Butterfly wings to the aid of glaucoma patients
INSPIRED by tiny structures on transparent butterfly wings, scientists have developed a light-manipulating surface for more effective and longer-lasting eye implants for glaucoma patients. Researchers
Frontline (Chennai)
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Oil shock
THE Indian economy has been at tipping point for some time now, poised to enter a period characterised by slow growth and high inflation. The government's decision to hike the prices of petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) could well be the final push. In the government's view the hike was inevitable, given the sharp increase in the international prices of crude and India's dependence on imports to meet much of its consumption. If the hike came only when it did, it was because electoral compulsions and the opposition forced the government to hold back.
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Mapping disease risk
An Indian database has been created by profiling the population on the basis of changes in genes with disease linkages. THE first results from the project of the Indian Genome Variation Consortium (IGVC) have clearly demonstrated (Frontline, June 6) that even as the Indian population exhibits a genetic diversity unmatched anywhere in the world, there are within it pockets of homogeneous ethnic groups that have remained relatively genetically unadmixed. (The IGVC's multi-institutional project was set up to evolve a disease-linked genetic map of India.)
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Paying more for fuel
The time has come to act fast to replace, over a reasonable period of time, our dependence on imported crude oil. M. PERIASAMY Jatropha, a plant that can be used to produce bio-diesel, is cultivated on the Karunya University campus in Coimbatore. A file picture.
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Diverse bouquet
Karnataka's Tourism Department has unveiled a draft policy that is aimed at making the State a top tourist destination. PHOTOGRAPHS: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT The Jog Falls. The Sharavathi river plunges from a height of 243 metres here. FROM splendid temples dating back to over a millennium, to the breathtaking valleys and the lush green rolling hills of the Western Ghats, Karnataka offers a diverse bouquet of tourist attractions. Whether heritage tourism or adventure tourism, there are offerings across the State for both budget and luxury tourists.
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Service with a smile
Interview with M. Angamuthu, Deputy Commissioner, Karbi Anglong. A woman seeking information at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Diphu. Karbi Anglong is the first district in north-eastern India to get ISO 9001:2000 certification.
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Organic growth
Innovative development initiatives and good management practices have given a new image to the autonomous hill district of Assam. PHOTOGRAPHS: RITU RAJ KONWAR Ginger fields in Karbi Anglong. The district produces the best organic ginger in the world.
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Teesta's tears
Students and young people are at the forefront of a protest against hydel projects that are being planned in Sikkim. AT THE VENUE of the relay fast that has continued in Gangtok since June 2007. The Affected Citizens of Teesta comprises students, professionals and former politicians. DAWA LEPCHA has a tube stuck up his nose. It goes right down to his stomach. Sometimes, while he is asleep, it moves and chokes him. But the tube is his only sustenance. The juices poured through it are the only nourishment that keeps him alive.
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The fowls of the air
THE latest news from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) points out that all the warnings and pleading of conservationists have gone unheeded, and the world has lost nearly one-third of its bird species. India, rich in birdlife, has been particularly badly hit. In the IUCN Red List for 2008 for birds, India has the largest number of threatened species. A combination of factors has led to this pass
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North-eastern dream
The States of north-eastern India demand their share of the development pie. PTI Union Minister for the Development of the North-Eastern Region Mani Shankar Aiyar (centre) with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar (third from left), his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga (right) and Manipur counterpart Okram Ibobi Singh (extreme right), along with other members of the NEC in Agartala on May 12, the day before the signing of the vision document.
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Poverty of policy
The current food crisis has been largely policy-driven, which is probably good news because it means that policies can also reverse the process.