Poetry born of struggle
Whether the revolutionary passion of his early verse, or the more mellow vision of his later work, Jnanpith award-winner Subhas Mukhopadhyay's …
Several Worlds, one vision
Satyajit Ray's films showed an extreme sensitivity to the natural world. Yet he was no naturalist. The people he portrayed were carefully …
A city derailed
The Calcutta tramcar system, perhaps the only eco-friendly feature in the city's ruined landscape, is heading towards extinction
If words were deeds
If a recently-held seminar on the Girl Child in the capital is any indication, her plight is not going to improve in a hurry.
The year of ecobabble
Despite numerous proclamations of eco-friendliness and a deluge of treaties, not much was done in 1993 to make fuelwood and clean water easily …
Hard-selling a fallacy
The North will stagnate, South will grow, and the multinationals, aided by World Bank ideologues, will exploit the poorer countries for their own …
Homework on global summits
Representatives of the South must pull up their socks on garnering vital data on the ongoing policy debates
All for the people
International organisations concentrating on the moral and material uplift of the underpriviledged
Requiem
It was a strong anti -adulteration law aimed at the standardising of food stuffs. Stronger industrial lobbies and vested interests helped it die …
Taken for a ride
Consumer-consciousness has yet to make a dent in the mind of the average Indian buyer. That 'consumer is the king' has remained merely a slogan …
Here we come, eco-chums!
Indigenous support systems that have been nourishing the Himalaya for centuries have become the current buzzword for progress
Coming of the know-all
The socio-ecological implications of the knowledge revolution are many and multifaceted. But the world needs a system where a 'post bi-polar' …
A disease called pollutionitis
Most of Delhi's urban elite suffer from this disease which makes them "rationally irrational". The disease is accompanied by finger-pointitis and …
A letter from a villager
A villager in Goa wants to cut a tree growing in his backyard to mend his damaged roof. But he needs to get permission from the tree officer. And …
HEADS or TAILS
A close look at the history of climate change negotiations reveals some alarmingly reckless traits in Indian policymaking
Intrepid non-learners
Indian politicians travel on public money—for what they can learn from the click of a mouse
A revolution redefined
Troubled by the degradation of soil and water, French farmers are now switching to a more sustainable practise of agriculture
Ground realities
The importance of groundwater as a source of irrigation and the role of traditional methods in conserving it should be given due credit
Nature's laboratory
The ice cover almost 4.8 km thick is perhaps the most valuable feature of Antarctica, with its record of past atmospheres in the trapped air bubbles
Gandhi revisited
Development policies based on Gandhian philosophy, rather than consumerism, are the best bet for tackling current environmental and development …
Time to wake up
The demand for water and energy is likely to increase at a geometrical rate in the coming years. What are the policy options for a better …
Silent sufferers
Indifferent primary health care in developing countries could lead to mental depression taking the form of a mass illness
Save the sea
...by encouraging local participation of fisherfolk to arrest overfishing and damage to the eco-system
The daily bread
Bangladesh's flood victims have little or no work, and little or no money to buy food. And even the foodstuffs that are provided to them under …
Fuel for thought
To reduce the level of carbon in the atmosphere, growing and using biomass as an energy substitute for fossil fuels is of greater advantage than …