FOR generations scientists have tirelessly been looking for a cure to what appears to be the enemy from within—cancer. Though tremendous progress has been made and multiple avenues of treatment made available, it is apparent that there is never going to be a single golden bullet to cure cancer because …
Next year, in June, world leaders will get together in the joyful city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to mark 20 years of UNCED—the Earth Summit (see Down to Earth, May 15, 1992). Unbelievably, it will be 40 years since the Stockholm conference, when the question of the environment first …
The biggest problem with the Rio conference has been its petty-mindedness. It has consistently refused to look into the basic processes that lead to environmental destruction. The world’s political leaders have shown great fear of the economic and political restructuring that such an approach would demand. The result is a …
POVERTY is becoming hereditary in India, at least for a sizeable population. That is the conclusion derived from a three-decade tracking of poor households in rural India. A survey by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), an international association of researchers and academicians, claims that those who are chronically poor …
Forty one years ago, a US senator did something unprecedented in his country's history. Helped by environmental activists from across the country, Gaylord Nelson mobilised more than 20 million people on environmental issues. On April 22, 1970, the streets in the US saw a rare political alignment. Republicans and Democrats, …
Latin American countries were the first to flirt with the conditional cash transfer model. It evolved in response to the economic crisis of the 1990s. Many governments found that in the face of the crisis the poor were not availing themselves of education and health services. At the same time …
It’s circa 2210. Life on Earth is extinct. But one type of earthlings, humans, have left behind a fat tome, which falls in the hands of creatures from another plant. Its chapters are in textbook style, yet are funny commentary on what it means/meant to be a human on this …
Some ways usually adopted for conservation are nature reserves, biodiversity registers, pollution control measures, carbon-trading to check climate change and technologies to clean water and air. But they fail to strike at the root of modern conservation crisis: the insatiable appetite of a consumer. This appetite that defines our day-to-day …
Both national and international policy responses to the rapid food price increases in 2007 and the first half of 2008 did little to address the very serious impacts on low-income urban dwellers. The speeches, declarations, plans and pledges duly noted the vulnerability of poor urban dwellers to food price rises, …
THE government has raised the minimum support prices for pulses by up to Rs 700. It is a 15-30 per cent increase over the previous year. The government also promised an incentive of Rs 5 per kg if farmers sell black gram, green gram and pigeon pea to procurement agencies …
Here's a simple idea you may have heard for improving food security: Eat less meat. The logic goes like this. People in the developed world eat a huge amount of animal protein. And consumption of meat, eggs, and milk is already growing globally as people in poorer nations get richer …
India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world. However, pulses production has been stagnant at between 11 and 14 million tonnes over the last two decades. Per capita pulses consumption over the years has come down from 61gm/day in 1951 to 30 gm/day in 2008. This …
The poverty ratio or the number of poor as a percentage of total population in India for 2004-05 is estimated at 37.2 per cent, according to this report submitted by the Suresh Tendulkar committee recently. The committee has defined the poor based on a normative living standard — it has …
If the government is to modernise the census process, the next decennial census to be held in 2011 should make collection of information on the aam admi a priority.
China's water and energy price reform began in the late 1978 after running large-scale interventions in pricing system for long time then has a gradually deep influence on consumer's behaviors. The main objective of this paper is to empirically examine Chinese consumer reactions as a response to the introductions of …
National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency approved by the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change. This mission will help save about 5 per cent of the annual energy consumption by 2015, & nearly 100 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. This document is the draft mission document of the …
Raika community (OBC) in Jodhpur district is commonly known for keeping camels and might have been consuming camel milk in their diet. It is reported in literature that camel milk consumption may be responsible for reduction of the occurrence of Diabetes in the Raika community which is researchable issue. With …
This paper attempts to define the common people of India in terms of levels of consumption and examines their socio-economic profile in different periods of time since the early 1990s with a view to assessing how the economic growth process has impacted on their lives. The findings should worry everyone. …
Storage infrastructure and setting up processing facilities for our farm products are major issues and need immediate attention of policymakers to accelerate agricultural growth, says former power minister and MP, Suresh P Prabhu LACK of adequate infrastructure in the hinterland and poor connectivity are major reasons behind slow agricultural growth. …
