India's forgotten Africans

Down To Earth speaks to Beheroze Shroff, Lecturer at the Department of Asian American Studies, University of California, Irvine about the current-day condition of the Siddis, the unique African tribe of India

Recipe from First Food: Goolar Ka Chokha

Goolar or country fig is a super food. It is known to cure stomach ailments such as diarrhoea, is rich in fibre, and modern research shows that it can help to reduce cholesterol in the body

Green Schools Award 2017

Green Schools award is given by Centre for Science and Environment to the top eco-friendly schools in India. The award ceremony was held on February 15, 2017 at India Habitat Centre

Watch: an atlas for the visually impaired

National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO) released an atlas for the visually impaired earlier this month. Down To Earth enquires how effective and useful are they?  

Piu & Pom give you some thought for food

Piu & Pom—with their gifts of inquiry and insight—come to life from the pages of our kids’ supplement Gobar Times

Food safari in deserts of Rajasthan

Down To Earth travels to Rajasthan to find out about the traditional food habits of desert people. On this journey, we discovered that not-so-familiar wild food nurtures people in a harsh environment. Sadly, traditional food is slowly losing its relevance with farmers turning to groundnut cultivation

Anumita Roy Chowdhury reacts to Global burden of Health Study

The Centre for Science and Environment demands urgent intervention and action in view of the results from the new analysis of global burden of disease (GBD) estimates. While air pollution causes more than 4.2 million early deaths globally, of these 1.1 million deaths occur in India alone. This is more than a quarter of global deaths.

Down To Earth speaks to conservation icon George Schaller

George Schaller on his life, accomplishments and the road ahead for world wildlife conservation

The waste-to-energy plant violates emission norms by not using environment-friendly technologies

Since 2009, the residents of Sukhdev Vihar, a residential colony in Delhi, have been fighting against a waste-to-energy plant operated by Jindal Urban Infrastructure Ltd. The plant uses dirty incineration technology to produce power and releases toxic dioxins and furans which affect residents of nearby colonies. The residents have approached courts, but have not got any relief. The NGT, on …

Delhi's emergency action plan to tackle air pollution

The Supreme Court recently passed a graded action plan to tackle Delhi's air pollution woes. Down To Earth explains how it works

Under the Sal Tree—theatre of nature

Under the Sal Tree theatre festival is a unique concept where plays are organised inside a Sal forest in Assam's Goalpara district. This is an eco-friendly idea, where artistes work in harmony with nature

Budget 2017 Analysis with Sunita Narain

Centre for Science and Environment and Down to Earth analysed the 2017 Budget by Arun Jaitley. The major takeaway is that there is very little for environment and climate change.

Sunita Narain at Jaipur Literature Festival 2017

Sunita Narain at Jaipur Literature Festival 2017 sheds some light on degloablalisation in the age of climate change and finding new pathways for sustainable development.

Along the Kosi: through a narrow path

As part of Down To Earth's travelogue series, we travel to north-east Bihar, where the tempestuous Kosi flows. The Kosi river is infamous for floods in these parts. The government, as a solution, embanked a major part of the river. Has it solved any of the problems of the people, or created some more for them to deal with?

The Chipko movement as it stands today

The idea behind the Chipko movement originated in early 1970s from Mandal, a village in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. Forty-three years later, Down To Earth travelled to Chamoli and Tehri Garhwal and spoke to the participants of this movement about its relevance today

Analysing climate change in 2016

Last year was bad for our planet. Here’s a round-up of things that jeopardised us

Health report 2016: a glance at major developments

Down To Earth takes a probing look into key health issues that raised concerns and dominated medical discourse in 2016

Problems faced by the Bahima, a nomadic pastoral community of Uganda

Elizabeth Katushabe, a cattle keeper from Uganda, talks to Down To Earth about erratic weather patterns, which is affecting the cattle reared by the Bahima community

Dastaan on pastoralists: interview with Ankit Chadha

Ankit Chadha is a Delhi-based performer of "Dastaangoi", the art of storytelling that evolved across the Muslim world before coming to the Indian subcontinent. Chadha has been telling Dastaans in Delhi and other parts of India since 2010

A peek into Amma's welfare schemes

Tamil Nadu chief minister for six times, Jayalalitha Jayaram died in Chennai on December 5. We bring together a brief summary of her welfare schemes that were loved by her supporters and ensured the state ranked high in socio-economic indices

Antimicrobial resistance emergence and spread: interview with Anthony D So

Anthony D So is Director of Strategic Policy Program at ReAct - Action on Antibiotic Resistance, USA. He has chaired a WHO expert working group on fostering innovation to combat antimicrobial resistance

Demonetisation week two: how Azadpur market traders are reacting

In the second week after demonetisation was announced by the Centre, Down To Earth visits Azadpur market to find out how things are going