The State's non-bureaucratic role of encouraging the people

Indian rulers rarely built water harvesting structures themselves. They, however, encouraged their subjects to build them through fiscal …

Diverse technologies: a treasure trove

Our traditional water harvesting structures demonstrate the people's ingenuity at its best. Using unique modes and basic engineering skills, …

Hunting for the snark

Problems in conservation of sacred groves first have to be identified. The solution lies in measures that involve and encourage local people

A mythical tragedy

At the root of the tragedy of commons lies not the inherent selfishness of people, but the imposition of practices and projects alien to the …

Local smorgasbord

Book>> The food of a younger land: A Portrait of American food from the lost WPA files • by Mark Kurlansky • Riverhead books •…

A date with the palm

Savvy Soumya Misra spends a day with Mahoba’s palm collectors to find out why a card touches a raw chord amongst them

Little boxes of herbs

SUMANA NARAYANAN finds a 125-year-old shop selling herbal medicines in the lanes of Chennai

Potters’ wisdom for last journey

Agents Of Change, Animal Dung, Bihar, Scientists, Forest Conservation, Traditional Knowledge

There is a tendency, across governments and over time, to disregard local knowledge systems: Arati Kumar-Rao

Landscapes suffer because we do not learn from extreme events, the author of ‘Marginlands’ tells Down To Earth

Weed on my plate

Tribals of central India vouch for the taste and health benefits of neglected wild vegetables

Forgotten healers

Traditional medicine system has time and again proved its worth. Then why the cold shoulder?

Water strongholds

Chittor and Ranthambhore. Proud traditions of valour, chivalry and patriotism are complemented by one of common sense in the storage and use of …

Ayurvedic cure

A proposal to set up ayurvedic centres in hospitals across the country to treat cancer patients is on the anvil

Traditional wisdom

Researchers in Gujarat use rural expertise to predict weather when modern methods fail to make accurate forecast

A fruit for all seasons

Wild mango is not just part of the daily diet of tribal people in Odisha, it also helps them survive the lean season

Flower of wellness

Medicinal properties of endangered dhawai phool are recognised in Ayurveda and modern medicine

Eat it bland, eat it pickled

Stubborn weed selni was once a favourite among central India farmers for its cooling effect

Traditional cures back in vogue

Ancient health care systems such as ayurveda are gaining popularity once again as people become wary of allopathy and the hazards it involves.

Reviving proven ways of resource management

The state's attempts to stop environmental degradation in Bariadi district failed because they ignored the traditional knowledge of the people.

Inundated by colonial misconceptions

The benefits that can be derived from controlling flood waters intelligently have been wasted, largely because of wrong, archaic notions about …

Best kept sacred

Sacred groves are deteriorating at an alarming rate across the country. There is an urgent need to identify and protect these sacred woods to …

Restoring the past

A civil engineer revives an age-old system of farmers managing irrigation tanks in Tamil Nadu

Delhi hosts Water Asia 2000

Amid private companies' high-tech solutions to the water crisis, CSE presents a decentralised view of water management

Divide and rule

The failure of India's rural planning policies is due to the lack of understanding of human-land relationship

Reviving nature

A professor heralds hope and greenery into a remote Orissa village to set it free from a web of untouchability, superstition, illiteracy and poverty