.jpg)
MOST POPULAR
- Man-made reasons for Uttarakhand disaster 1
- Pedestrian questions 14
- Dhari Devi idol goes missing 2
- Transition failure 1
- Rains over past three days extreme weather event: scientists 1
- Where all did extreme events cause disasters last decade
- Monsoon arrives early; kills over 30 people in Uttarakhand
- Gujarat pollution board gets a makeover in efficiency 33
- The unseen invader
- Sikkim at risk of devastating floods from glacial lake outbursts 1
FOLLOW US ON
Debate
G strings
Issue Date: Sep 30, 2004
International relations have historically been characterised by coalitions of nation states. Even the present day un was born out of the deliberations of a post World-War ii (ww-ii) coalition of nations.
Divisive move
Issue Date: Sep 15, 2004
the Madhya Pradesh (mp) government is drawing considerable flak over its move to change the state's panchayati raj structure. A state cabinet meeting on July 29, 2004 decided to bring about the first major changes in the Madhya Pradesh Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, and the Gram Swaraj Act, 2001.
Fund game
Issue Date: Sep 15, 2004
Several years back, I mentioned to an editor of an environmental magazine that I was associated with a project under the World Bank- sponsored India Eco-development Programme (iedp). He immediately flew into a fit of rage. "Apologise immediately in writing," he said. "And resign immediately from iedp, else I will give you a bad press."
Arthur Cotton's offsprings
Issue Date: Sep 15, 2004
Developmental issues held centre stage during the recent general elections. Curiously, however, there was little debate on that mother of all development projects -- interlinking rivers (ilr). In fact, an opinion poll conducted by the news weekly, India Today, showed that 78 per cent voters spread over 185 constituencies supported the project. Does this indicate widespread consensus about interlinking? Or is it that opposing voices have been stifled?
Bank on people
Issue Date: Sep 15, 2004
The Planning Commission has recently mooted the Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (rsvy) to ensure minimum livelihood to people in the country's most backward districts. As per the commission's latest plans, rsvy will target more than 100 districts.
Ecologically subsidised city
Issue Date: Aug 31, 2004
Even by conservative estimates, this has saved the city authorities from spending Rs 400 crores on capital expenditure and incurring a recurring maintenance cost on water treatment plants -- want of such huge sums money is a good enough cause to shut down plants in many Third World municipalities (see illustration)
When all flows out
Issue Date: Aug 31, 2004
On July 12 this year, Punjab's legislators passed an act which annulled all previous water sharing agreements with neighbouring Haryana and Rajasthan. It sparked off a dispute whose roots actually go back to the 1960 Indo-Pak Indus Water Agreement. In its haste to exact much more than India's due share, the then Union government included non-riparian areas in our side of the Indus basin. India eventually got only 20 per cent of Indus waters -- that barely meet the needs of present day Punjab.
High-yield, low agro-diversity
Issue Date: Aug 31, 2004
Traditional agricultural practices in the Western Himalaya are in concord with local environmental conditions. But introduction of high yield crop varieties (hyvs) and orchards have led to a decline in such practices; the region's rich biodiversity has also suffered. The Chhakinal watershed area in Kulu district, Himachal Pradesh, is among those affected.
Popular medicine
Issue Date: Aug 31, 2004
Pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd's Rs 107 crore expansion plan in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmour district has become a bitter pill the company's being made to swallow. Farmers' suspicions, indeed outright distrust, have placed the company's initiative to expand the capacity of an existing plant at Ganguwala, Paonta Sahib, under a cloud.
Beyond the grid
Issue Date: Aug 15, 2004
About 80, 000 of a total of 6,25,000 villages in India do not have electricity. In fact, connecting about 25,000 of them through the regular grid is economically unviable. These villages have to be provided electricity through alternative sources. Solar energy could be one such source. However, it is extremely capital-intensive and an expensive proposition. It does work out well in cases where providing conventional power is not technically feasible.
