The other course

Traditional curative systems like ayurveda, homoeopathy, acupuncture... are being revived as alternative medicine. But in India and the Orient, …

In crisis

The desert city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan is an excellent example of how Thoughtless processes of modernisation and urbanisation have destroyed an …

Knowledge seeks power

The rights of indigenous communities, which have nurtured traditional systems of knowledge through the ages, will be discussed at length at …

"Natural resources need to be protected"

For centuries the people in Bhinyad, a village in Barmer district, Rajasthan, been planning their agricultural activities while preserving the …

Power to the people

The Biodiversity Bill to empower local communities under scrutiny of parliamentary standing committee

Deserted Delicacies

Abundant, nutritious and tasty. Yet, traditional desert food is gradually losing out to commercially grown crops

The spirit of the sanctuary

Sacred groves - tracts of virgin forests - are vestiges of an ancient practice in which people protected a forest to avoid the wrath of its …

Archaeology helps to unlearn too

Archaeology is the science that studies the remains of past cultures by investigating and analysing the objects people leave behind. It is a …

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

A touch of powder

Maharashtrians spice up their simple meals with dry oilseed chutney

Beris to the rescue

Revival of rainwater harvesting structures quenches the thirst of a Thar village

Indians knew it

Ancient civilisations were aware of prebiotics

Seeds of purity

Local plant seeds provide a clue to treating impure water

SOUTH AFRICA

Cry neem

There is more to neem than fighting a patent

River Parliament

Breed apart

Animal conservation practices should be rethought

Cooking with kokum

Spice, fruit juice and now weight watchers' manna

Home truhs, colonial lies

A noted Gandhian historian, DHARAMPAL has enquired into variousfacets of M-British Indian society. He has authored several books, including …

Indigenous knowledge: Australian Aboriginal fire practices can help protect koalas from bushfires, study finds

‘Cultural burns’ encouraged regeneration of native plants, did not cause any stress in koalas and were cooler and slower than ‘…

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 …