Next year, in June, world leaders will get together in the joyful city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to mark 20 years of UNCED—the Earth Summit (see Down to Earth, May 15, 1992). Unbelievably, it will be 40 years since the Stockholm conference, when the question of the environment first …
Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act was enacted 15 years ago. Do you feel helpless because it has not yet been implemented? As the minister of panchayati raj, my first job is to remind people about the existence of PESA. If need arises I can go for further legislation …
On his focus areas as chairperson of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) I would like to focus on building capacity in developing and least developed countries. Most of them do not understand the Codex document, what it contains and what is there between the lines. So, they do not know how …
The meteorological department records that some 60 mm of rain has fallen in just about 6 hours; 90 mm in 24 hours; and with this the city has made up for its deficit of rainfall this season. In other words, in just about 24 hours Delhi and its surrounding areas …
We were standing at the edge of what looked like a swamp—grass and pools and streams. On one side was heavily barricaded land with high walls, barbed wires and armed security. A board read: East Coast Energy, Kakarapalli. This was where a bloody battle had taken place a few months …
On many occasions monsoons have failed leading to droughts, but IMD did not predict them. Why? Our predictions for rainfall during droughts were wrong only in 2002 and 2004. Between 1988 and 2001, our forecast for normal monsoon was qualitatively correct. It is true that we were not correct on …
Khan Market in boulevard Delhi is said to be the most expensive real estate in India, maybe even in the world. But in this richest shopping destination, buyers do not want to pay for parking their vehicles. The shopkeepers’ association has taken the local city council to court, saying it …
One of your more quoted statements is that the Bagmati is dirty because there is too much money flowing in it. Bagmati is nature. She needs to be honoured and feared like nature. Feared like a teacher. She does not like money. Hindus believe when they die, they will be …
Sustainable mining is an oxymoron. Environmentalists will tell you this. Mining—coal to limestone—takes away forests, devastates mountains and leaves the land pockmarked. It also destroys livelihoods of people and displaces them. Worse, modern, mechanised mining takes away livelihood based on land but does not replace it with local employment—all estimates …
Why a health film festival? I thought it would be a good idea to have the festival in Greece because Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was born there. Coincidentally, I found support from the mayor of the island where Hippocrates was born. The directors who have participated in the first …
My article last fortnight about people’s fight against POSCO has brought me interesting responses. They call for clarifications and further discussion. The question is about the value of current livelihoods of the people of coastal Odisha. Is earning from betel nut farming being exaggerated to reinforce the romantic and misinformed …
Why have yields stagnated? Yield stagnation at an average of 520 kg fibre per hectare over the past five years could be because of several factors, including bad weather and poor agronomic management. But over 800 Bt cotton hybrids developed by private seed companies have been approved for commercial cultivation …
What inspired your journey? Teruel: I discovered electric bicycles while living in Beijing. For two-and-a-half years I used it to commute to work. In 2009, I woke up with a mind to go around the world on an electric bicycle. It was the mix of my passions—travelling and electric bicycles. …
The sight on television was heartbreaking: children lying in rows in the searing sun to be human shields against the takeover of their land for Korean giant POSCO’s mega bucks project. Facing them were armed police sent by the state government to assist in the operation. The steel plant and …
Once again there is a food safety scare. A deadly strain of E coli bacterium has hit Germany, where it has taken the lives of 25 people and affected another 2,300 till date. German food inspectors on the trail of the source of contamination have as yet made two errors—blaming …
What is the mandate of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (bee) set up under the Energy Conservation Act? The law provides three regulatory functions. One is standards and labelling of electrical equipment, second is energy conservation code for buildings, and the third is energy conservation norms for industry. These are …
My position on the need to re-position forests in development (see ‘Rethink growth with forest capital’, Down To Earth, May 16-31) has brought me a huge response. On the one hand are those who argue that functions of forests already include conservation vital to life; they need to be valued …
Can you love tigers but hate forests? This is the question that troubled me as I visited the middle of India last fortnight. I was in Nagpur, where local politicians, conservationists and officials were discussing what needed to be done in this chronically poor and backward region endowed with forests …
Why are bees important to humans? The 20,000 or so species of bees are the principal pollinators of plants, both in gardens and in the wild. If you like having flowering plants around, for the most part you need to have bees around. There is a need to create awareness …
We were on a beach. Somewhere close to Puducherry. The sight was surreal: half-smashed houses with wide open fronts, people still living in them. The devastation was caused not by a sea storm or a cyclone, but by the eroded beach. The sea had crept up to the village; there …
