Environment

Highlights from the issue

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DTE Staff

Sunita Narain’s Desk: Plastic regime needs transparency

If the Extended Producer Responsibility is working so well, why do we see so much plastic waste everywhere?

Cover story: India’s sudden baby bust

Indias total fertility rate has gone below replacement levels. Among the countries that have seen such demographic reversal, Indias journey has been the quickest. The usual reasons for such a change are not exactly evident in India’s case. What has led to this phenomenon?

Interview: ‘Goal shouldn’t be to push fertility up or down’

Poonam Muttreja, executive director, Population Foundation of India.

The need is to help people realise their reproductive aspiration freely, safely, with dignity, says Poonam Muttreja of Population Foundation of India

Column: Low fertility doesn’t clamp down our development

K Srinath Reddy is a physician and founder president of Public Health Foundation of India.

Despite the falling fertility rate, the Indian demographic profile will remain young till 2050, says K Srinath Reddy of Public Health Foundation of India

Special report: What’s in a botanical name

The label on most mustard oil bottles do not mention the exact variety of mustard used to produce the oil.

Even the food safety regulator has no clear answer what exactly gets sold as mustard oil in the market

Special report: Waterborne solar

The Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana provides central financial assistance of Rs 1 crore per megawatt after commissioning and up to Rs 50 lakh per project for feasibility work.

India plans to increase floating solar capacity by 5,000 MW by 2035 but huge challenges remain

First take: Rise and rage of pastoralists

Ahead of UNCCD meet in Mongolia, pastoralist communities champion their way of life as not just one of the oldest vocations that nurtures ecology but also as the new defence against climate change

Special report: Season out of sync

Farmers transplanting paddy at Maklang village, Imphal west district, Manipur.

Manipurs farmers grapple with a monsoon that no longer follows the rhythms of the agricultural calendar

Follow-up: A war to stop an insect

Sal borer insects collected in Madhya Pradesh’s Dindori district. Local tribal residents are stringing the insects into garlands of 100 each before selling them to the Forest Department, which is paying Rs 2 per insect as part of a control campaign.

Madhya Pradesh forest department deploys hundreds of people to collect and kill sal borers, seeks permission to fell thousands of trees as the pest outbreak intensifies in the state

Civil Lines: Gen Alpha calls for new syllabus

Sonam Wangchuk on fast last month.

For the first time, school students are leading from the front to demand for access to basic amenities

Patently Absurd: Ebola and the politics of vaccines

Africa was lucky to get its first vaccine, but a new strain of the killer disease shows that financing and policy gaps remain a big problem

Science: Vapour on the rise

Wildfires and volcanic eruptions can push more water vapour into the stratosphere, altering temperatures and atmospheric circulation

Opinion: Sandalwood, reborn

Sandalwood trees growing with their host, Malabar neem (Melia dubia) in Pimpode Budruk, Satara, Maharashtra.

India is reviving sandalwood cultivation, but success will depend on scientific management of trees along with reforms in regulatory policies

Review: A laugh and think riot

An eye-opening take on the Ig Nobel Prizes and a celebration of curiosity in its wildest form, Unruly makes one laugh and ponder at the same time