How to fight water scarcity this monsoon

Though the monsoon is behaving erratically, drought-prone districts are still water rich

Ice-free Arctic may happen much sooner than predicted so far: study

While Arctic sea ice volume and extent continue to dip each year, a new study has found out that salinity in snow cover affects accuracy of …

With half a million new farm ponds, should farmers be worried about deficit monsoon?

In the last 12 years, the MGNREGA has created at least 46 new water harvesting structures in every village

गरीबी और आतंकवाद

जम्मू एवं कश्मीर में आतंकवाद की समस्या के समाधान के लिए �…

8 years and Rs 228 crore later, Maharashtra fails to make even one village sustainable

The state’s scheme, aimed at creating environmentally sustainable villages, saw only up to 6% funds being used for green projects

1.2 mn schemes meant to supply drinking water to all couldn’t do it

The latest CAG report says the country might not meet the SDG goal as well with its current schemes

Bangladesh's GM gamble

Anil Chandra Mahanta, one of the first 20 farmers to cultivate genetically modified brinjal in South Asia, does not understand the new technology.…

Does poverty trigger extremism?

Two recent developments could precipitate a global debate on whether poverty triggers extremism

उल्टी गिनती शुरू

राज्यों में इस साल और लोकसभा के अगले साल होने वाले चुनाव…

India needs 30,000 agri-markets to give fair deal to farmers

For 47 years, government has not acted on recommendation of upgrading rural markets into business hubs  

The world will miss the SDG target 1, a poverty-free world

1.6 people should escape poverty every second but currently just 1.1 are doing so. Worryingly, by 2020, the rate of poverty reduction would …

पंचायतों पर डोरे डालने के निहितार्थ

पंचायती राज व्यवस्था अपने 25वें साल में है। विकास का महत्…

World Health Assembly: Political will needed to curb non-communicable diseases

Non-communicable diseases kill 41 million people each year, low and middle-class countries account for 80 per cent of these deaths

The countdown begins

Irrespective of being left or right in orientation, the next elections will be about rural issues

Quotable Marx

An abridged selection of his memorable statements on the environment

Panchayat elections are set to become all the more important

These village-level governments have all the ingredients to make or break a political party’s fortune

Why political parties love schemes that benefit individual voters

Popular welfare schemes will be the focus of upcoming elections, but the unilateral focus to provide benefits to individual voter leads to less …

Generational spasm

To address the growing unrest across the world, we need to effectively utilise the demographic dividend

Point of No Agri-returns Part 7: India diverts 10 million hectares of productive agri-lands, replaces them with barren lands for cultivation

Government report terms this as the 'often overlooked' aspect of the agrarian crisis in the country

Whither freedom

Post independence, governments expanded squeezing village republics out of existence

Presidential panchayat

India's third-tier of government has a few lessons for those seeking presidential form of government

At 25, Panchayati Raj has become a powerful development instrument

Panchayats have become a kind of systematic investment plan for political parties to deepen their influence

हंसी के पात्र भ्रष्टाचार विरोधी आंदोलन

लगातार दो शासन काल में जिस पैमाने पर जनता के पैसों की लूट…

Two seasons of separation and a deep political desperation

It feels good that agriculture features high in political discourse but, again, it is misdirected

Environment Reader for Universities

The book is totally based on the UGC syllabus for environmental studies for undergraduates; and it comes to you from CSE, an NGO whose primary …

CLIMATE CHANGE NOW - The Story of Carbon Colonisation

We live in the age of climate change—heat waves, extreme weather events, increase in diseases induced by deforestation, floods and snowfall …

Why India's poor laugh at anti-corruption campaigns

Indian anti-corruption drives don't factor in the poor, the worst victims of the scourge

How government is subverting Forest Rights Act

Does this official data betray a conspiracy? Only 1.6 per cent of the 2.9 million claims approved under the Forest Rights Act recognise community …

Cash-based aid not a silver bullet, but offers flexibility, choice to beneficiaries

Cash relief brings people into the formal financial system and makes financial inclusion possible

How drone, mobile-based platform bridging health care gap in Africa  

Innovations are happening in the planet's remotest places hosting the poorest, and they aim to solve Africa’s biggest challenge of giving …

Why farmers now dread a normal monsoon

No major agrarian reform has happened in the 50 years since the Green Revolution. A normal monsoon cannot be assumed as the only incentive for …

किसानों का मर्सिया

अर्थव्यवस्था पर सरकार का डेटा चिंताजनक है। वित्तीय वर्�…

चुनावी साल करेगा कमाल

विश्व के करीब 74 देश इस साल अपनी सरकार बनाने के लिए मताधिक�…

Countries must treat refugees as assets; aid to them can be seen as investment

The refugees must be given the opportunities to become self-reliant and contribute to their host countries

रोजगार के लिए कहां जाएं किसान

कृषि क्षेत्र में रोजगार के अवसर लगातार कम हो रहे हैं। भा�…

Where will farmers go to get jobs?

