Michigan’s star detective

Meet Sable, the first canine with a nose trained for human sewage and detergents. He is approximately 76 cm at the shoulders and weighs 34 kg. His long body is characteristic of his Alsatian roots. A fussy eater, Sable prefers soft canned food mixed with hard kibble, made from coarse grain. He loves yogurt. An offspring of mixed lineage, Sable is as thin as a rake. Yet he is strong.

Man-eater of Manatu

Dressed in a beige kurta and a stained, white dhoti, Mawar Jagdishwarjeet Singh emerged from a 20-foot-high wooden door of his Mughal style mansion. Grey-haired, mustachioed, wearing a thin smile.

Inspired by Marx

Kameshwar Baitha, MP, will now fight to end Naxalism from jail There was a price on his head just a few years ago; Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh had together declared a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anyone helping in his arrest. Today, the head is held high--albeit in Bihar's Sasaram jail, where he has been lodged for the past four years.

J S Banth , <i>proprietor</i>

Jasvir Singh Banth, 32, sits surrounded by colourful containers labelled Army, Fighter, Super Fighter, Lethal, Malamaal, Spark, Axe, Arjun, or Rogorin. A small red triangle on the label signifies what the cans contain: poison.

Against the jab

It is rare to hear the wail of a child about to be given an injection at Dharam Prakash's small clinic in Ashok Vihar, Delhi. Reason: in the 30 years that he has been practising, this doctor has rarely used injections, not even in extreme cases. For instance, twelve-year-old Vishakha of Sabji Mandi was terribly afflicted with gastroenteritis in July this year. Prakash gave her oral medicine, monitored her condition for an hour and made her suck on an orange bar (to take care of dehydration).

"We cannot just sit and wait for development support"

What are some challenges in delivering safe water to the people of Kenya?

Very approachable

A retired railway officer knows how to save water and energy

R K Palhan, former general manager, Central Railways, has two innovations to his credit. One has already been implemented in most railway stations under Central Railways, and the other will take off next year. Media-shy, Palhan believes these small changes, if adopted with active government support, can usher in a silent revolution in the country.

Parmjit Singh Sehra

The official history of India's presence in the Antarctic begins from December 6, 1981, when the icebreaker M V Polar Circle steamed out of Goa with a 21-member team. But would it be true to say that the real history begins a decade ago, in 1971? This was the year Parmjit Singh Sehra reached the cold continent as part of a joint Indo-Russian expedition to study the upper atmosphere. At that time Sehra was a young researcher in Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory.

The last common property

Oscar Olivera of Bolivia is something of a mascot for anti-globalisation movements across the world. During the recent Asian Social Forum meeting in Hyderabad, Olivera spoke in Spanish. And in spite of the tediousness of translated messages, his dozen-odd speeches found eager listeners in the 15,000 participants at the meeting.