Standing the test of drought
After the 1999 monsoon failed in several areas of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, there is a serious drought. Summer is a good four months away, and …
'Lt. Col. John Henry Patterson’s accuracy of description is very much in question'
Bruce D. Patterson is the MacArthur Curator of Mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is also an …
Agriculture is egocentric
Norman Uphoff, professor emeritus of government and international agriculture at Cornell University, US, likes to say that the system of rice …
Desertification control lacks efficiency
PERHAPS no environmental problem affects the poor of the world as much as desertification. The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) says this has …
The great experimenter
For ages, Indian farmers have practised ecofriendly farming by using local resources to improve soil fertility and control pests and diseases. …
Chronicle of a journey foretold
Water trains aren't a strange sight anymore. Not the least in the parched areas of Gujarat. But while many villages await their erratic supply, …
SUBSIDISED KILLING
They may survive the drought. But they cannot survive government policies. When people have to abandon their livestock, they are reduced to misery,…
A midsummer dream
Anyone will tell you that follow-ups are not a story. Journalism is not about following stories of specific villages and how they fare year after …
The water bearer
ANNA HAZARE bids a heavy-hearted farewell to the late Vilasrao Salunkhe, better known as 'pani baba'. Salunkhe's revolutionary concept of '…
Rain check
The column width dedicated to rain in the mainstream print media has hit an all-time high. A few days ago, television news reporters with that …
Large promises
Prime Minister Vajpayee is terribly interested in rural development these days. On his birthday he inaugurated Swajaldhara, a nation-wide water …
Why can't Indians access maps for 43 per cent of their country?
How is it that you can buy a map of India in Paris with details as fine as the location of all tyre puncture shops in Delhi (updated every six …
Global food crisis: causes and implications for India
Is there a global crisis unravelling? World food reserves are at their lowest in 25 years and the prices of most food crops are at a record high. …
Hiware Bazar - A village with 54 millionaires
Hiware Bazar, a village in Maharashtra's drought-prone Ahmednagar district, was sliding into an abyss after degrading its environment. But in …
Climate crisis: Madagascar drought worsens
Women, children have to walk for hours to get to food distribution points; families living on raw red cactus fruits, wild leaves and locusts&…
Water, Africa’s Gold: Climate change, deforestation behind Madagascar’s water scarcity
Madagascar, though blessed with abundant water, has recently undergone a change in its hydrological cycle, due to global warming, leading to …
Study identifies India among global flash drought hotspots from 1980-2015
The study identified rapid drought intensification across the United States, Brazil, southern Africa, Spain, western Russia and Australia as …
Nagaland paddy farmers worry over drought-like conditions
Paddy is grown mostly for self-consumption in Nagaland. A drought-like situation due to deficit rainfall has affected cultivation
Scientists sound the alarm over drought in East Africa: What must happen next
The next five years will very likely bring a strong El Niño causing more drought disasters
Climate change is real: After near-drought, Odisha deluged due to four days of heavy rain
Some 24 of Odisha’s 30 districts had faced a drought-like situation according to the rainfall report from June 1-August 25, 2021
How climate change contributed to Madagascar’s food crisis
Madagascar is on the brink of experiencing the world’s first climate change famine. Tens of thousands of people are suffering catastrophic …
Arid Americas: Are Pantanal, Colorado in a ‘post-drought’ stage
The Pantanal wetland in South America and the Colorado river basin in North America have experienced extreme drought in the last few years, which …
Taliban take-over: Afghanistan already battling drought, hunger, COVID-19
The now-absent government at Kabul had declared drought on June 22; half of its 30 million people are below the poverty line while 7,000 …
El Niño effect: Even in drought-tolerant forests, seedlings more likely to die
Scientists study effects of drought, find mortality higher in evergreen forests than deciduous ones
Monsoon 2022: Why a drought wasn’t declared in 4 states with drought-like conditions
A report shows drought-like situation in over 700 blocks of 91 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar & West Bengal