There is a significant reduction in farm jobs. India must create alternative opportunities for those abandoning agriculture

Climate change disrupts the goal of doubling farmers’ income

According to the just tabled Economic Survey, the government needs to implement “radical” actions to ensure the Prime Minister’…

Point of no agri-returns Part 5: 50,000 dedicated scientists, still, agriculture is an orphan of science

Technologies developed for agricultural purposes are mostly limited to farms around research institutions, says a government report

रोजगार मिलने पर भी बदहाल

दिहाड़ी मजदूरों और असंगठित क्षेत्र में काम करने वाले गर…

Only 15% landholders earn 91% of total national income

Income inequality makes agrarian crisis challenging; inequality is worse among farmers than the formal economy

Point of no agri-returns Part 2: Every year, farmers lose Rs 63,000 crore for not being able to sell their produce

That explains why agrarian riots have increased by over 600 per cent in the last three years

Point of no agri-returns Part 1: How India lost its historic agriculture recovery growth phase in just four years

Government reports say 2004-14 had the highest agriculture growth that has fast slipped back to near-zero growth despite normal monsoons and …

Sandalwood moment for cows; Madhya Pradesh’s proposed law will be the last nail for livestock economy

Government's proposal to make abandonment of cows punishable will make it a pariah breed and would fuel widespread black market for trade, just …

Year of electors

In 2018, close to half of the world's population will vote for their governments

Employed but poor

Poverty among employed people underscores the need for a new strategy on job creation

गरीबी की दलदल

हम गरीबी को परंपरागत बनाने की दिशा में आगे बढ़ रहे हैं। य…

Poverty@25, India@70

Poverty remains conditional to one's social status

1 करोड़ नौकरियों का वादा किसका था?

एनडीए सरकार ने 2001 में यह वादा किया था लेकिन अब वर्तमान सर�…

NITI Aayog wants to hand over micro irrigation to private players

The government policy think tank believes it would take 100 years to exploit the micro irrigation potential with the current programme target and …

नीति आयोग लघु सिंचाई निजी हाथों में देना चाहता है

माना जा रहा है कि वर्तमान कार्यक्रमों और उपलब्ध बजट के त�…

Agriculture key to creating jobs in India's largely informal economy

The NDA government is repeating the mistake of the Vajpayee regime by relying on the formal sector for job creation

To meet 2017 target, one million rural households need to be connected with piped water supply every day

Community involvement is missing and so is the interest towards maintaining sustainability of drinking water projects. What else hinders progress …

Droughts: misery in slow motion

Successive droughts and water scarcity are causing long-term harm in ways that are poorly understood and inadequately acknowledged

It is not a drought but a cumulative outcome of decades of policy sins

It is not deficit monsoon, rather the lack of policies and mechanisms to drought-proof susceptible areas that turn the situation into a crisis

Forget 2022, more than 110 million Indians would remain poor forever

The next generation of the current poor Indians has high probability of remaining poor as well. Lack of access to resources like forests and …

भारत की आपराधिक बर्बादी: मनरेगा के तहत एक करोड़ से अधिक का काम अधूरा

डाउन टू अर्थ का विश्लेषण यह सामने लाता है कि ज्यादातर का�…

India’s criminal wastage: over 10 million works under MGNREGA incomplete or abandoned  

Since April 2014, the rate of work completion has been declining at rapid pace, indicating that crucial assets for villages are not getting created

कैसे दोगुनी होगी किसानों की आय?

मोदी ने दो साल पहले भी 2022 तक आमदनी को दोगुना करने का वादा क…

भारत में आधे बच्चे हैं गरीब

ये बच्चे मूलभूत मानव विकास की जरूरतों से वंचित हैं। यह स�…

Why I mourn Dussehra: Climate change and death of seasons

People of Odisha have given a clear verdict: from number of seasons to mating habits of birds, they say everything has changed as a result of …

एक सर्जिकल स्ट्राइक बेरोजगारी पर

सत्ता में कोई भी रहे, आतंकवाद की तरह ही बेरोजगारी भी लगात…

How to make Africa food self-sufficient, again?

