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AnalysisIndia's Total Sanitation Campaign: Half full, half empty
A soon-to-be released WaterAid India review of India’s Total Sanitation Campaign in five states finds both positives and negatives in the ambitious programme. It also raises some serious questions about sustainability More... Blind spots in India’s new National Action Plan on Climate ChangeInstead of having a strongly articulated, clearly thought through vision, India’s new National Action Plan on Climate Change has a basket of eight ‘missions’ and no durable plan that will include the poorest and most vulnerable More... Missing the river for the damOver 3,465 km of embankments have been built as a flood-control measure in Bihar since 1952, and more embankments are in the offing. When will government realise that it is the embankments themselves that are responsible for Bihar’s recurrent floods? More... Re-imagining public spaces in citiesBy conventional standards, Mumbai has perhaps the least amount of open space per person -- 0.03 acres per 1,000 people. But, as a recent study by the design cell of the Kamala Raheja College of Architecture in Mumbai shows, a little ‘re-imagining’ can throw up innovative solutions to enhancing public spaces in Indian cities More... Hot air in HokkaidoOne of the worrying outcomes of the recent G8 summit in Hokkaido was the general euphoria about the revival of the nuclear industry, supposedly in the fight against climate change. This is an illusion at best. Only 3% of India’s electricity is produced by nuclear plants, and with the Indo-US deal this will increase to 7%, which is by no means radical More... Green reasons for red rageAn expert group of the Planning Commission establishes a strong correlation between social unrest and the spread of Naxalism and poverty, landlessness and inequitable management of natural resources More... Green or greenwashing?At one stage, Bajaj Auto was using captive wind power to generate 90% of its electricity from its own turbines and “banking” the rest. There are indeed businesses that are going green, but the majority of these claims are still greenwash, says Darryl D’MonteMore... Knowledge documentation: Kiss of death, or new lease of life?The Indian government is planning a major initiative to document all traditional knowledge on biodiversity and natural resources in order to safeguard against biopiracy. Notwithstanding its many potential benefits, without inbuilt safeguards this move could prove to be the undoing of traditional knowledge, says Ashish Kothari More... Green capitalismCan the collateral damage of a growth-at-all-costs economic model be addressed by a “regenerative” economy as opposed to a “degenerative” one based on fossil fuels and outmoded notions of industrialisation?Veteran social activist K R Datye believes it can More... Nature has rights tooThe fundamental human rights on which human survival depends are nature’s rights, and it is time we safeguarded them More... We are what we eatThere are three ideal attributes of food, according to Carlo Petrini of the Slow Food movement: It should appeal to the senses; it should be clean and environment-friendly; and most of all these days, it should be fair More... Genuine progress, or so much 'Balihoo'?The best that can be said about the recently concluded Bali climate change conference is that negotiations didn’t break down altogether. Although India is being unnecessarily self-congratulatory about the correctness of its stand at the UN conference, it should adopt a much more proactive position on energy consumption at home More... Losing native breedsFor a country that prides itself on being the third largest biodiversity region in the world, the complete lack of respect for traditional animal breeds is unpardonable. We’ve lost half of the 27 breeds that once existed. Forty years after we began importing livestock, we are realising the folly of it More... The great green rushEveryone -- including venture capitalists -- seems to be jumping onto the global biofuels bandwagon. But the ethanol needed to fill an SUV just once requires 200 kg of corn, which could feed a person for a whole year More... Can man and beast co-exist?Ranthambhore has becomes the latest wildlife sanctuary to express fears about 'missing' tigers. Will this jewel in the Project Tiger crown go the same way as Sariska? Does the answer lie in relocating villages outside national parks, thereby minimising contact between man and animal? More... |
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