Spotlight

While working on a project in the hills of Nepal a few years back, Delhi-based journalist Ruchira Gupta noticed a strange phenomenon. "Many villages in the hills had no woman in the age group of 15-45 years." When she asked, the villagers told her that they had gone to work in Mumbai. Trailing these women Ruchira, 33, came to Mumbai's red light area. This led her to making her debut film -- a documentary titled Selling of Innocents. Made for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the film won the Emmy award in the news and journalism section for the year 1997.

Science spoof

SCIENTISTS are not saints. Neither are they modest, nor do they believe in the con cept of loving one's fellow-folk. That, unfortunately, is the impression that one is likely to get after reading The Third Culture. The title refers to C P Snovs book The Two Cultures written in the late 1950s in which Snow stated that there were two impor tant groups of intellectuals - the literati, who were also the ruling class, and the sci entists.

Real world is grey

"INTO every tidy scheme for arranging the pattern of human life, it is necessary to inject a certain dose of anarchism. " This quotation from Bertrand Russell, is certainly appropriate at the beginning of this book on fuzzy logic.

Energetic debate

THE extraction, transportation and conversion of fuels and the end-use of energy have resulted in a wide range of environmental problems. It is tempting to believe that development is the most significant cause of the problem. But, the book under review maintains that development by its very definition is the source of both the problems and solutions.

Precarious perch

RECESSION, debt and oil crisis are common features of the present decade, which crippled the economy of many countries. The decade expe rienced very little stimulation and support to the health system. It is within this context that interes in the sustainability of healthcare in developing counte emerged, and questions were raised about the quality of investment in the field of health.

Avoiding goitre

SOS for a Billion deals with Iodine Definciency Disorders (IDD), which constitute the most common preventable cause of mental defects in the world today. But IDD can be tackled at a very modest cost remarkable success in cormany industrialised nations since the '20s.