Piloting disaster

Grass is greener

Growing grass in the desert of Rajasthan would improve the economy

Shaken, but not stirred

Despite several high intensity earthquakes, India is yet to chalk out a seismic policy

The lot of a woman

The fairer sex has not benefitted as much as men from socio-economic progress

Small change

The Union budget 1999-2000 does not give enough impetus to the environment sector

Humans may follow

A brave GNU world

The free software movement needs both bark and byte

The end of art

...as 'they' know it. Documenta 11 diffuses the boundary between politics and aesthetics

Two-leg safari

Babies can tell nice guys

I don’t want my fingerprints taken

Resisting biometric data  

Dam alert

The construction of the Thoubal multi-purpose dam and the Tapaimukh dam in Manipur has sparked off protests

the key to prosperity

It's time India realises that it is trade and not merely technological innovation that holds...

When the water begins to stink

...Yet another rainforest disappears and a way of life dies as "development" catches up with the Guaranis of Paraguay

Healer extraordinaire

The death of Arun Kumar Sen, the inspiration behind the Students' Health Home, the biggest medical insurance scheme run by students in the country,…

If you want to read a book

...the near universal necessity of being the owner of a book to read it needs immediate and drastic revision

Women in power

Women elected to panchayats in Karnataka and Rajasthan function in two ways: some live up to expectations and other succumb to the pressures

Bed and breakfast available, only for a year

Researchers probing parasitism among birds say the hosts are cleverer than those living at their expense. The great reed warbler, for example, …

The fragmented heritage of Jotiba Phule

Social radical that he was, Phule's memory lives on, despite accusations that he was pro-British and casteist. But most of his followers are …

Ban on exports helps protect Indian bullfrog

The decline of the Indian bullfrog was reported recently in a New Scientist article. But, it may be premature to conclude that the species is doomed.

A junkyard in the sky

An average trekker uses as much firewood in a day as an average Nepali family would in a week.

How many trees for a political tamasha?

Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha Jayaram's self-boosting extravaganza in Madurai has cost the nation an estimated 40,000 litres of precious …

The unaccounted wealth that leaves our shores

The Indian government invests Rs 34 lakh to educate each IIT graduate. It therefore has the moral authority to get him or her to work for the …

Up in smoke

Illegal marijuana cultivation leads to a systematic butchering of the rich rainforests of Kerala

Aswamedh Yajna - the burning question

Over the centuries, the Aswamedh yajna changed from being related to metal smelteries and became associated with horse sacrifices?