Biomass market in a flux

Biomass power generation started with a bang 10 years ago. Plant owners, Ruhi Kandhari and Aparna Pallavi met say the picture is not that …

Importing Disaster

Who foots the huge dole for business?

Bad loans of public sector banks to business are more than double the food subsidy

Fanning an alternative

Progressive Maharashtra has rushed to install wind energy plants. But, ask nidhi jamwal and shikha lakhanpal, reporting from Mumbai and Dhule, …

Power trickles down

Successful cooperatives compel Maharashtra government to hand over control of irrigation facilities to farmers

Keep on the grass

Alpine pastures are thriving despite policies to encourage grazing. But Himalayan pastures languish despite strong conservationist policies

No concrete plans

The Centre for Science and Environment's Green Rating Project team has rated the cement industry. Its findings uncovered some surprises. The …

Why the US is such a bully

US attempts to kill of global democracy are getting more commonplace than ever. In such a political climate, it is impossible to talk about …

India not on course for clean air target

Cancun redux

Reflecting upon the fifth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization at Cancun, a Down To Earth editorial (see: "How not to lose …

Reform in fossil fuel subsidy is a mitigation opportunity

Money saved from the phasing out of fuel subsidies can be used for social and development programmes

On privatising water

What about privatising water? Should India move to do it? What tips the scales in its favour, and what doesn't? In 2003, two editorials in Down …

Private affairs

The invitation was innocuous. The Confederation of Indian Industry (cii) -- the grouping of the large and most powerful industries -- was …

Unrealistic approach killing rural sanitation programme

Ladakh on the move

Ladakh is the one region in India where sustainable development is the only way ahead. Dry toilets, water efficient crops, cooperative farming, a …

Empty Promises

The high-level conference at Rome was called to find a way out of the global food crisis. A series of consultations with experts preceded this …

Rs 3,300 crore omission

Subsidies given annually to industries for pollution control are unmonitored

World Trade Outcry

How inevitable was the collapse of talks at the World Trade Organization? How engineered was it? CLIFFORD POLYCARP reports from the streets and …

New gold rush

Trade barred

Countries protect their renewable energy equipment. Exporting nations see it as trade barrier  

Tryst with rain

Following the monsoon failure of 1999-2000, two states - Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh - launched crash programmes to encourage water harvesting. An …

A Renewable Crisis

The last time there was a major push for renewable energy alternatives to polluting fossil fuels was in the aftermath of 1970s oil shock. And then,…

Why the US is such a bully

US attempts to kill of global democracy are getting more commonplace than ever. In such a political climate, it is impossible to talk about …

Long yarn

The cotton story is a tangled tale. In many parts of India, farmers are committing suicide. It's been a while Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and now …

Olympics 2008, Beijing - raising the bar

Beijing is implementing strict measures to improve air quality, a commitment it took on as host of the 2008 Olympic Games. But a boom in …