Burden of beast

Theirs is no romantic tale of the desert. Rather the plight of camel herders of Rajasthan today is that of an endless struggle for survival. Time was when Virma Ram proudly watched his herd of camels stretch in an endless line along the dusty horizon. Today, his gaze has turned into a blank stare as the prospect of maintaining his precious livestock appears bleak.

Sun lighting up the valley

come winter and the inhabitants of Lahaul Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh face bleak days ahead. Heavy snow brings life to a grinding halt. But an exception is the Mayad valley, where solar home lighting systems have brought more than a glimmer of cheer on the faces of its inhabitants.

Distant dream

stories of how a promising technology can lose out in the maddening race for survival or the top slot always make interesting reading. This book is another such instance. But much more than that it is a critique on social choice, triumph of one technology over its competitors, some landmark decisions and the folly of projecting the future.

Spaced out!

Paris has recently introduced an ecofriendly plan to promote the use of buses and bicycles and discourage the use of private cars. For this purpose the city's mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, has reduced the road space for private vehicles.

Gassing around

As the deadline for converting all public passenger transport to cng by September 30, 2001, gets closer, the Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Ram Naik, in charge of gas supply in the country, is out to raise more uncertainties to undermine consumer confidence in the cng market. The disinterest of his ministry in implementing the cng order is fully exposed.

Dream ride

the idea seems too good to be true: a community-owned mass transit system for Mumbai. But the Konkan Railway Corporation Limited with its skybus project has envisioned just that. Apart from bringing down pollution levels in the city (it will run on electricity), the new proposal will be owned by the people travelling in it.

Age of dinosaurs

Mahatma gandhi had announced an award of Rs one lakh to anyone who could improve the design of the charka (manual spinning wheel). That was 1929. Today, it would amount to as much as Rs two crore. That was the Mahatma's way of encouraging development of sound technologies -- sustainable and people-friendly.

Tendering a sham

the Delhi Transport Corporation (dtc) has once again showed its hypocrisy regarding the Supreme Court's order to convert the existing bus fleet to compressed natural gas (cng). On the eve of the apex court's March 31, 2001 deadline, it issued a global tender for the purpose, the technical bid for which was to close on March 9, 2001.

Capital punishment

Life in Delhi seems to be just that. Reeling under pollution, the citizens live under a constant threat to their health. The urban sprawl, a deteriorating environment, haphazard industrial growth, exponenetial increase in the number of vehicles, a flawed transport policy, a nearly absent waste managament policy -- all thanks to bad governance -- has turned to Delhi into the fourth most polluted city in the world. One out of eight children born in Delhi suffer from asthma.

Trouble in the air

the Nepalese government's decision to ban vehicles older than 20 years has been met with stiff opposition. On February 2, traffic came to a standstill in various parts of Kathmandu after transporters took to the streets. Again on February 9, the National Federation of Transport Entrepreneurs organised a protest rally.