On wrong trek

The ecological perils of commercial hiking

Our country, our mess

How's India doing in providing basic social services?

Why waste a chance?

Green cussedness, anyone?

They did the impossible on land that held no hope

Another plague in the offing

The rash of leptospirosis cases in Mumbai during the current monsoon points towards the gradual breakdown of health services in burgeoning …

Flushing down its traditions

A good society knows how to clean its rubbish. But instead of setting an example for the world through its traditional handling of human excreta,…

The world isn't just Big Macs and Coke

How many people can the earth sustain? While the world feverishly computes the answer, it must not forget that sustainability is not just feeding …

The legendary Gandhian

Pakistani social scientist Akhtar Hameed Khan, is remembered, on his first death anniversary, for his achievements in the field of urban management

An urban puzzle

India’s population and cities are set to double by 2030. Can it cope with the pressures?

The key: empowerment

Arouse people's interest in governance

TOURISM & HANDICRAFTS: Backs to the wall

Militancy's most distressing casualties

WATER: Fading glories

Kashmir's dying lakes are choking their dependants

FORESTS: Losing its soul

View from the top

Planners must stop looking down at hill-stations

High risk

Problem: Tall buildings risky in high seismic zones; Status: Hill-stations are getting concretised and growing vertically; Challenge: Use local …

What goes down

Problem: Lack of space for garbage disposal; inadequate sewerage; Status: Garbage disposed on hill slopes ends in streams/rivers; Challenge: …

Defying gravity

Problem: Terrain forbids water supply systems that work in plains; Status: Water crisis in peak season every year; Challenge: Develop …

Local travails

Problem: Tourist influx too large; earnings flow downhill; Status: Residents forced to share meagre facilities with tourists; Challenge: Regulate …

New Age Approach

We need to go back to the drawing board to reinvent a green toilet. If necessary, to go back to our past and find technological innovations that …

Drowning In Human Excreta

Sanitation for urban India means building flush toilets and linking them to sewer systems. But the price of chasing this dream is leading to an …

'Let's put our cards on the table'

Veteran UN negotiator and head of the UNEP during the Rio summit, Mostafa Tolba, reasons why developing countries always suffer at the hands of …

World's biggest trade fair

The US used partnerships to counter multilateralism

Battle of the brackets

The Plan of Implementation is a list of vague expressions

Bhutan’s experiments with happiness

The idyllic Buddhist kingdom believes that peace and happiness should take preference over material growth. In a world beset by inequities and …

Churu says yes to hygiene

The district is all set to become the first in Rajasthan to completely stop open defecation. Will others follow?