The ethics of "clean coal" propaganda
For over a decade the coal industry has funded campaigns designed to convince Americans that coal can be burned without adverse environmental impacts. These campaigns raise troubling ethical issues. In
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How to rewrite the Durban script
It’s that time of the year again. Climate change talks are heating up, with the next conference of parties scheduled in Durban in end-November. There is heat but no light. The negotiations are stuck despite
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Debate on Koodankulam Nuke plant, Tamil Nadu
<p> Calling on the Government to halt the completion of the Koodankulam Nuke plant, hundreds of people in Tamil Nadu are sitting on a fast for the tenth straight day. Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy
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Time to wake up to threat of NCDs
As the UN begins its meeting to devise strategies to tackle NCDs, Indian public health activists say it was a wake-up call for the health authorities in India. Some of them expressed concern that the meeting
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Dhaka – Delhi: Greasy tale of fuel pricing
It was a proud moment and a powerful statement when Dhaka rolled out a bedecked iconic cycle rickshaw on the opening day of the World Cup cricket. This is perhaps the only capital city in our region that
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Davos assessment on climate change is right and wrong
<p>The World Economic Forum -- the gathering of power glitterati each year in Davos -- has assessed the top risks the world faces in 2011. According to this analysis, climate change is the highest-ranking risk the world will face in the coming years, when its likelihood and impact are combined.</p>
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Kick ass for Bhopal
<p>United States President Barack Obama says he needs to know whose ass he should kick in the case of the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He wants those responsible to pay for the damage — to the people and the environment. The victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy will tell you that they know who is responsible.
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1,411 tigers, and unanswered questions
<p>1411 tigers left. So says the latest advertisement campaign of a new telecom company and the wwf. It is powerful. It plays to our emotions. But it does not tell us what is being done, or should be done. It does not tell us how we, the consuming classes, can be part of the solution to safeguard the tiger.</p>
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Small Islands, Big Impact
<p>This new short film highlights plight of the Maldives, one of the world's most vulnerable countries to sea level rise. Produced by TVEAP in collaboration with COM+ Alliance of Communicators for Sustainable Development, it is based on an exclusive interview with President Nasheed of Maldives. <br /> <object width="425" height="344">
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No endorsements for ethics
back in the 20th century, when nation-building was not a foul term and public-private partnership was not a keyword, children grew up with the ideal of becoming doctors and engineers. Medicine was a noble profession. With changing times, commerce has become more reliable as an instrument of healthcare than nobility; medical insurance sounds more reasonable than the Hippocratic oath. But the
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Business bites
There has been an animated debate in the past three years over the supply of food in the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) programme. Supplementary nutrition has been provided to all children under the age of six since the inception of the programme more than three decades ago. This was done with the recognition that the nutrition gap (between what children should be
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Exclusive cereal-dependence
The ICDS programme launched in the 1970s was based on the results of extensive surveys which identified rampant child under-nutrition in India. Using the weight-for-age and height-for-age criteria, only 10 per cent children under five could be classified normal. And 15-20 per cent were underweight even when they were short. The situation has not improved in the past 35 years despite
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A lesson for the civil servant
Book>> Beyond Relocation, The Imperative of Sustainable Resettlement
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September 9, 2001
US became a superpower and Argentina a basket case owes nothing to intricacies of geography, culture or religion. Countries become rich or poor because of the choices their rulers make. But what is so new about that? Why some countries thrive and others fail is a big question in economics. Beattie hops from country to country and across history for answers. In one chapter he visits
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FROM THE BLURBS
THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE SEA by O P Sharma, Oxford University Press, Rs 795 The law of the sea has undergone more changes in the last 60 years than in the past 100. This book deals with some of the changes.
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Village level forecast will take time
On India Meteorological Department using statistical models instead of dynamical ones for forecasting Tell me which dynamical model has given correct forecasts for India? The forecasts for Indian monsoons given by the US, UK and Europe in April this year (using dynamical models) threw up different predictions. None of them could predict monsoons would be so low. But the India Meteorological
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Dots not joined
Book>> False Economy: A Surprising Economic History of the World
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Biotech is not just GM
Michael Antoniou teaches Molecular Genetics at King
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Fight over non-existent biscuits
Civil society and the media are unfairly blaming a government nutrition programme I have been a political journalist for over three decades. Only recently have I become familiar with the nitty gritty of development reporting. The manner in which malnutrition is covered by a section of the media has come as an eye opener. It appears those who report on the subject generally confine
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Deschooling farmers
A new bill in Tamil Nadu puts farmers at the thrall of agriculture university graduates On the last day of its budget session the Tamil Nadu assembly passed 30 bills without any discussion. One of them was without parallel. If the governer signs the bill, writings of Thiruvalluavar, Oovaiyar and many more poets would become unlawful as they have several things to say about farming. Let