INEVITABLE TRAGEDY

SOPAN JOSHI travels through Andhra Pradesh, only to find that beyond the immediate crisis of state-wide farmers' suicide lies one decade of …

Employment guarantee scheme not in sync with Mastapur's needs

Drought of equity

A large part of Maharashtra has been declared drought-hit. But distribution of water is quite incongruous. While the few who are politically and …

Drought hit

Jharkhand’s water table falls three metres in one year

The lake colony

Call them the "lakers". Some 10,000 of them. Parts of the Dal (land and water) belong to them. And when they feel the need to make a …

Nepal's poor carry it off

As the Himalayan country's forestry scheme for the poor reaps rich dividends, its government entrusts more degraded areas to the underprivileged. …

Raw Deal

Scepticism hangs over Kerala's Tribal Rehabilitation and Development Mission and its master plan

Street food vendors threatened after court ruling

Protests against retail chains getting into fruits and vegetables

Poll posturing

Down To Earth gauges the ground reality before assembly elections

Anaemia rampant in women in Bageshwar

Question on employment guarantee scheme's success

Impotent plan?

In August 2005, the Indian Parliament passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (nrega). The latest avatar of state-financed employment …

India's poorest people live in the richest areas Comments from the dialogue on mining organised by CSE

Arunachal's 'economic development' does not bode well for women

Bank at your doorstep

Technology is helping public sector banks find customers in rural India. This is part of the Centre’s efforts to include villages in the …

Logjam

Whenever the Supreme Court pulls the trigger, why does it miss the target? Because governments like those of the seven Northeast states work …

Theirs to mine?

This is the question angry and beleaguered tribals in Orissa and Jharkhand are asking, as mining companies set up shop in the midst of their land …

Made it

Enabavi, a village of 52 families, is abuzz. It is hosting farmers from the nearby Kallem village who have come here for tips on profitable …

Everybody's a Loser

The World Trade Organization's recent ministerial meet in Seattle, USA, will be remembered more for the protestors who turned the venue into a …

Phulmai's walk - a day in the life of a headloader

Headloaders - collectors of fuelwood in India's woodlands. On the one hand, seen as forest destroyers, on the other, they are the sole support of …

A watershed plan

Recurrent droughts and floods coupled with mass poverty, chronic unemployment and pervasive malnutrition are the major challenges before India. …

Paying farmers for ecological services

Ecotourism: Scrambling for paradise

Does tourism always have to be a threat to the environment? Not anymore, claim the promoters of the globally emerging industry of ecotourism. …

SEZ, how special?

Despite having burned its fingers with export processing zones, which mainly involved a number of substantial fiscal benefits, the government has …