Bhopal's nightmare of green and apathy
IF LIVING proof is needed of how institutions created by human beings for their welfare really work, one has only to go to Bhopal, where thousands succumbed in a deadly MIC gas leak on the night of
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Fun and information on wildlife
NATURE Scope-India, one of the first publications of its kind in the country, is being brought out on the lines of the Washington-based National Wildlife Federation's NatureScope. The first issue
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A wealth of anecdotal material
THIS BOOK is a misnomer for "heritage" connotes something far removed from the present. Kautilya's work, for example, might be described as India's heritage. The book, however, presents 10
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Gender roles among the Mukkuvar fisherfolk
THIS REMARKABLE book transcends the crucial limitations of both Marxist social theory and conventional anthropology by consciously avoiding "economism" and "culturism". While recognising "the
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Homegrown experts offered for "sale" abroad
Chakriya Vikas Pranali, a rural organisation, has a unique approach to ecological regeneration based on informed agricultural practices. This approach, introduced in more than 30 villages in south Bihar, requires sharing the produce between the landowner,
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Profiting from ecological subsidies
GUJJARS are up in arms because they resent being thrown out of their homes by the proposed Rajaji National Park in Uttar Pradesh. In coastal Orissa, Chilika fisherfolk are protesting the allocation
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Stretching arguments to point of absurdity
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
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Everybody coughs in Kumaon
... but the government has done nothing to monitor the prevalence of tuberculosis in the area.
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Children of the earth, worshippers of nature
Rigoberta Menchu, a Guatemalan human rights activist and peasant leader, was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Menchu was witness to the massacre of her entire family at the hands of the Guatemalan army. In this excerpt from her testimony, Menchu des
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From copycats to new stylists
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
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Unheralded films feature development themes
Individuals and voluntary agencies continue to make films in different parts of the country on subjects that interest them, though hardly any of these make it to the television screen.
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Looking beyond hype and nostalgia
To most modern Indian writers, the environment means trees, birds and animals and human beings, in aesthetic or metaphysical communion with them.
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I hate scavenging, but what else can I do?
Rameshwari has been working as a scavenger in the pilgrim town of Ajmer in Rajasthan for the last 15 years. She abhors her work, yet she does it as it is her only source of livelihood.
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Reserving verdict on Clinton Gore
THE NEW US administration of Bill Clinton and Al Gore promises to be environment-friendly. Gore, derided as the "ozone man" by outgoing president George Bush has sound environmental credentials. His
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Only males need apply...
With an increasing number of joint forest management projects being implemented, it is vital that forest departments become more gender sensitive. Unfortunately, there is a curious dearth of women field staff in the country's forests.
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Ban on exports helps protect Indian bullfrog
The decline of the Indian bullfrog was reported recently in a New Scientist article. But, it may be premature to conclude that the species is doomed.
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Making the right choice
A MAJOR leap in Indian jurisprudence occurred when Chief Justice P N Bhagwati interpreted the Indian Constitution to mean that Indian citizens have a Right to a clean and healthy environment because
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Improving village life will keep villager home
Voluntary agencies will have to come up with ways to make the village peaceful and productive. Only a satisfying life in the village will prevent the immigration of villagers to the slums
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British TV crucifies India's nuclear programme
Using cloak and dagger techniques and with help from willing critics, a British television crew does a hatchet job on India's nuclear programme.
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An unconventional study of the food cycle
IT IS A daring and formidable task to synthesise the insights of social and physical anthropology, physiology, epidemiology, micro-economics and macro-economics. This has been attempted with