The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
some startling revelations were made in the recently concluded 14th international aids conference at Barcelona, Spain. The most alarming among them being that India and China are likely to be the next epicentres of aids. At present India has an estimated 3.97 million people suffering from the disease, while .85 …
In Madhya Pradesh, Mangal and Surshingh of Sarai village, go to the district administration at Dhar, several kilometres away, to lodge complaints against local services. Sometimes, it is about a non-functioning tube well, a crumbling primary school building, housing 60 students, or the veterinary doctor who had no place to …
The State Government today launched its ambitious Rs. 1,800 crore 'Education for All' movement with the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, declaring "no child would be left out of school education by 2010".
It was in February 2001 that Down To Earth broke the story. A link was established between the unusually high incidence of deformities and diseases in Padre
The protest against endosulfan in Kerala has become a symbol of struggle against pesticides in India. The pesticide industry is worried about endosulfan as much as it is of its other products. As Dave proudly puts it, "I do not defend just one molecule. I am the president for 200 …
No one who reads a newspaper, however cursorily, could miss the news that Stephen Jay Gould, Professor of Zoology at Harvard University, died of lung cancer on May 20, 2002. He had fought his way out of another cancer, a rare form of abdominal cancer, 20 years ago. His reaction …
In August 2001, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) asked the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to submit a report on the health hazards due to the spraying of endosulfan in cashew plantations in Kasaragod district within four months. ICMR in turn asked the National Institute of Occupational Health …
Pesticides are regulated under the Insecticides Act of 1968 and Insecticides Rules of 1971. In May 2000, the Insecticide (Amendment) Bill 2000, was passed under the shadow of suicide deaths of farmers because of spurious pesticides. This amendment made the punishment for adulterated pesticides more stringent. But it did little …
Despite taking the initiative to propagate rainwater harvesting (rwh) as a household concept, Chennai has surprisingly been losing its capacity to hold water over the years. This incongruity could be attributed to the message not percolating down convincingly enough to the city's domestic consumers (a survey suggests that though 48 …
The people of Pudukkottai, one of the most backward districts in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, are dependent on dry land farming mainly due to lack of indutrialisation and low rainfall. Quarries too are a secondary source of livlihood, which provides boulders and stones for construction of buildings. Extreme …
the ritual drama of cleaning up of the sewer that passes off as the Yamuna has been enacted this year too. Delhi chief minister Shiela Dixit, gingerly balanced on a rock, wielding a stick dipped in the river, made for a nice media splash. Soon after, the vip retinue left …
Solar power is getting a major boost in Bhutan. More schools, health units and monasteries in remote areas will get solar energy now. The officials of the department of power in Bhutan have distributed 50 solar panels and trained 60 technicians in solar power usage. These technicians were given tips …
The passing of away of Vilasrao Salunkhe is not a loss for the state of Maharashtra alone. It is a loss shared by all of India. I am reminded of a lighthouse that guides ships to safety in stormy waters. Vilasrao was that constant lighthouse, giving hope and direction to …
Procuring food still takes away much of the income. > Indian villagers spend 59.4 per cent of their total expenditure on food. Urban India spends 48.1 per cent Basic necessities become luxuries. > Only one in ten people in rural India have access to sanitation. > Half of rural India …
Most people go about their lives unaware of the world of rats and the ingenious ways of this common rodent. Not Ishwar Prakash, principal investigator, desert regional station, Zoological Survey of India, Jodhpur. Prakash is, in fact, one of the few rat experts in the country. Every detail he collected …
"I took the responsibility of spreading water harvesting because of two reasons. One, it would have ensured water in the scarce areas," he says. For equally important for him was the "opportunity it gave me to mend my ill-doings". Today, his work has brought about a sea-change in the attitude …
Dada, as a child in a Marathi family, was a witness to the discordant practices. But unlike most people, he couldn't turn a Nelson's eye to existing conventions. Finally in 1958, he founded Swadhyaya (self-learning), an institution where faith, irrespective of religion, matters. From the motley group of 19 people, …
He shares his name with the father of the nation. But that's not where the similarity ends. If an incident in South Africa was to change Mahatma Gandhi's life forever, Gujarat's second Bapu's changed on the trip to the Netherlands in 1979. That's learning home truths in alien lands. Sadhu …
THINK saffron. Think sadhus and sants, communal frenzy, the Gujarat pogrom, of swords raised to the sky and the battle cry of kar sevaks and their adversaries renting a fresh spring morning. Now take a break. Picture a rishi meditating on the edge of a temple tank - say, a …
