A water harvest

in the hill-fort of Mandu, Madhya Pradesh, lie the ruins of a 1,400-year-old civilisation ruled by numerous dynasties, including the Mughals. Cocooned in these ruins, at 633.7 metres above sea level, is also a sophisticated and need-based water harvesting system. Devoid of groundwater, the hill-top town depended on rain for water supply throughout the year.

Hone the homemade

THE relatively new field of ethnoveterinary medicine, which is establishing itself as a serious discipline, has far-reaching implications for the well-being of livestock in the developing world. Ethnoveterinary medicine is the knowledge possessed by non-literate cultures with regard to animal health and disease that is passed on in the form of an oral tradition down the generations.

A dying craft

PYROMETALLURGY, or the process of producing iron, was introduced in India around the second millennium BC. The Harappan people were not familiar with iron, although they made artefacts from copper and bronze and jewellery from gold and silver. Production of iron and steel is mentioned in the Rig and the Yajur Vedas, which have been roughly dated by historians between 1500-1200 Bc. By the beginning of the first millennium BC, Indians were quite familiar with iron and steel and had begun using

Water of life

IN THE depths of saline ground above a water layer that is blackish they store fresh water for their year's needs. They are the Maldharies inhabiting the vast expanse of undulating Banni porturelands located in the desert areas of the northern Kutch district of Gujarat. They are the descendents of the immigrants firom Pakistan and other parts of Gujarat during the The tough climatic conditions and scanty fixrced them to solve one problem: where to store rainwater

Green peace in black curls

IMAGINE a tea garden which resembles a dense forest. Animals abound, sacred fig trees bloom, and water is aplenty. This is Jinuoshan, a hilly region in China's South Yunan district. The Jinuo, China's smallest ethnic group, with a population of 18,000, cultivate the broadleaf Pu'er tea, Carnellis sininsis var assamica Kitamura, using traditional knowledge stretching back to 1200 years. And these techniques have enriched the forests and the people.

The paper society

THIS is possible only in Japan, perhaps. Some sage wrote scriptures on a piece of paper in 1247. And 487 years later, the same paper was used by a scholar for taking down notes. If you don't believe this, see it for yourself in the Paper Museum in Tokyo.

Saying it with flowers

September will see a long pursued dream bear fruit, with President Suharto of Indonesia inaugurating the world's biggest flower park, Taman Bunga Nusantara (tbn). The final touches are being given to the sprawling 30-hectare park in the west Javan town of Cianjur, 80 km southeast of Jakarta.

Pampering potatoes

RESEARCHERs at the International Potato Centre's regional division in Delhi have designed an on-farm facility for storing potatoes throughout the summer months. Dubbed the "rustic, evaporative cooled store", this indigenous refrigerator is made of easily available materials - bricks, sand, mud, straw and bamboo or sticks. The new storage facility - a large room with a thatched roof - has several drains 22.5 cm deep, half-filled with sand.

Shifting greening options

THE colonial myth that shifting cultivation, a traditional farming practice, is the hangover of a dying past still finds devotees from among the Indian bureaucracy. The draft Conservation of Forests and Natural Ecosystems Act proposed in 1994 seeks to give more teeth to the prohibitory powers of forest officers to help curb shifting agriculture.

The past fights cancer of the future

Four years ago, Pilu Oberoi, a 38-year-old schoolteacher in New Delhi, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery and radiation therapy and also approached the Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute in Delhi, which gave her selected herbs to relieve her of the horrendous side-effects of radiation. "I would recommend Tibetan medicine to anyone," says a rejuvenated Oberoi.