Mumbai comes to a standstill every time it receives heavy rainfall for consecutive days. Why is the city not prepared to deal with such extreme events?
Ujjwala scheme: Are cleaner cooking fuels affordable and accessible?
Is scrub typhus the likely cause behind Gorakhpur tragedy?
Unpredictable weather, unreliable insurance, unbelievable profit to companies
Mission Madness
In their desperation, officials are adopting coercive ways to stop open defecation. Sushmita Sengupta, Snigdha Das and Rashmi Verma look into the ethical and practical challenges in achieving the Swachh Bharat Mission
For environmental rights defenders, 2016 was the deadliest year on record
India emerged the fourth deadliest country in the world for land and environmental rights activists
Power Play
New Rules for NGT appointments will further complicate the already strained relations between the judiciary and the executive
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 farmers to sustain productivity. It's time India offered its food producers a new deal
Save our seas
The UN's first conference to save the oceans is a grand show of intent to reset our relationship with the largest sink of carbon dioxide and the biggest receptacle for human wastes. But will governments, industries and organisations stand by the big voluntary commitments they have made? Vibha Varshney reports from UN headquarters in New York
New systems, old habits
Launched in 2014, the new-age regulatory mechanism for highly polluting industries remains a non-starter due to poor planning, hasty execution and lack of enforcement
Multi-pollutant crisis in Delhi-NCR: Ozone pollution another deadly contributor
With high pollution levels and growing heat stress due to climate change, the ozone level is frequently exceeding the standards
Naini lake is depleting, but can we undo the wrongs?
Experts believe that obstruction in the subsurface recharge and increased abstraction of water to quench Nainital’s thirst are making the lake shrink
India's burning issue of crop burning takes a new turn
The pattern of burning crop residue in India is changing. The practice is no longer limited to the post-monsoon crop of rice or the northern states of Punjab and Haryana
Waking to the chemical spill in Delhi
Lives of about 500 schoolkids were put at stake when a toxic chemical leaked in a busy slum area in south Delhi on May 6. Down To Earth finds out the lapses and highlights the pressing concerns
Illegal and ignominious world of wildlife trafficking
Analysing the magnitude and international nature of illegal trade of Indian wildlife species
Meat Matters
Why slaughterhouses have to be "illegal" to be sustainable and why farmers have to give up their cattle for survival
Champaran Satyagraha continues
A century ago, Gandhi tested the idea of satyagraha to fight for indigo farmers. While the crop is seeing a revival in the south, Champaran is in the throes of another peasant struggle
For a good night's sleep
Most urban Indians dread bedtime. Sleep disorders ensure that 93 per cent of the people living in cities don't sleep well or worse, are not able to sleep at all. What is causing us to lose sleep?
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, these women deserve our admiration
Men as the wind beneath our wings
From Mahabharata hero Bhima to Nobel Laureate Tagore, from Infosys founder Narayana Murthy to Bhagwad Gita’s Krishna, we bring to you memorable men whom women love and admire
Sister Solar System and Earth's cousins
After discovering Earth-like planets in 2014 and 2015, the NASA took a step towards finding life outside our own solar system by discovering a new one with seven Earth-sized exoplanets
Death and resurgence of mother tongue
On the occasion of International Mother Language Day, we present to you stories on dying dialects, language revival movements and their significance to ecology and culture
Bellandur Lake: a story of toxic froth and fire
Bengaluru’s failure in managing solid waste and lack of a sewage management plan explain repeated incidents of Bellandur lake catching fire
Lock & hold
The jallikattu bull row in Tamil Nadu provokes the law v culture debate
Dirty air dooms Indians to early death
New analysis of global burden of diseases shows very high rate of increase in early deaths from particulate and ozone pollution. Over a quarter of global deaths from air pollution occurs in India.
