan in its report in July 2006.

EU bans Indian guar gum

the guar gum trade in India has suffered a setback after the European Union (eu) banned import of non-certified guar gum from India. The move came after dioxins and pentachlorophenols were found in a consignment delivered by India Glycol, a Delhi-based exporter.

It is time ASI stood up to demands of protecting relics

When the French naturalist, Henri Mouhot rediscovered the sprawling Khmer temple complex in Cambodia's rainforest in 1861, he exclaimed, "Grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome." I too was awestruck on seeing the Angkor temples early this year and realised that Mouhot was not exaggerating. The layout of the temples is based on Hindu mythological cosmos with towers representing mountains in the centre, and a surrounding moat representing the sea. Cambodia's Khmer Empire was founded in ninth

Protests against unfair land allotment in Rajasthan

the Udaipur administration recently announced its plans to go ahead with allotment of land for jatropha plantation. The move, made under the recently notified Rajasthan Land Revenue (Allotment of waste land for bio-fuel plantation and bio-fuel based Industrial and processing unit) Rules, 2007, has sparked several protests. Under the new rules, wasteland is to be allotted to different groups for planting its jatropha. Protestors, however, are wary of outcome.

Effluents from Bhilwara textile units flow unabated

The moniker 'textile city' is apt for Bhilwara. After all, it produces 75 per cent of the country's textile. But there is a dark side to its sheen. The industry's poor effluent management system has long poisoned the area's groundwater affecting agricultural lands and people's health.

Debate over effects of biomass extraction in forests

Stories of success and failure

sampat Lal is not the protagonist of a typical Down To Earth story. He's the treasurer of a cooperative that runs a fair price shop in a Rajasthan village. Quite successfully, in fact. Lal belongs to a cooperative of mine workers. There are quite a few such cooperatives in Rajasthan now (see Features Mine workers in Rajasthan form cooperatives). Thanks to these associations, mine-workers can expect a fair deal in many parts of the state. The success of the fair price shop run must also be