Geared to derail
Late last year, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Indian Railways (IR) castigated the for squandering money on import deals which would …
Tall Blunder
In 1996, industries in Delhi were hit by a series of court orders requiring them to take measures to reduce pollution 1,328 industries were …
Chronicle of a journey foretold
Water trains aren't a strange sight anymore. Not the least in the parched areas of Gujarat. But while many villages await their erratic supply, …
The CNG imperative
More than 50,000 additional deaths will occur over the next ten years, from 2001 to 2010, from toxic particles in Delhi if the Supreme Court …
The pollution story In Black And Pink
Life in Delhi is a capital punishment. The city's air is so polluted it claims a victim every hour. The level of small particles less than 10 …
Non-profit diseases
There is a logic to the idea of neglected diseases. Historically the diseases poor people get--largely in the poorer parts of the world--haven't …
Whose budget is it, Mr Jaitley?
Being the first full year budget of the National Democratic Alliance government, there was expectation that the finance minister's announcements …
Of stoves, kilns and a fine distinction between emissions
In the second week of March, activists, academics, policy-makers and experts in various fields came together in Delhi to throw light on the …
Clear as air
The grim picture of a lung scarred by pollution is of no shock value today. An ailing populace continues to throw up a phlegm of protests. To …
Renal emergency
Sri Lanka’s north-central region has been facing a health crisis for two decades. A large number of people in the region suffer from …
For government's eyes only...
The Indian official machinery has excelled for 50 years in keeping secrets. But with the right to information campaign gaining momentum, people …
Looking the other way
Under GATT it is illegal for farmers to sell seeds, but this can be ignored if the transactions are small, says the GATT chief
A matter of interpretation
Will the Plant Varieties Bill and the proposed Biodiversity Bill really help the farmers and the poor?
Hope on the horizon
As the Supreme Court cracks down on Agra's iron foundries, the begrimed Taj Mahal may finally breathe easy
Uncertain Future
The people of Uttaranchal are resisting the government's attempt to wrest control of the van panchayat forests they have nurtured for decades
Facing onslaught!
While new diseases emerge every year in the forests of India, there is little scientific research to deal with them
Earth matters
Many contentious issues come to the fore as preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development get underway
Body language
How does record wicket-taker Kapil Dev maintain a blistering physical pace at an age when cricketers usually hang up their bats?
Breaking the ice
Discovery of ice on the Moon might make colonising it and using it as a low-cost outer- space missions launching centre a less difficult target
Witness to genesis
Cosmologists spy on galaxies being born, and conclude that these massive stellar assemblages might have formed earlier than believed
Will it, won't it
Indian meteorologists say the Pacific current El Nio would not disrupt monsoons in India. Foreign experts disagree
Will the gift of GAB be wasted?
Worried about the state of the world's largest underground source of freshwater, Australia gears up to save the Great Artesian Basin from …
Omnipresent Poison
The maximum residue limits for the pesticide endosulfan in soilwater and vegetables from Padre have been breached several times over. But human …
Foisting failure
Haryana's Sukhomajri village exemplifies how government intervention can ruin a successful community-based programme
Swarm warning
Officials claim the locust problem is under control, but unless millions of hoppers -- young locusts -- stalking the deserts are exterminated …