Tried and tested
Traditional medical and agricultural practices, usually dismissed as unscientific, are regaining favour, with some help from Honeybee -- a …
Home remedies
Indigenous is the byword in the water harvesting techniques followed in India's northeast. In Meghalaya, an intricate network of bamboo pipes is …
Legacy of an empire
Encouraged by their ninth century benevolent rulers, Gond landlords and villagers had set up an intricate and immensely useful network of …
The State's non-bureaucratic role of encouraging the people
Indian rulers rarely built water harvesting structures themselves. They, however, encouraged their subjects to build them through fiscal …
Diverse technologies: a treasure trove
Our traditional water harvesting structures demonstrate the people's ingenuity at its best. Using unique modes and basic engineering skills, …
Hunting for the snark
Problems in conservation of sacred groves first have to be identified. The solution lies in measures that involve and encourage local people
A mythical tragedy
At the root of the tragedy of commons lies not the inherent selfishness of people, but the imposition of practices and projects alien to the …
Local smorgasbord
Book>> The food of a younger land: A Portrait of American food from the lost WPA files • by Mark Kurlansky • Riverhead books •…
A date with the palm
Savvy Soumya Misra spends a day with Mahoba’s palm collectors to find out why a card touches a raw chord amongst them
Little boxes of herbs
SUMANA NARAYANAN finds a 125-year-old shop selling herbal medicines in the lanes of Chennai
Potters’ wisdom for last journey
Agents Of Change, Animal Dung, Bihar, Scientists, Forest Conservation, Traditional Knowledge
"Biodiversity treaty is misleading the Third World"
A known a crusader for traditional Indian medicine. P Pushpangadan, who completed his Ph.D from Aligarh University, is currently the director of …
Variety comes home
Snack, curry or soup, be spoilt for choice with the nutritious vadiyaan
Old is gold
There is a tendency, across governments and over time, to disregard local knowledge systems: Arati Kumar-Rao
Landscapes suffer because we do not learn from extreme events, the author of ‘Marginlands’ tells Down To Earth
Bundled in a sacred basket
Tribal farmers in Jharkhand use mora made of rice straw to store grains
Curing our medical vision
A touch of poison
Amrita Singh discovers culinary versatility of a potentially poisonous weed
Bite into bitters
Maharashtra tribals’ way of warding off monsoon maladies
Making science of mumbo-jumbo
Scientists compile India's ethnic knowledge. They find a veritable gold-mine
Moses of Longleng
How the efforts of an individual brought prosperity to a remote town in the Northeast
Digital medical library
Herbal remedies
A new venture makes a foray into the world herbal market
Growing killer
As the menace of AIDS spreads in India, there is an interest in traditional cures
Trends in high places
Traditional timber-and-slate houses vs a neo-concrete nightmare in a Himachal village