Africa is the only continent that imports more food than it produces. With ground reports from 10 African countries, Down To Earth's editorial …

A grain revolution for Africa

In just a few decades, Africa has become a net food importer. But it has to feed more and more people in the future. Estimates suggest the …

What is the cost of doubling farmers’ income by 2022?

The farmers have to make an investment of Rs 463 billion in the next five years

पारंपरिक ज्ञान में छिपे जल विवाद समाधान के सूत्र

देश में 17 अंतरराज्यीय नदियां हैं, इसलिए जल विवादों का हो�…

जाति विमर्श में प्राकृतिक संसाधन

जाति व्यवस्था के खिलाफ संघर्ष प्राकृतिक संसाधनों पर नि�…

An 8-million-year-old mysterious date with monsoon (e-book)

Weather scientists, writers, historians and academicians explore India's most intimate yet least understood climate phenomenon

Half of India's children are poor

It raises a question: will they ever be out of poverty?

मानसून अच्छा, हाल बुरा

सरकार चाहती है कि किसान और किसानी दोनों अप्राकृतिक मौत �…

The media and the republic

Self-governance in tribal villages is not a threat to national sovereignty

Step forward from the backward districts

India's 100 backward districts can teach a new lesson on development

No land to farm

With urbanisation of rural areas, space for food production in India is decreasing

आर्थिक भलाई का पैमाना नहीं जीडीपी

दुनियाभर के अर्थशास्त्रियों का हो रहा मोहभंग, आईएमएफ ने…

Farmers don’t commit suicide, they make sacrifice

In India, 34 farmers commit suicide every day; but the question is what drives them to do it?

Off to another bad start

A failed monsoon this year could mean sixth consecutive crop failure in most parts of the country. The government must immediately prepare a long-…

How India is killing the country’s largest economy of the poor

New restriction on cattle slaughter will severely cripple the livestock economy which is bigger than crop economy; poor farmers shifted to …

It is not a drought

As they say, drought is a disaster one can see coming. Deficit monsoon creates situations for a drought. But it is not deficit monsoon, rather …

चुनावी लोकतंत्र कितना लोकतांत्रिक?

वैश्विक रुझान बताते हैं कि लोग इस लोकप्रिय शासन तंत्र क�…

Elected democracy: democratic enough?

Global trends reveal that people are no longer finding this popular governance mechanism effective

“90 वोटों के लिए धन्यवाद”

मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ता की अपमानजनक हार ने कहीं और जीत का…

A personal memoir of planned development

India's affair with five-year plans ends

Real or fictional, these women are heroines of all time

From the spirited Bathsheba to Mandakini Amte, from unrecognised midwives and unsung domestic labourers to fearless tribal activist Sumani Jogdi, …

A Down To Earth annual- The State of India’s environment 2014

It’s not the first or last word on the year gone by, but it certainly is the only one of its kind. The State of India’s environment …

आर्थिक सर्वे में मिले आम बजट के 5 संकेत

साल 2016-17 के आर्थिक सर्वेक्षण ने देश में रोजगारहीन विकास क�…

आर्थिक सर्वे में मिले आम बजट के 5 बड़े संकेत

साल 2016-17 के आर्थिक सर्वेक्षण ने देश में रोजगारहीन विकास क�…

Five takeaways from Economic Survey 2016

One of the key findings from this analysis is increasing inequality in income in India

Farmers need maximum government

In 2017, farmers will need more credit support than ever. Will the government come to their rescue?

Modi and `mass movement'

As Narendra Modi's regime enters its mid-term, it is time to assess: has he turned governance into a mass movement?

The march of isolationism

Is Donald Trump's victory a win for anti-free-market forces? Is it the death knell for capitalism and globalisation?

Surgical strikes for fetching jobs

Like terrorism, jobless growth continues in India irrespective of who is in power. To tackle it, we need not cross borders

Cull the caste

The fight against the caste system must be about control over natural resources, not professions of marginalised groups

Indigenous people in India and the web of indifference

On the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we bring together the stories of exclusion, oppression, and at times, recognition

Bundelkhand's bravehearts

For villages that survived recurring droughts, the economic-ecological connection makes more sense

GDP obsession

If the growth rate is so great, why are the poor not getting a taste of it?

In-depth coverage: Drought, but why

Drought now affects people across classes. India needs a new strategy for disaster management

Jokers in transition