In 1999 an American historian, John Hunwick, came upon a cache of old documents in a family library in Timbuktu, Mali. The discovery was seminal. It revealed that Africa had a sophisticated literary culture. This went against the grain of historical writing then: Africa's history was thought of as all oral tradition.<br>
Caught in a death trap, Jharia residents await doomsday. While BCCL openly displays a let them die attitude and the government remains silent, people continue sitting on fire
sole authority: The Madras High Court (HC) has vested the Tamil Nadu government with the exclusive right to carry out sand quarrying activities. In doing so, the HC has upheld a government order (GO)
Driving to the Kalinga Nagar Industrial Zone to commemorate the first anniversary of tribals killed during a protest, stone crushers line the newly paved highway. Women, children and men wield
THE state of Rajasthan evokes images of camels loping over lifeless sand stretching to the horizon, without the welcome punctuation of green cover. So the state government's bid to denotify
<p>This past year has witnessed some remarkable success in the global battle against climate change, particularly in comparison to the first half of the decade which began with the spillover of the infamous ‘climategate’ and swiftly followed with a measurable turn towards a more skeptical position on global warming, at least partly due to the disappointing Copenhagen conference of 2009. The fossil fuel industry now seems poised for an inevitable burial, hopefully never to be dug up again. After years of unmitigated damage to the environment, relentless protests by climate change activists and civil society organizations from around the world finally seemed to have been afforded the gravitas the situation deserves, when a landmark agreement was forged at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of Parties (COP 21) at Paris last year, pledging to move away from fossil fuels.</p>
A series of comet collisions with the Earth may have led to the extinction of many species
IN JANUARY, Doordarshan aired a documentary called The Green Brigade, which despite a typical Films Division tone, was informative, interesting and even balanced. It was on the Ecological Task Force
Large portions of cultivable land may be lost to the desert in northwest China by end 1997
Desperate measures are the call of the day. Common people need to have a greater say
Most of us regard the Egyptian pyramids as architectural masterpieces. Justifiably so: the monuments are among the world's finest heritage. But then how many of us know the fate of the workers
A wetland in the St Lucia estuary on the cast coast in KwaZUILI-Natal province was saved from devastation when the country's cabinet banned the development of a mineral sands project by
The desert city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan is an excellent example of how Thoughtless processes of modernisation and urbanisation have destroyed an extraordinary water management system
Jaisalmer fort and the rest of the of the city was built for heat, with wind corridors and the architecture providing built-in comfort for its denizens. Jaisalmer is not unique. Cherrapunji, the
Indira Gandhi Canal Project has come to my desert land They say it will bring greenery all over Oh! the sisters have come Yes, the sisters have come The rich got land deeds to command
The Damodar is the most polluted river in the country today, thanks to the several industries that have sprouted on its mineral-rich banks. Experts say the only way to save the Damodar valley is for these highly polluting industries to make massive invest
BANANAS are thirsty plants, and farmers in the Jalgaon area of Maharashtra -- who produce 10,00,000 tonnes of the state"s annual banana output of 17,00,000 tonnes -- have literally begun mining for
After the proposed Nylon 6,6 plant in Goa was discussed threadbare and opposed by many, the Greens succeeded in having the project shifted out
Trade unionist Datta Samant has helped 2,500 families of quarry workers in Bombay to get their settlement recognised as a slum. The 35-acre plot amid sand quarries at Powai lake was notified as a
Central Uttar Pradesh is literally on shaky ground. Land subsidence has been reported from several districts of the region, including Fatehpur, Farrukhabad, Kannauj and Unnao. Alarmingly, the culprit is neither seismic nor mining activity, but excessive g
