Judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of In Re: Zudpi Jungle Lands. A batch of applications involved a peculiar issue concerning the situation prevailing in the six districts of eastern Vidarbha region namely Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli. The issue pertains to the status of the …
WHAT is common between Rio and rishwat (bribe)? Ask the Gujjars who come down each year from upland pastures to the forest areas of Mohand. Every year, when the Gujjars entered the forest, they were allowed their traditional rights, albeit on payment of the usual dastoor, mamul and salaami to …
INHALATION of cigarette and chulha smoke could be a major cause of Indians developing cataract sooner than people in the developed world. Scientists V K Shalini, Mani Luthra and D Balasubramanium of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) at Hyderabad and Leela Srinivas from the Food Technology Research …
ORISSA chief minister Biju Patnaik wants to disturb the placid waters of the famous Chilika lake but faces an angry response from his people. A broad-based people's agitation is building up in the state against the Patnaik government's efforts to allow the Tatas to set up a prawn aquaculture farm …
CRITICISING or condemning lopsided developmental priorities and highlighting their consequences is one thing; outright rejection of the very concept of development, science and technology is quite another. Propagating extremist ideology -- one that goes to the meaningless extent of rejecting even the Second Law of Thermodynamics -- is the sum …
IN HIS Independence Day address this year, prime minister P V Narasimha Rao vowed to eliminate scavenging from the country within a year. But mere administrative fiats will not make life easier for people like Rameshwari, who estimates she is 35 and has been a scavenger for 15 years in …
MY GRANDFATHER was young when he died of tuberculosis and our family was quite traumatised by the event. Thank God no one has to die of that terrible disease in today's world -- or so I thought, before I started my medical practice in Kumaon. My first lesson about TB …
Anna in Marathi means brother and Kishan Baburao Hazare is lovingly known as Anna Hazare in Ralegan Siddhi, the village in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district that he helped transform from poverty to plenty. Yet, though life in the village has changed, Anna continues to live in a small room in the …
FROM VERY small children we receive an education which is very different from white children, ladinos. We Indians have more contact with nature. That's why they call us polytheistic. But we're not polytheistic... or if we are, it's good, because it's our culture, our customs. We worship -- or rather …
HEADLINES about Ranthambhore sanctuary in Rajasthan are usually about its vanishing tiger population, but it was recently featured in the news for a very different reason. Artists from villages neighbouring the tiger park came to New Delhi's Taj Mahal Hotel to display their creations of the majestic big cats. The …
THREE, thematically unrelated films though off-beat are of interest because they deal with ecological activism, alternate lifestyles and informal banking. The first is Plastic! Plastic! and to see it is to is to appreciate the vital role the kabadiwala plays in Indian society. Mussoorie has no kabadiwala and the result …
Why did you form the GVMS? Women need remunerative work so they can be economically independent and take better care of their family's needs. We want to learn new things, this contributes to our development. We got the idea after observing the work of the BKS. While the BKS has …
CITIZEN'S groups in Pune monitor their municipal authorities closely to ensure they do not let the city become a concrete jungle. These groups insist on inspecting town plans, on offering alternative building proposals and on never relaxing the pressure on the authorities, whom they hold accountable to the people. Not …
ON AUGUST 9 the nation was observing the golden anniversary of the "Quit India" movement; that day, in Neralakuppe (A), a settlement of 40 Jainu-Kuruba households near the Nagarhole sanctuary in Karnataka, a different drama took place -- all the villagers fled to the jungle in fear. They were frightened …
STAR MOSS, a primitive organism without roots or a vascular system that is common in the forests of North America, contains genes that could be used to engineer drought resistance in crops. Molecular biologist Mel Oliver of the US Department of Agriculture's Plant Stress and Water Conservation Lab in Texas …
Union urban development minister Sheila Kaul has presented Laurie Baker, the innovative architect lauded for his low-cost construction techniques, with the United Nations Habitat Scroll of Honour for 1992. The award was presented to him on World Habitat Day (October 5). Baker has a simple rule-of-thumb for deciding which material …
INDIAN meteorologists are on cloud nine. They had forecast 92 per cent average seasonal rainfall for the country in the 1992 southwest monsoons - and the predictions came true almost to the last drop. The 1992 monsoon was sluggish at the onset after being delayed in most of the country …
THE UZI fly, a dreaded parasite of the valuable silkworm, may soon have to look for other ways to survive because a hyperparasite has been discovered that breeds in its cocoon. Scientists at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) in Hyderabad have identified a wasp-like insect (Trichopria khandalus) that …
The recently released environmental impact assessment of Chilika Aquatic Farms Ltd (CAFL) by the public sector Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS) gives a clean chit to the project,owned jointly by the Houses of Tata and the Orissa state government and forest minister Kamal Nath criticised in July the WAPCOS …
ACCORDING to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, God made Adam and then, not wanting him to feel lonely, took one of his ribs and created Eve. A simple explanation of why there are sexes and why there are only two. But try satisfying a scientist, or even a …
Despite hectic campaigning by the groups opposed to the Narmada dam plus a hefty boost from the anti-dam salvo fired by Bradford Morse and Thomas Berger, who formed a two-member independent review commission, the World Bank has taken a decision to continue funding the Sardar Sarovar project. However, in April …
