More hard facts and much less syrup, please
A look at two documentaries on local resistance to the Suvarnarekha dam project in Bihar and the Sardar Sarovar dam that dwell too much on the picturesque and not enough on the reality.
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Two academics traces India's green history
THIS BOOK by two of India's most eminent environmental historians makes a first attempt at constructing an alternative, ecological view of Indian history. Coming on the heels of Clive Ponting's A
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If nothing is done, we fisherfolk will perish
Bhajani Behera of Arakhakuda village, feels the lake is doomed unless the government mounts rescue operations quickly. He should know, because he has spent 65 years of his life fishing in the lake for a living.
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Lessons to be learnt from Chilika
EVERYONE recognises the importance of forests. We have over the years set up several structures and evolved policies to try and conserve them. How effective these are is, of course, another question.
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A tool to aid democracy lies rusting
That concerned citizens have the right to approach the courts on matters of social justice and that India's constitution, by implication, guarantees ecological justice are indeed ideas that have done
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A case of computer breakdown?
IF ONE were to pick a single product to represent the tremendous technological progress in the second half of this century, it would certainly be the computer. In few fields has progress been so
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Trade controle is not fair instrument
In this issue, we carry two reports: One on the subject of human rights suppression and environmental degradation, and the other on trade bans against environmentally harmful products. Both trade and
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Whose apocalypse is it?
HAVING an attractive, alliterative title is a prerequisite for popular books today, but it is Arthur Bonner"s subtitle that is seriously misleading. Averting the Apocalypse is not about "social
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The future folding into itself
The pollen so sharp that the wind sneezed, its belly so speckled with rashes that it turned visible. The way the fish walked up the beaches you'd think they had turned amphibian.
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The unaccounted wealth that leaves our shores
The Indian government invests Rs 34 lakh to educate each IIT graduate. It therefore has the moral authority to get him or her to work for the country, at least for a period of five years
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Poetry born of struggle
Whether the revolutionary passion of his early verse, or the more mellow vision of his later work, Jnanpith award winner Subhas Mukhopadhyay's poetry inspired an entire generation
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Truth is what my father taught me
A look at today's environmental issues through the eyes of two well known poets, exclusive to Down To Earth
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Have we forgotten Rio already?
India has failed in the basic work that it needed to do even before going to Rio -- define the pathway of sustainable development for itself
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"I am neither here, nor there"
Young Saif Ali is one of a handful of bhanyara nomadic Gujjars of northern Himachal Pradesh who attend college. But education has led him into a number of dilemmas and today, Ali feels he has no distinct identity of his own
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Thick skinned policies
Dozens of families displaced from Gujarat villages in the vicinity of the Sardar Sarovar dam years back have returned to their original homes and refused to move back. What further evidence do the authorities want?
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Conservation at what cost?
STATE-SPONSORED conservation of natural resources in India has been in existence for many centuries and has been carried out in a variety of ways. Today, the generic term of "protected areas"
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Wanted: an independent appeals institution
If the World Bank does not withdraw from the Narmada dam, it will undermine the credibility it gained from setting up the review team. US NGOs now want a permanent mechanism to investigate appeals by affected people
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Keep the debate within the country
THE MORSE committee has asked the World Bank to step back from the Sardar Sarovar project. Whether the bank complies or not, the committee has undoubtedly delivered a resounding indictment of
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The wisdom of indigenous healers
SOMEWHERE in the Ayodhya hills of Bengal's Purulia district, a scorpion stung the wits out of me. My adivasi companion, Sukhchand, still in his teens, rubbed a poultice made up of some leaves on
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A monumental failure
The report on the Sardar Sarovar does not address crucial issues like water saving technologies, lowering the dam height and reducing the size of the reservoir