CATEGORIES

Champaran Redux

Peasants in Champaran are relying on satyagraha once again to claim the land their ancestors once owned.

Hidden Wonders of India

Did you know that the Ganga and the Brahmaputra sequester nearly 20 per cent of the global carbon? Or that Bengaluru owes its unique climate to a tectonic event that took place 88 million years ago? For the first time, a book comprehensively collates all scientific streams about the natural history of the Indian subcontinent. Down To Earth speaks to PRANAY LAL, author of Indica, on the jaw-dropping facts about our natural history.

Plateful of Pain

Climate change will make the disease burden more complex. Breakthroughs may help the affluent, but the poor will not have access to even basic healthcare.

Target Zero

India's waste will double in the next 25 years. If we are to avoid drowning in garbage, adopting zero waste management is a must.

Sukhomajri Falls Apart

A model Haryana village, which had pulled itself out of poverty by managing natural resources, shuns the very model of development.

Withering Heights

The rich diversity of aquatic plants in the Eastern Ghats has aided local communities in meeting their nutritional as well as livelihood needs. AJAY MAHAPATRA and ASHOK BISWAL analyse why these poorly documented plants are under threat.

Lock & Hold

The jallikattu debate is playing out much like the game itself, with each side trying to gain the upper hand: animal rights groups alleging animal cruelty, the Tamil people insisting on tradition and future of native cattle breeds, and governments eager to assuage feelings of discontent. Who will tame whom?

Mystery Fever

Doctors are clueless about the viral strain that has gripped several states in India this monsoon.

A Cure Worse Than The Disease

Isha Foundation's Rally for Rivers initiative to plant trees alongside river banks appears impractical and lacks scientific rigour ISHAN KUKRETI new delhi 

Cassini Dives Into Saturn

The Cassini-Huygens probe has enabled scientists analyse the surface and atmosphere of some of Saturn's mysterious moons SHREESHAN VENKATESH 

Bid For Mahadayi

Should Karnataka divert the Mahadayi's water to end the water crisis in its three districts?

Unhealthy Climate

As the global negotiations increasingly talk about the impacts of climate change on health, the upcoming UN CoP meet in Morocco will debate one important aspect: how to fund health adaptation

Go Gokul Gone

For all the noise around cow protection, NDA's cow mission, the very first it announced on assuming power, has nearly died

Dry no more

Rajasthan has launched an ambitious programme to become drought-free in four years.

Genesis Of Water

Life on Earth is the result of several fascinating coincidences, of which the presence of water is considered the most important. But we are still not sure where this water came from.

At Death's Door

Around three million people are estimated to be severely food-insecure in north-eastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Somalia. JONATHAN POUND looks at the reasons famine still plagues Africa.

Oh Deer!

Kashmir has barely 200 Hangul deer left, but it does not seem to be alarming enough for the state government, whose conservation initiatives are struggling to get off the ground.

Real Potent Life of Lead

The long-term impacts of lead exposure have finally been revealed: reduced IQ levels and lower socio-economic status. For India, the implications are grave. 

Primitive Classification

The Gonds, like other indigenous communities, still do not have sovereign political rights.

Suffocating Tragedy

There is no scientific consensus on the cause of encephalitis that has been claiming lives every year in the Gorakhpur region since 1978. But an unprepared government along with medical mismanagement made matters worse this year. 

Goa Undermined

As mining resumes in eco-sensitive Goa amid protests, a village tries to implement the cooperative model SHREESHAN VENKATESH panaji 

Sowing Adaptation

Farmers in eastern Indian states are replacing paddy with alternative crops to prevent elephant attacks. Can this experiment be replicated? DEEPANWITA NIYOGI palamu, east Singhbhum SAMARJIT SAHU angul

Can Farmers' Income Be Doubled?

For that, farmers will have to make an investment of ₹463 billion in the next five years 

The Next Ten To Go Dry

Bengaluru, Beijing, Mexico City and Istanbul are some of the cities that are headed towards Day Zero.

Urban Deserts

An estimated 400 million people currently live in cities with perennial water shortage. The number is slated to go up to 1 billion by 2050 due to rising urban population and the impact of climate change.

Warned, Yet Unprepared

States prone to floods have failed to implement management schemes, finds a performance audit of CAG 

The Net Result Of Bonn Is Lukewarm At Best

The recently-concluded COP delivered little considering what the world has witnessed in terms of climate-induced loss in 2017

Drilling To Extinction

Unregulated large-scale mining activities have decimated plant and wildlife populations in the once-rich Saranda forest in Jharkhand

Employed But Poor

Poverty among employed people underscores the need for a new strategy on job creation

Fatal Test

A Maharashtra legislature panel's suggestion to make sex-determination test mandatory could derail decades of efforts to protect the rights of women and the safety of the girl child.