Looking beyond hype and nostalgia
To most modern Indian writers, the environment means trees, birds and animals -- and human beings, in aesthetic or metaphysical communion with them.
Arunachal's green could soon turn brown
Acquiring prime forest land near town and highway and then selling it at an exorbitant price has become routine in the state
Child weavers toil till the day is done
Trapped and exploited by dollar-hungry exporters, a child carpet-weaver's work ends when the sun goes down. Only then is he free to have his …
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' …
Intrepid non-learners
Indian politicians travel on public money—for what they can learn from the click of a mouse
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 …
Whale of a problem
The world has again failed to agree whether whaling should continue or a moratorium should be placed on hunting the sea mammal
Alluring corridors
Conservation of lengths of forests, harbouring native animal and plant species, is a powerful concept that can involve people and attract funds
Starting afresh
For the writer, the environs and celebrations will be very different when the new millenium dawns
Trim that FLAB
The bureaucrat is a generalist and gets to head departments that should be managed by specialists
Gifted writers
The life of a journalist on the motoring beat is replete with foreign trips, cash and expensive gifts, all in exchange of a slippery pen
Unfriendly neighbourhoods
In their rush to meet the housing requirements of cities, planners are turning a blind eye to the quality of the built environment