Wasteland or wetland?

Himalayan destruction

THE Himalayas are virtually under bombardment—of dams. They would have the highest dam density in the world, with over a thousand water reservoirs dotting the mountain range in India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan, over the next few years. These projects would have serious ecological and social impacts and would spell disaster for the biodiversity of the region. All this for the much-sought-after hydroelectricity, officially dubbed cleaner and cheaper.

Letters - July 15, 2012

Politics of drought

Letters - May 31, 2012

Focus Rural The interview, “Tribal philosophy can’t be ignored beyond a point” (April 1-15, 2012), is highly relevant in the context of the ongoing conflict between development and tribal philosophy. Mahatma Gandhi was the first pre- and post-Independence politician and social activist to comprehend the importance of rural way of life. He wanted the state to protect it.

Drying up of an empire

In 1861, French botanist Henri Mouhat published a travelogue describing his visit to a “lost empire” in Southeast Asia. Hidden in the jungles of what is today Cambodia were temples of breathtaking magnificence. Mouhat announced he had rediscovered a lost empire: Angkor Wat.

Grand distraction called river interlinking

Lavasa exposed

30,000 farmers demand Hirakud dam water

Orissa farmers make it clear that water from the Hirakud dam is for irrigation, not industry

In search of the missing

'One' Pangi Budra is the subject of a land acquisition notice dated 1954. A bit of his life can be reconstructed. The rest is conjecture.

Blunder 999

In the past month, the decades-old controversy surrounding the safety of the century-old Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala reached fever pitch. People living downstream fear it can collapse any moment. There have been strikes, fasts, burning of vehicles, deployment of police forces, high-pitched news presentations and even banning of a film, the title of which candidly referred to the row. As protests mount and panic grips people, a confidential survey report, which has been leaked to the media, says the dam has been damaged to the extent that no amount of rectification can salvage it from causing a disaster.