The virtual reality of being Indian
The remoteness of 190 villages in Orissa's undivided Koraput district is an elegy on governance. Over five decades, living in islands inside huge …
The shadow of a calamity
Among disasters, drought is the easiest to predict and manage. The Indian Meteorological Department's forecast of a "below normal" monsoon in …
The colour of chilli
FRANCE may have rejected consignments of chilli powder from India because a banned carcinogenic colouring matter -- Sudan red 1 -- was detected. …
Reverse brain drain can be a strain
At that annual ritual called the Indian Science Congress, the Union minister of science and technology read out the prime minister's speech. It …
Can government be its own watchdog?
The Union government has finally set itself free. No longer will it have to perform the dirty, stressful and thankless task of redressing …
Puritanism will not cure AIDS
Union health minister Sushma Swaraj is brandishing a new poultice to wrap around the AIDS menace. It is a purifying prescription called '…
No more symbolism - There will be peace in Kashmir
Unfortunately, the very institutions that profess this belief are the ones blocking its realisation. Consider the recent prime ministerial visit …
Reach the last person
Will that crippling scourge called polio be wiped out from the face of the earth by the end of this year? The World Health Organization (WHO) …
As press freedom continues to struggle in Kenya, alternatives keep hope alive
As we mark World Press Freedom Day 2021, let us remember that 2020 was terrible for the press in many parts of the world.
The 'Right to recall'
Palavika Patel, the former president of Anuppur municipality in Madhya Pradesh, India and Gray Davis, former governor of California, usa are two …
A thing of beauty
It is a wonder! The amount of mudslinging the Taj Mahal provokes, it is surely impossible for this matchless mound of white marble to remain …
Will the Bodoland council follow the beaten track?
A concept that did not click in the hills of the Northeast has now been prescribed for the plains of the region. On December 1, the Union …
Northeast ahoy!
Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has grand plans to illuminate the whole country by now harnessing hydropower from the northeast region. His …
The torrid charm of being a UP politician
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has resigned. She's ended, as a newspaper put it, her "third honeymoon" with the Bharatiya Janata Party, a …
Avoiding harm - how simple a duty is it?
The London High Court judgment on arsenic poisoning cases in Bangladesh explicity clears the way for affected people to claim compensation. …
No truck with reason
It's a clear sell-out. The Union ministry of road transport and highways (MRTH) has given ground to truckers who ended their strike recently: the …
A grand water helpline
the timing, and background, of the recently concluded 3rd World Water Forum in Japan ensured that water be seen through the lens of conflict. …
The renewable energy transition is failing
Renewable energy isn’t replacing fossil fuel energy — it’s adding to it.
How development loses meaning
The abstract noun 'development' is firmly a part of the public relations language governments use today. But after a recent ordinance passed by …
SARS Wars
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is making the world sneeze. Even as the global health community struggles to unmask a new, deadly, …
Does government know one ecotourism from another?
Is the Andaman Works Department an expert body on eco-tourism? It will, in the near future, monitor the construction of hotels and resorts on …
Celebrating WSF 2004
When 80,000 people talk it makes noise. So it wasn't unusual for the fourth World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai to be snidely called a huge '…
The battle for knowledge
What are patents? Why have they become politically contentious and a major source of friction between rich nations and the developing world?
Lies, well told
In reel life, when things go wrong, the director takes recourse to a re-take. Then there are the stunt-men, who stand in for the hero when the …
Debating GM crops: Let sound science, and so good sense, inform it
The Paris-based International Council for Science, a federation of more than 100 national science academies, has come out with the biggest review …