Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
Even in remote villages, you can find shops providing tea and cigarettes/biris to the satisfaction of local consumers. But there are no schools, roads or drinking water. Now, we will all agree that schools and roads are more important than tea and cigarettes. Why, then, are lower-priority items well provided …
The sad state of public systems is the result of several, interrelated factors. Scarcity of resources, the most widely cited explanation, is an exaggerated alibi. Of course, the resources mobilised by the State are inadequate to meet costs of government and development expenditures (including maintenance and improvement of social services …
India has been enduring a tragedy for the past 250 years: government structures incongruous with the essential character of our traditional society, our samaaj, have been imposed on us. And this power of the State has only increased. That's why we see that the government machinery is incapable of delivering …
it's an annual pattern in Bangladesh. 10,117 hectares of land are washed away each year in devastating floods (Disaster Management Bureau report, 2003). The Jamuna erodes vast tracts along its course; the pattern of erosion along the banks of the Padma, Meghna and Teesta are equally destructive. If such points …
The ability of many introduced fish species to thrive in degraded aquatic habitats and their potential to impact on aquatic ecosystem structure and function suggest that introduced fish may represent both a symptom and a cause of decline in river health and the integrity of native aquatic communities. The varying …
A cruel summer has been left behind. Pipes are gurgling to life and the surge of water tankers on Chennai's streets is on the ebb. People and leaders are now free to discuss issues non-aqueous. There are even days when Chennai's papers skip the almost mandatory columns devoted to water. …
the World Trade Organization (wto) set up a special subcommittee on cotton on November 19, 2004, to address the issues concerning cotton trade "ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically'. The step was a compromise for the four West African nations, which had asked for a prompt end to billions of dollars of …
The tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and the Union ministry of water resources, allowing the transfer of the surplus waters of river Ken to river Betwa, undoubtedly marks a significant step in sharing of waters between states. UP needs to be applauded for agreeing to …
The government has decided to re-open for negotiations a benchmark power tariff of 3.1 cents per unit for private hydro-electric power projects because of refusal by international financial institutions to fund projects with unviable rates of return, sources have said. The sources said the government would approach foreign sponsors of …
The water experts, technocrats and participants of the regional conference on water issues on Thursday rejected the construction of all big dams including Kalabagh Dam at upstream of Indus River and demanded of the Federal govt that no more diversion, no more cuts on Indus waters in the upstream should …
The northern coastline, of the Gulf of Thailand is retreating at a rate of 65 metres per year and in about 50 years the sea will be more than three kilometres closer to Suvanabhumi Airport Samut Prakan and Bangkok a leading geologist warned .
Parts of the 274 districts across 16 states have shown more than 20 cm annual decline in the groundwater levels, severely affecting of the availability of water for various purposes.Minister of Water Resources Jai Prakash Naraynan Yadav said in the Rajya Sabha a long term analysis of ground water levels …
Calcutta High Court on Wednesday put a seal of approval on the state government's decision to make it mandatory for commercial vehicles more than 15 years old to be replaced with new Bharat Stage II-compliant models, if their permits are to be renewed.The transport department has stopped renewing permits of …
The consumerism of post-industrial societies has put natural resources under acute pressure. The worst hit has been water. India is no exception to this crisis. Here, governments have responded by framing laws to manage and conserve this scarce resource. On the face of it, this seems quite a good way …
large-scale construction of dams is preventing sedimentation in delta regions, in turn making it easier for the sea to advance and encroach on pristine ecosystems. This is what researchers at the Andhra University, Visakhapatanam, have found. The most devastating outcomes of this phenomenon are displacement of coastal communities and destruction …
This Report of the Standing Committee on Water Resources deals with the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in their First Report on Demands for Grants(2004-05) of the Ministry of Water Resources which was presented to Lok Sabha on 23 August 2004.
