‘India has not given due attention to food-borne infections’
Neelam Taneja is a professor at the Department of Medical Microbiology and in-charge of the enteric laboratory at Post Graduate Institute of …
‘Focus of leprosy control programmes has to shift to address new challenges’
Yohei Sasakawa, chairperson of the non-profit The Nippon Foundation and also the World Health Organization (WHO) goodwill ambassador for leprosy …
'Clean environment has to be a fundamental right'
For more than four years now, Narayan Belbase, an environmental public interest lawyer, has been working towards facilitating and mainstreaming …
'Maps of resource-rich, poverty stricken tribal India overlap'
Ethnic conflicts have dogged India since independence. The problem has attracted a lot of scholarship. Amarjyoti Borah talks to two eminent …
How safe is your toothpaste?
From the basic, white toothpaste of yesteryears to the specialised cavity- and plaque-control ones, toothpastes have come a long way. Scientists …
"Massive assault"
Vo Quy is semi-retired, but still officially heads the Center for Natural Resources Management and Environmental Studies at the University of …
Home truhs, colonial lies
A noted Gandhian historian, DHARAMPAL has enquired into variousfacets of M-British Indian society. He has authored several books, including …
Technology needs stewardship
Keshav Raj Kranthi, an entomologist by training, is director of the Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur. He has developed an extensive …
"Calcutta is sifting on a time bomb "
DIPANKAR CHAKRABORTI, director, School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University has done significant work among people affected by Arsenic …
Justice league for people’s rights
In June 1979, an innovation in the field of law and politics came about in the form of Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal. The idea behind it is …
Ramsar is not a strong, strict and rigid convention
India has listed 16 wetlands under the Ramsar sites, but with no policies, knowledge or interest shown by the authorities, proper management is …
Johan von Schreeb on humanitarian aid
Johan Von Schreeb, a surgeon who has worked for the group Medicins Sans Frontieres, is a public health scholar with the Karolinska Institutet, …
Timber travails
After completing two years as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh Mukut Mithi is proud to relate his government's achievements while …
Here I stand, come hell or high water
Forty-five-year-old Keshubhai of Manibeli has come to symbolise not only all that is wrong with state power, but also the Narmada Bachao Andolan'…
'Their capability to pay arises out of their high level of exploitation'
Union minister for environment and forests Kamal Nath's attitude to the UNCED summit is a curious mixture of pessimism and optimism. He is …
Iodine deficiency causes mental handicap
Chandrakant Pandav , additional professor, Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, is a leading member …
Political parties cannot offer solutions
Well into his seventies, the veteran of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Kushabhau Thakre recently took office as president of the …
"Many want to gain from India's experience"
While India's rule-of-the-fist wildlife conservation programmes focus on protection, UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme seeks to lay emphasis …
"We need to take the development path"
Herman E Daly asks, "What good is a sawmill without a forest?" That sure is an unconventional question coming from an American …
Under-sea study will help India
Prattipati Shivshankar Rao is the first Indian scientist to sail the seabed of the mid-Atlantic ridge. His search for hydrothermal fields and …
Model approach
Mathematical models can be applied in real life situations in several ways. R Vishnu Vardhan from the department of statistics, Pondicherry …
The South should work with NGOs
Walden Bello , co-director, Focus on the Global South, a research institute in Thailand, has done extensive work on the East Asia Miracle Paradigm.…
"Real power lies with people"
Christine Milne , leader of the Tasmanian green party, was recently in New Delhi to attend the New Horizons programme, an effort to promote …
"The North is driven by the industry"
Christine von Weizsaecker is a senior microbiologist based in Wuppertal, Germany and the vice-president of Ecoropa, the premier European …
Warming bad for rice
Rice is a staple diet for many. But a recent study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) under the United States department of agriculture has …