The wisdom of the unlettered

The wood femine

Decline in supplies has badly affected many traditional crafts. Woodcarving in Saharanpur is one of them. Despite a revitalised export market, …

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 …

Science of the Common people

A recent congress highlighted the relevance of people-oriented science and technology such as the management of water, forests and agriculture.

The other course

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

How To Sell A Wonder Herb

There is arogyapacha. A rare herb with extraordinary medicinal properties. There is the Kani tribe of Kerala. It has preserved the herb and the …

Knowledge seeks power

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

Deserted Delicacies

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

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 …

Hydraulic marvel

An eighteenth-century canal system in Pune remains fresh despite long disuse

Mother Chokie

A touch of powder

Maharashtrians spice up their simple meals with dry oilseed chutney

Indians knew it

Ancient civilisations were aware of prebiotics

Seeds of purity

Local plant seeds provide a clue to treating impure water

"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 …

Home truhs, colonial lies

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

SOUTH AFRICA

Cry neem

There is more to neem than fighting a patent

Breed apart

Animal conservation practices should be rethought

The kuhls of Kangra by J Mark Baker

Book>> the kuhls of kangra by J Mark Baker Permanent Black New Delhi, 2005

Natural dye can be used in applications such as DNA fingerprinting

Local smorgasbord

Book>> The food of a younger land: A Portrait of American food from the lost WPA files • by Mark Kurlansky • Riverhead books •…

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