Science
Down To Earth
God is in The Detail
Can the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ensure safe and quality food at places of worship without hurting religious sentiments?
4 min |
February 16, 2017
Down To Earth
Look Beyond The Loo
In fast-urbanising Africa, the governments must rework their usual toilet building strategies to ensure safe disposal of waste.
4 min |
August 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Reluctant To Upgrade
Zero liquid discharge technologies can help textile dyeing units recycle water and reduce effluents released into rivers. Why are they resisting?
3 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Live Life Farm Style
Want to live in a city and grow your own food in a village nearby? There are companies that can help.
3 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Prisoner Of Contradictions
India's only wetland cat is under multiple threats.
4 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Again, Stop Talking About GDP
India missed another opportunity to shed its obsession with a bad measure of economy.
2 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Capital Conundrum
At the peak of Karnataka’s water crisis, the state’s deputy chief minister, G Parameshwara, made a desperate suggestion. He said the government was mulling over a moratorium on the construction of new residential complexes in Bengaluru for five years to tide over the water crisis. But are restrictions on construction or population an effective way to resolve the problem? Or are there simpler ways to strengthen water conservation? SUSHMITA SENGUPTA spoke to a range of experts
6 min |
August 01, 2019
Down To Earth
The Resurgence Of Race In Science
Angela Saini exposes how some scientists even today use race to define intelligence, behaviour, predisposition to diseases and even creativity
4 min |
August 16, 2019
Down To Earth
The Union Government Weakens The RTI Act!
The amendment to the Right to Information Act, 2005, violates the Constitution and usurps the executive and financial powers of state legislatures
3 min |
August 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Change, Can They?
As the US presidential race heats up, none of the Democrat candidates have offered a bold plan for global climate action
3 min |
August 16, 2019
Down To Earth
India Becomes Vulnerable To Invasive Alien Species
A dysfunctional quarantine system and growing agricultural imports have left India vulnerable to attacks by invasive alien species
5 min |
August 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Is Activism The Cure?
As prices of life-saving drugs skyrocket, people from diverse fields are getting together to fight Big Pharma
2 min |
October 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Pitfalls Outweigh Potential
Government is pushing for biofuel production to reduce crude import bill. Can it steer clear of the food versus fuel dilemma?
4 min |
October 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Unholy Chase
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made cleaning of the Ganga again a high priority national agenda. He had the advantage of learning from the failures of the past 30 years in cleaning the national river. And he had the missionary zeal to proclaim a deadline for doing so. A year before his promise of a clean Ganga in 2019, the river is far from being so. In many stretches it is dirtier than before. An analysis by BANJOT KAUR on why the river will remain polluted despite river-friendly budgets and politically correct rhetoric
10+ min |
October 16, 2018
Down To Earth
The Wake Up Call
THE UNITED Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) consists of scientists who can by no stretch of the imagination be called radical or activists.
4 min |
October 16, 2018
Down To Earth
A Contentious Solicitation
India's most ambitious health insurance scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, is definitely a lure. Millions of Indians bleed to pay their ever-increasing medical expenses in private healthcare and end up becoming even poorer. Experiences of public-funded health insurance schemes in the last decade show that these initiatives have not been effective as they are not supported by the proportionate creation of public health systems. India simply doesn't have enough well-equipped public health infrastructure. So what does this new scheme mean for millions of poor and sick people? KUNDAN PANDEY travels to Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana and Kerala to understand what the new scheme needs to be cautious about.
10+ min |
September 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Dormant Breakthrough
Scientists are working on induced human hibernation, as seen naturally in animals, to treat a range of diseases
4 min |
January 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Fault Lines In Expressway
Construction of Char Dham national highway has cost Uttarakhand its ecological balance, as ISHAN KUKRETI discovers in his 250 km travel through the devasted terrain
6 min |
January 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Politicisation Of Rights
What impedes the Forest Rights Act, 2006, from being implemented in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in West Bengal?
4 min |
January 01, 2019
Down To Earth
`Capital Lies With A Few, Power With The Masses'
Soon after Independence, a good 350 newspapers started as a cooperative venture. But only Janmorcha, published from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh, has managed to survive. Its editor SHEETLA SINGH fearlessly wages a battle against the government which has made five attempts to shut the newspaper down. ANIL ASHWANI SHARMA spoke to the 87-year-old sentinel of cooperative journalism about the perils of newspaper publishing in the country
3 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Jamdani, Naturally
How the women of Burdwan and Nadia districts in West Bengal weave magic, turning raw cotton into niche and `climate-friendly' Jamdani
6 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Agenda For 2019
The governance blueprint to combat major environmental problems must be institutionalised and strictly enforced
2 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Love's Labour
The traditional dishes that pregnant women eat for centuries
2 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Worshipped And Abandoned
The circular economy of cattle has been ruptured. Restrictions on cattle trade are forcing cattle rearers to abandon the cows, and therefore, their livelihood. Jitendra and photographer Adithyan P C travel across the cow belt in the country and neighbouring Nepal to understand how it has hit the poorest
10+ min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
No Worries? Ask Simba
A furore over Disney's trademark on the Swahili phrase Hakuna Matata heats up the cultural appropriation debate
2 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Environment Of Poverty
The world's poor population is getting concentrated in ecologically fragile areas
2 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
Defining Emotion
A new book challenges our assumptions about emotions
2 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
A Bite Of Goodness
Housing associations are setting up community refrigerators to reduce food wastage and feed the needy
4 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
On Active Mode
After faltering for three years, India's largest test drive for uranium contamination in groundwater shows signs of revival
3 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
First, Fast, But...
India's debut farm investment support scheme was rolled out in Telangana but a large section of the farming community has been left out
7 min |