Articles
Sep 25 2005
A poor and unhealthy nation
: A poor and unhealthy nation
India is languishing in the Human Development Index recently released by the UNDP. Bangladesh has overtaken India in some vital parameters. What does this imply in terms of actual numbers? Are the Millennium Development Goals and those laid down by the Planning Commission achievable? Pavan Nair takes a look.
Sep 24 2005
Rivers and plans off course
: Rivers and plans off course
Solutions for meeting water needs in different communities are often ad-hoc, and based on massive projects whose after-effects are rarely monitored and controlled. Himanshu Upadhyaya investigates the reasons behind the collapse of a major Narmada canal, and finds that nature is unforgiving.
Sep 22 2005
UN MDGs, hunger, and biodiversity
: UN MDGs, hunger, and biodiversity
Five years ago, the United Nations set a goal to drastically reduce hunger and poverty in the world by 2015. This September, the UN met at New York with over 850 million people going hungry everyday. To target hunger, an international consultation in April at Chennai had recommended a new approach to the UN, reports Ramesh Menon.
Sep 21 2005
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Rice in a private grip
Swiss biotech corporation Syngenta has tightened its monopoly control over rice. Seeking global patents over thousands of genes in rice, the multinational based in a country that produces no rice itself, is set to own the world's most important staple food crop, says Devinder Sharma.
Sep 20 2005
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Gender Revolution, after White Revolution
Traditionally, India's dairy cooperative societies have been run by men, but this is gradually changing. Today, 18% of cooperative members are women, and nearly 2500 all-women cooperatives are functioning in the country. Sunanda Nehru Ganju reports from Gujarat, where new livelihoods for women are being established this way.
Sep 19 2005
Warming up to climate change
: Warming up to climate change
What we do know is that the temperatures are rising and that weather patterns throughout the globe are being disrupted as a consequence, says Fred Pearce, one of the best-known environmental journalists and the author of Global Warming. Pearce recently spoke in Mumbai. Darryl D'Monte chaired the discussion.
Sep 18 2005
Of chit funds and loan lotteries
: Of chit funds and loan lotteries
Many farmers deep in debt are trying to find a way out through playing bhishi (chit funds). Denied bank loans and desperate for credit to run their farms and for other needs, they take huge risks. The results are usually tragic. P Sainath continues his series on Vidharbha's crisis.
Sep 18 2005
The farmer and his festival lights
: The farmer and his festival lights
The Ganesh festival is the most important event in Maharashtra. This season, farm distress has hit the utsav badly in Vidharbha. Very few have money to spend. Meanwhile, farmers' suicides there are going up. There has been one almost every 36 hours this year. P Sainath continues his series on the region's crisis.
Sep 17 2005
CHILD MARRIAGE
Savita's choice
CHILD MARRIAGE : Savita's choice

Hundreds of child marriages are held across Rajasthan with no one stopping them. Tiny boys and girls, some of them asleep and all of them unaware of what is happening, are betrothed to each other. The reality sinks in when the children attain puberty by which time they are told they have no choice. But they do, writes Kalpana Sharma.
Sep 16 2005
Forest fights, Indian style
: Forest fights, Indian style
The widening rift in the conservationist movement has allowed the bigger and more powerful forest encroachers to hide behind the public controversy over tribal lands and sharing of forest resources. While activists for and against 'tribals in forests' argue and bicker, the rich squat pretty on encroached forest lands, says Keya Acharya.
Sep 15 2005
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Not that lucky
Eight months since the December 2004 tsunami, Dilip D'Souza returned to Nagore near Nagapattinam, Tamilnadu, to find that plenty of boats donated by NGOs were poorly built. As 'relief', many fishermen received boats that leak and one boat reportedly split under their feet on its first trip out to sea.
Sep 14 2005
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Ballia shining!
The more things change the more they stay the same. Bored by the hyperbole and premature celebrations of a new India in the metros, Videh Upadhyay travels to eastern UP, and gets a firsthand look at power cuts, the power brokers, and the despair of the majority who are simply powerless.
Sep 13 2005
Faithfully harvesting the rain
: Faithfully harvesting the rain
Rainwater harvesting isn't just for drought-prone regions, nor is it an entirely recent development. Shree Padre travels to an old church in Dakshina Kannada district, where despite living in one of the rainiest places in the nation, monks put up a roof water harvester many decades ago, and maintain it to this day.
Sep 12 2005
FAILURE OF MEDIA
Cutting through the urban jungle
FAILURE OF MEDIA : Cutting through the urban jungle

It may take more than random coverage of dramatic developments on the civic front for the media fulfil its promise of connecting citizens and governments. Mere reports based entirely on press statements and conferences in which plans are presented with little questioning won't do, writes Ammu Joseph.

Sep 09 2005
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Parliament - still a man's world
Why is the struggle for women representatives so much harder at the national level? Is every effort merely a pretense, a concession to the few highly educated and aware women voters that ultimately means nothing to the great majority of others? Vaijayanti Gupta notes yet another opportunity thwarted.
Sep 08 2005
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Haryali: Not so green after all
The expectations with which the Haryali watershed management programme was introduced are slowly being dashed. The programme's poor guidelines, along with power struggles and inadequate local knowledge, have made it victim to the same old politics. Surekha Sule reports.
Sep 06 2005
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U.P. mismanaging encephalitis epidemic
Japanese Encephalitis, the deadly virus infection, is not new to Uttar Pradesh -- the first outbreak took place in 1978, and since then every year. But JE is predictable and self-limiting, giving health authorities clear opportunities to save lives. Still, the 2005 monsoon season has seen more chaotic management and more deaths, says Abhijit Das.
Sep 06 2005
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A much larger house on fire
About the time 50 Dalit houses were set ablaze in Gohana, the country marked 50 years of a law giving effect to the Constitution's abolition of untouchability. As if to rub it in, 25 more Dalit homes were torched the same week in Akola, Maharashtra, writes P Sainath.
Sep 05 2005
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For the people, by diktat
Reforms in urban governance are long overdue, and the cities are croaking under the weight of their neglect. But the National Urban Reforms Mission may be too much medicine, bypassing citizen input and consultation in a hasty drive for change. Vinay Baindur reports.
Sep 03 2005
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The enterprising labour of small vendors
The vendors and hawkers of the Chingrajpara slum in Bilaspur are the lynchpin of the slum’s homespun economy. In this seventh article in our SLUM DIARIES series, Ashima Sood notes that operating on small capital outlays, these petty retailers offer a humbling portrait of entrepreneurship in action.