`Top scientists misuse power, funds'

It seems like a lost cause but Kasturi Lal Chopra battles on. As president of the Society for Scientific Values (SSV), he leads the charge to …

GM maize and its health implications for humans

Michael Antoniou, head of the Nuclear Biology Group in the UK, has been studying the health effects of genetically modified (GM) crops since 1995.…

'They asked me to withdraw my court case'

P PARDHA SARADHI is tenacious. This mild-mannered professor at the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Delhi (DU) has …

Linkage between science and public policy has weakened

M S Swaminathan, popularly known as the father of India’s Green Revolution, has been associated with national agricultural research system (…

GM crop benefits are all in future

Nearly 40 years ago, Marc Van Montagu of Ghent University in Belgium, along with fellow researcher Jeff Schell, discovered that Agrobacterium …

Everyone is stealing germplasm

When agronomist Ralladoddi Hampaiah was advisor to the Russian government, he discovered how easy it was to take genetic resources out of India. …

Iran-India gas pipeline laid low by geopolitics

Mani Shankar Aiyar is known for the many controversies sparked by his provocative comments and controversial ideas. As Minister for Petroleum and …

A plant breeder comes into his own

Awards are finally coming to K Vinod Prabhu, 54, a plant breeder, for his work on building resistance in wheat, mustard and rice through the …

Who is watching GM crops?

As India gets ready to unleash a vast number of genetically modified (GM) food crops, politicians have joined activists in opposing engineered …

How MEA torpedoed the Bangladesh-India gas pipeline

Mani Shankar Aiyar is known for the many controversies sparked by his provocative comments and controversial ideas. As minister for petroleum and …

Bill will push PDS reform

Development economist JEAN DREZE, known for his work on issues such as hunger, famine, social and human development in India, child health and …

Clash of the cyberworlds

In an increasingly digital world, the issue of Internet freedom and governance has become hugely contested. Censorship and denial of access occur …

Battle for the Internet

As the Internet becomes the public square and the marketplace of our world, it is increasingly becoming a contested terrain. Its potential for …

Science under siege

Agricultural science has ossified in India. Despite a vast network of public research institutions and agriculture universities across the country,…

A treaty too many

India is learning that there is a heavy price to be paid for the large number of bilateral investment treaties, or BITs, it has signed in the …

Organic Universe

Organic is all the rage. Organic food, cosmetics, clothes and even organic medicines. But mostly it is food. There are speciality stores that …

Desperate for gas

Gas is the cleanest of fossil fuels and also more efficient and cheaper to use. Yet, in India, there has been no policy focus on this fuel, …

The hunt for benefits

India is hailed as a pioneer in implementing the third objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity—fair and equitable sharing of …

Secretive tribunals, hidden damages

Canadian academic Gus Van Harten is well known for his efforts to reform the global investment treaty regime through his research papers, …

We are pirates all

Film>> Partners in Crime • Directed by Paromita Vohra • Produced by Magic Lantern Foundation

Bad business all round

Neither the market regulator nor the Supreme Court has been able to bring crooked businessmen to book

Is this ‘legitimate rape’?

The official response to CAG’s report on captive coal mines fails to address serious issues on the loot of natural resources

Push for open source software

Delhi has been awfully late in adopting open source software, but the policy is finally there

Leaving the farmer in his agony

The BJP government is set on introducing policies which will deepen the agrarian crisis instead of reviving the rural economy

Ashish Bose: a man who counted

India’s foremost demographer had a lively interest in a host of societal issues, specially the state of the aam admi