India to bid adieu to Five Year Plans

The country will still have Plan documents but they would not adhere to a five year time period

Contraceptive chaos

Copper-T better in emergency, but doctors do not encourage its use

Speeding towards ecological catastrophe

Unplanned development

Biodiversity strategy plan

The Bulldozer in the Countryside

Imagine an assembly line construction of 17,000 homes on 3,500 acres of land costing US $135 million. Just on the borders of expanding cities. …

Going Dutch

Blinded by figures

By 2010, the world's population will have gone up to 6 billion. But at the recent New York meeting on population and development, counting heads …

Where SAIL's profits come from

State-owned steel giant’s profits are increasingly from raw material subsidies, not real economic value addition

Handloom threatened

Textile ministry proposes change in definition of handloom. Weavers fear it can ruin the tradition

Time for an overhaul

Having served the country for more than a century and a half, the Indian Railways has taken apathy in its stride. Politicians’ whims, and …

Why Chennai floods are a man-made disaster

An analysis shows that in just four decades, urbanisation in the city increased by almost 20 times

Freeing coal

As domestic coal production dips, plan panel proposes to allow captive coal power companies to trade coal

What states stand to gain from food security law

An estimate of the population that will benefit from the food programme

India takes cue from China; to mine rare-earths

Will add two research vessels for the mining 

Urban commons: Almost ignored in city planning

Commons act as a nutritional buffer, safety net for migrants; middle-class, wealthy residents no less dependent

Solan building collapse: Wake-up call to end illegal, unscientific construction

The fragile hilly terrain endures haphazard construction without proper clearance, land evaluation mechanism 

Aarey's Chipko moment

The plan to clear Mumbai's last green cover is facing stiff resistance from citizens and non-profits

8 years and Rs 228 crore later, Maharashtra fails to make even one village sustainable

The state’s scheme, aimed at creating environmentally sustainable villages, saw only up to 6% funds being used for green projects

Yes, humans are depleting Earth's resources, but 'footprint' estimates don't tell the full story

Although Earth Overshoot Day is a compelling concept, the methodology used to calculate it and the ecological footprint on which it is based is …

Murky science of comfort part 3: Industry defined standards make us feel uncomfortable without ACs

The Heat, Ventilation and Air Conditioning industry has made sure that we get used to heating and cooling appliances by setting arbitrary …

Flood forecasting not happening ‘correctly’ and ‘timely’ in most states: CAG

According to the CAG report, out of 375 telemetry stations, 222 (59 per cent) were non-operational

Why the Budget should increase allocation towards health and family planning

Low spending by India in these two areas has caused growing inequality, insufficient access and poor quality of healthcare services

China

Save Sunderbans drive