In the spring of 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, cyber activist Eli Pariser asked two friends to google the term “BP”. The results they got were quite different. One saw investment information about BP. The other saw news. For one, …
The film begins with images of a gushing stream, birds chirping and a typical audio overlay of the santoor that captures any pristine environment. It then cuts to a lament; the story of the Mithi river hard done by. The filmmakers have done well to capture the state of the …
Work on a dictionary that promises to improve our knowledge of an ancient civilisation has been completed 90 years after it began, outliving nearly 100 lexicographers who worked on it. The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary decodes the Akkadian language spoken thousands of years ago in what is now Iraq, in parts …
Kate Forde believes dirt is precious to life. The British art historian has showcased dirt in different contexts in an exhibition at London’s Wellcome Collection. “The variety and scale of the waste produced in our factories is the uncelebrated evidence of industrial and economic progress,” says the curator in her …
Taiwan is stopping the use of Chinese characters—the script used in mainland China—on official websites. Taiwan used the traditional but more complicated Chinese script. It switched to a simplified script used in mainland China three years after opening its doors to tourists from mainland. Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has argued …
The only global treaty that legally binds rich countries to cut greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions may not get a new lease of life, after all. That’s what the latest climate negotiations at Bonn point at. Delegates from 194 countries met in June in the German city for climate change talks, …
Just a few days before Swami Nigamanand died while on a fast to protest state-sponsored sand mining and stone crushing along the Ganga near Haridwar, the Uttarakhand government ordered a ban on mining activities in the region considered sacred. Millions of pilgrims visit the place to take a dip in …
IT SEEMS elections for local bodies in Andhra Pradesh will not be held until contentions over reservation quotas are resolved. A day after the State Election Commission (SEC) announced holding panchayat polls by the second week of July, a division bench of Andhra Pradesh High Court stayed the elections. It …
REFUSING any information to the government is now a punishable offence. The recently enacted Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, makes it mandatory for companies, individuals and households to reveal information sought by government-contracted data collectors. Failure to do so entails a maximum penalty of Rs 1,000 in case of individuals …
IN WHAT could prove to be a breakthrough in containing environmental impacts of white asbestos globally, India has agreed to label the mineral hazardous under the UN’s Rotterdam Convention. This is a historic shift in stance, as India has always claimed there was not sufficient data on the health risks …
CARDAMOM Planters Marketing Co-operative Society in Kerala has appealed to the high court to suspend the ban on the use of extremely toxic and highly toxic pesticides. They say the ban will affect the cardamom crop this season. To promote organic farming in Kerala, the state agriculture department had ordered …
WITH financial institutions of emerging economies like India and China getting big time into development lending, the World Bank plans reforms to attract its borrowing countries. Some of the important plans are to disburse loans faster and on flexible terms. Bank watchers and civil society groups say the reforms, expected …
The sight on television was heartbreaking: children lying in rows in the searing sun to be human shields against the takeover of their land for Korean giant POSCO’s mega bucks project. Facing them were armed police sent by the state government to assist in the operation. The steel plant and …
The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food on Monday cleared the crucial Food Security Bill, which seeks to entitle 75 per cent of the BPL (below poverty line) population and 50 per cent of the urban population to heavily subsidised food grains. It also lifted the ban on export …
FIMI claims it will affect miners to the tune of Rs.15,000 cr The Union Mines Minister, Dinsha Patel, on Monday said the landmark new draft Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Bill, 2011, which provides for profit sharing and royalty provision for affected people, would be sent for approval of …
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has refused to issue forest clearance to the Mahan coal block in the Singrauli field of Madhya Pradesh, meant for the use of Essar and Hindalco power plants. However, this is not the final rejection. Instead, Mr. Ramesh has merely washed his hands of on the …
New Delhi Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold a meeting to resolve inter-ministerial differences relating to environment clearances for coal and power projects after the Group of Ministers meet on July 14.
Even as the government has finalised its plan to make profit sharing with affected locals mandatory for companies in the coal mining sector as a compensation for area damage and displacement, the Planning Commission, the country
Unable to find a clear line about the mode of congestion tax, the Delhi Government is all set to conduct a costly study to levy/tax on congestion in the national Capital. As per the proposal, the study that will cost Rs 20 crore will be completed in nine months. The …
With wind energy being the most realistic large-scale renewable energy source in the near future, we examine the target for wind energy penetration in India for 2020. Achieving the target set by the Indian Wind Power Association of 20% wind power grid penetration by 2020 will act as a lighthouse, …
