Unconventional interference
The United States has decreed that GATT will have the last word on intellectual property rights, thus throwing the Biodiversity Convention to the …
When fathers harass their sons
Among white-fronted bee-eaters, a bird species found abundantly in east and central Africa, fathers torment their sons and physically prevent …
Need for an overhaul
Scientific research and organisation must be completely re-oriented to a more balanced development of the planet.
The global environmental fiasco
After six meetings on how to restructure the Global Environment Facility, a consensus remains elusive.
Going public
A unique experiment to involve the people in bringing water to desert communities is under way in Rajasthan.
Beyond home
Bill Clinton's absence from the Copenhagen summit on social development underscores the post-Cold War parochialism that has gripped the American …
Walking tall
Jonas Salk, the man who humbled the dreaded polio virus, was that rarest of scientists, the "unconventional upstart"
Global democracy tilts at the axis
Are the "forces of freedom" in the West muscular enough to deepen democracy at the global level?
Earth health
Clinically clean, gleamingly coloured, hermetically sealed fruits and vegetables face the challenge of organic food
A green front is not enough
It is time to question whether the new green urgency of big business is a genuine change of heart
Straight from the puppet's mouth
Why should it matter if messages are effectively conveyed through tales, songs and plays rather than from the mouths of scientists bogged down in …
Sprucing up
...production techniques could go a long way in creating a pollution-free milieu as the final aim would be to achieve a no-waste company discipline
Urbane and stupid
Sitting in urban comforts and planning for a rural set-up can only spell doom for any activity on the development front, for the village is a …
Wealth engenders debt...
... seems like a paradox, but when that wealth is produced by affluent countries through importing undervalued resources of the poorer regions,…
After the last tree is felled
'Sustainable development' cannot afford to be another epithet in the lexicon of development, but should dispel myths about human-made and natural …
The silver spoon
Development in the small-farm sector holds the key to a holistic progress in the Asia-Pacific countries
Good but not true
The United Nations does not take into account sustainability of the environment in assessing progress using the Human Development Index, …
Turning to God
Godfrey Baseley, the man behind "The Archers", BBC's popular serial on agricultural information, is dead. His 'gossip' was valuable advice to the …
An alternative perspective
While small irrigation projects are the need of the hour, the government is obsessed with big projects
Order, Order
Powerful words that provided the base for judicial activism in India. How potent are the judgments delivered in favour of the environment? Will …
W(h)ither Indian science?
High-profile science need not be the cornerstone of Indian science policy. What is required is to give more thrust to existing methodologies and …
Africa awake
The new US foreign policy on environment, if well implemented, should shake African nations out of a long stupor into tackling massive eco-…
A beaten path
Suresh Prabhu is by no means breaking new ground. He is merely mouthing the same promise made time and again, but never fulfilled, by his predecessors
Who US, what sanctions?
By conducting nuclear tests, India was only asserting its sovereignty. Now, if it gives in to US pressure tactics, it will tantamount to begging …
Dam alert
The construction of the Thoubal multi-purpose dam and the Tapaimukh dam in Manipur has sparked off protests