How to grow a food forest that will feed you everyday

What does it take to design a permaculture kitchen garden? Peter Fernandes recounts his experience of growing a food forest using permaculture in Goa

Importance of permaculture for Indian agriculture

Clea Chandmal is the founder of Permaculture Ways. She teaches permaculture to farmers and also designs agriculture spaces using principles of nature and ecosystem services

Easy-to-do adulteration tests for honey and sugar

Some simple tests prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to check adulteration in common food items

First Food recipe: healthy and easy Makhana breakfast

Makhana or fox nut is traditionally eaten during religious fasting in India, but due to its immense health benefits, it is now relished across the country

Sweden against Climate Change: In Conversation with Eva Svedling, State Secretary

Eva Svedling is the State Secretary to the Minister for International Development. Cooperation and Climate Isabella Lövin. Lövin is also the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden. Svedling was in India recently and spoke to Down To Earth about climate change in Sweden, Swedish-EU- US relations and Indo-Swedish collaboration on climate change.

India's first quick charging station for electric vehicles

ViVa or Vidyut Vahan is India's first quick charging electric vehicles. It takes 90 per cent less time to charge an electric rickshaw—80 minutes instead of 10 hours

First Food recipe: delicious dessert mango curd with ramdana

Ramdana are the seeds of chaulai or amaranth. They are a source of calcium, protein and amino acids, also rich in iron, magnesium and Vitamin A, B and C. Ramdana is an integral part of Hindu fasting diet. A summer recipe which is both nutritious and healthy

How to segregate waste at home with Ruchika Sethi Takkar

Ruchika Sethi Takkar is a promoter of sustainable waste management at source. She teaches home-owners, residential societies and corporates the ways to segregate waste. At home, she segregates her waste into five different streams. Her message is that waste is a valuable commodity and must be treated with due diligence and care.

Yoga works on every part of your body: Poonam Bali

Yoga supplements and compliments mainline treatment in case of lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure

Learn how to breathe right with yoga

Most of us breathe only through the upper chest. We should breathe from the depths of our lungs. This is how a yogic breath should be

First Food recipes: Aloo ke gutke and Dawai Phool ki daal

Jakhiya or Cleome Viscosa comes from the tribes of Garhwal, Uttarakhand. Also known as wild mustard or dog mustard, they are found in tropics throughout the world. When cooked with potatoes, they make a flavourful combination

How to set up a solar plant on your roof and earn money

The ministry of environment subsidises grid connected roof top solar power systems. With as little as 10 square metres of roof space one can start producing electricity and export to the grid

How India's temperature has been rising over the years

Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general, Centre for Science and Environment, analyses temperature data from 1901 to 2017 to understand the situation

US withdrawal weakens Paris Agreement: Chandra Bhushan

Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General, Centre for Science and Environment, talks about how the US desertion has changed the nature of the Paris Agreement

Maps in the age of GPS: Susan Gole explains

Susan Gole is a renowned cartographer and map collector from Britain. She has extensively studied vintage maps of the world and of India. In the 1970s, Susan was the first one to publish a book on old maps called "Early Maps of India"

Sustainable farming made possible in cyclone-prone Sundarbans

Farmer income in Bongheri village of the Sundarbans has increased manifold after it was adopted by National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) initiative of the Central government

Watch: how to detect adulteration in milk

Some easy home tests to detect common adulterants like water, starch and detergent in milk, which can be performed under two minutes at home

Dry in the delta: Tamil Nadu drought

The region which recieves two monsoons a year is being crippled by a severe drought. Tamil Nadu with an average rainfall of 1000mm a year received only 168mm in 2016. Is this erratic weather or failure of traditional wisdom?

Climate-smart agriculture in Cooch Behar, West Bengal

The National Innovations on Climate-resilient Agriculture was launched by the central government in 2011. It covers 121 villages in the country. Khagribari, in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, has 1,600 households. This village is one of the places where a pilot project on climate-smart agriculture has been launched

First Food recipes: Bhang ke Pakode

Bhang has its place in Ayurveda—used to improve digestion, irritable bowl syndrome, insomnia and muscle pain. A simple recipe of bhang pakodas or marijuana fritters from First Food book. Bhang is an intoxicant, it should be used in moderation

Neduvasal will protest against hydrocarbon extraction

In Neduvasal, a village in the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu, villagers are protesting against the extraction of hydrocarbons from their agricultural fields. Protests broke out after the central government changed the policy and gave extraction rights to GEM Laboratories