People may avoid migrating if they cannot insure themselves against the risk of a bad outcome. Governments can reduce the consumption risk faced by migrants by allowing them to access social protection programs in the destination. This study randomly informed around 62,000 households across 18 Indian states about a new …
GIVEN the almost explosive interest in and proliferation of environment-related documentaries in India in recent times, it is perhaps possible now to explore a defmition of the niche or slot itself. Are environment-related documentaries primarily about wildlife, or investigative reportage on environmental degradation, or merely doc- umentaries of ecological complexes …
The World Council of Churches (WCC) organised a campaign to mobilise public opinion and pressurise governments to make efforts to stop climate change. The WCC has declared that "Climate change is a profoundly ethical and spiritual challenge caused by the economies and the lifestyles adopted by industrialised countries, whose consequences …
The Swiss Coalition of Development Organisations has launched a North-South Campaign to inform Swiss citizens about North-South issues and partnerships. The campaign aims at urging voters and the Swiss government to put the interests of developing countries at the centre of Swiss development policies.The coalition is developing a North-South manifesto …
Adventurous Net Forget the days when you had to risk your life taking part in hair-raising expeditions through the wilderness. You can do the same now right from your desk, thanks to the Net. Nicknamed
P Rajagoplan, a Kattaikoothu artist, is directing a play "Pancha Bhoodam" which is being staged in various villages of northern Tamil Nadu. Kattaikoothu is a form of folk theatre prevalent in the region that draws its plots from the traditional scriptures and epics. Though even in Panch Bhoodam the religious …
Earth as Witness: A Dialogue with Buddhism (40 mins), as the name suggests, is too profound a topic to do justice to on film. It may pass the credibility test by the skin of its teeth, but does not manage to rise above philosophical mumbo-jumbo to make sense to environmentalists. …
THE ASWAMEDH Yajna has a special importance in the Indian tradition. Though this yajna is generally associated with the horse sacrifice, it seems that its form has undergone a change over the millenia. A close reading of the Rig Veda tells us the Aswamedh Yajna may have been a description …
WILD BOARS have sparked a discussion on basic Buddhist values among Bhutan's planners and decision makers. The animal is a voracious eater and prolific breeder and has emerged as the most notorious of pests because it manages to dodge traps. However, Buddhism does not permit the killing of wildlife. Wildlife …
FIVE YEARS ago, the social forestry department in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra cleared several trees from a forest near Nandivse village to plant acacia trees. It did not know that the 4-ha patch was a sacred grove surrounding the temple of a powerful local deity, Kal Bhairon. The villagers, too, …
Sacred groves are the embodiment of a multitude of human impulses, energies, relations and creeds. But, lack of holistic perspective leads to a dangerous reduction of this wide spectrum to a one-dimensional rationalisation. From there, it is only a short step to theological, legal and technological definitions, leading to appropriation …
DR COMPUTER As scholars expounded on the significance of traditional sciences, a computer in the pandal outside prescribed lifestyles to the more practical-minded. The diagnostic system was a software called Prakruthi, devised by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). Based on the principles of Ayurveda, the system fires …
Pollution levels in the Hooghly river rise sharply after the idols are immersed at Durga Puja, revealed a study done three years ago by J J Ghose of Calcutta University. Though publication of the study had been held back for fear of offending religious sentiments, the state has now realised …
THE CENTRAL concern of this book is how in a country whose Constitution declares void all laws violative of Article 13 (Fundamental Rights), women continue to be subjected to gender-discriminatory, personal laws. Indian women have been discriminated against on several grounds beside the legal. This is cold comfort to women, …
CONVENTIONAL anthropological fieldwork, common sense and academic adventure divorced from the contemporary trends in anthropological research are the mix in this book, but without rigorous data on the "whole" of Muslim identity. Conveying its message in bits and pieces, it is neither an insider's view nor an outsider's interpretation of …
The Pope has said he hopes the document, entitled LautadoSii (Praised be),’On Care for Our Common Home’, will influence the UN conference on climate change in Paris this year. Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon praised the moral leadership being demonstrated by Pope Francis, also hoping that this …
The Dakshin palli Durga puja Samiti of Chittranjan Park, Pocket 52, New Delhi decided to go green this year and took a decision not to immerse the idol in Yamuna. This video shows immersion of Goddess Durga in large tank made of galvanized iron sheets. Courtesy: India Environment Portal Courtesy: …
