Two seminal books, John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York’s The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth and John Bellamy Foster’s The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with the Planet suggest that the rift between humanity and nature must be analysed in its intertwining with other kinds of alienation, …
Once in the late 1950s, the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was to address the students of Delhi School of Economics. On such formal occasions, the head of the Delhi School, V K R V Rao, expected students to wear silver-grey, buttoned- up coats with the institution's crest. On the …
It took two two-and-a-half-metre bamboo poles and a small transmitter worth Rs 50 to start Radio FM Mansoorpur in Bihar’s Vaishali district. The radio station, started in 2002 by Raghav Mahato, a radio mechanic, shut four years later because he did not have a licence. Mahato, now in his late …
Surprise was in store for Sushil Kaushik when in 1989 he first joined duty as a constable in Serkot in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district. He had no idea how corrupt police officials can be. He saw policemen taking bribes, and superiors deducting constables’ salaries without giving any explanation. Kaushik questioned …
R Chandrasekhar, IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, is credited with establishing India's first department of information technology (DIT) in his home state. The architect of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), he is also regarded as the father of e-governance in India and has won the prime minister's award for …
Dr Alok Shukla is among those civil servants who received awards for excellence in public administration from the prime minister on April 21. As secretary, food and civil supplies department, Chhattisgarh, he, along with two of his colleagues, has been credited with turning the much-maligned PDS into a success story. …
On the position of animal welfare attorney The office of animal welfare attorney exists only in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. It was created because no one stands up for the animal. We have animal welfare legislation but if you complain the case is unlikely to be taken seriously. …
Buzz Aldrin knows what it is to be second best. In his most famous photograph, his face is not visible. Taken on the moon, Aldrin’s face is entirely hidden inside his space helmet. But you can see the figure of Neil Armstrong, who took the photograph, reflected in the mirrored …
By remembering the great naturalists of this country, people try to rekindle the slowly extinguishing fire that these men had once ignited in their minds. If some of these great men were great human beings as well, we remember them with greater affection and love. Jim Corbett, one of India's …
Shaking hands with Ramchandra Das is like clasping a stone. His hands are callused by 11 years of cutting a hill to build a road all by himself. Das’s only companions were a hammer and a spade. The four-metre kuccha road he completed in 2005 is the only connection between …
The fonio-husking machine, invented by Rolex Laureate and mechanical engineer Sanoussi Diakite, is helping prevent a delicious, West African cereal from disappearing. His machine is liberating villagers, especially women, from the traditional, labour-intensive process of preparing fonio by hand.
One Indian woman's enduring commitment to improving the living standards of the rural communities of Kutch, a remote and poor region in India;s far north-west, has fundamentally transformed the lives of thousands of women. By reviving the traditional craft of embroidery, 2006 Rolex Laureate Chanda Shroff has given these women …
On december 30 , 2009, fishing communities lost a friend in Harekrishna Debnath, the chairperson of the National Fishworkers’ Forum (nff) that represents fishers’ associations of all coastal states in India. Debnath, 60, died of lung cancer. In the past two decades, Debnath spearheaded several campaigns for conserving coastal and …
On your inspiration I studied engineering, but was convinced I was not meant for it. During my stint with Ford Foundation, I worked with a doctor couple from Johns Hopkins University, USA. They were training rural women in Maharashtra as community health workers. I realized that is exactly what I …
K R Datye, a civil engineer by profession, worked for more than half a century on ideas for the water, energy and infrastructure sectors, ideas that were based on a vision for India of a sustainable, equitable and a democratic agro-industrial society. A critical appraisal of KRD
Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (not their real names) are the frontmen for the Yes Men. They got together to set up parody websites such as www.gwbush.com and graduated to huge anti-corporate, culture-jamming stunts targeting giants such as ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical. Their latest film, The Yes Men Fix the …
Green Systems was set up in the belief that a small business with a clear mission could deliver honest advice, make a difference and be satisfying to run. It was a model different from most. It saw environmental problems both as a concern and an opportunity. A lean and spirited …
