Science
Down To Earth
More Out Than In
Central government's maternity benefit scheme excludes more women than it covers
5 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
Sealed With Trouble
Faulty policies have allowed industries to use multilayered plastic packages without the responsibility of retrieving them
3 min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
Loo And Behold, But Beware
The countdown to meet the target of an open defecation free India has begun. Though it seemed like we were once again going to miss another development goal, we will achieve the target within the next 25 weeks, much before the deadline of October 2019. India's first-ever experience when all of us will have a toilet of our own is worth a grand applause. However, we have just crossed the first hurdlethe easiest milestone of constructing toilets. SUSMITA SENGUPTA and RASHMI VERMA take a hard look at the challenges that need to be addressed
10+ min |
October 1, 2018
Down To Earth
A Dig At The Poor
District Mineral Foundations were set up to improve the lives of people affected by mining. But maladministration is defeating its raison d'etre.
2 min |
August 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Of Funds And Fallacy
Poor implementation of the District Mineral Foundation has excluded some of the worst mining-affected people, whom it was supposed to benefit.
6 min |
August 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Will Africa Meet Its Sanitation Target?
More than 600 million Africans still lack access to safe sanitation. This will ultimately determine the well-being of the continent.
3 min |
August 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Lessons From Beijing
In just four years, Beijing has improved its air quality by setting time-bound targets and implementing a comprehensive regional action plan
2 min |
November 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Drive The Extra Mile
India is not only directly moving from BSIV to BSVI, it is also not allowing vehicle manufacturers extra time to sell the stock of unsold BSIV vehicles
4 min |
November 16, 2018
Down To Earth
Listen... Plants Too Speak
As early as in 1880, Charles Darwin demonstrated that plants could sense light, moisture, gravity, pressure and possessed several other qualities. Over the years, many scientists have proved that plants are sentient beings and move and respond to sensation. The subject is still controversial among the scientific community. Monica Gagliano is research associate professor of evolutionary ecology and former fellow of the Australian Research Council who has pioneered a brand-new research field of plant bioacoustics. In her latest book, Thus Spoke the Plant: A Remarkable Journey of Groundbreaking Scientific Discoveries and Personal Encounters with Plants, she, for the first time, has experimentally demonstrated that plants emit their own ªvoicesº and detect and respond to the sounds of their environments. In these excerpts, Gagliano writes about how the pea plant responds to acoustic vibrations to locate water
10+ min |
January 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Wild And Nutritious
Gaithi, a tuber variety that grows in the hills of Uttarakhand, has both nutritive and medicinal properties
2 min |
January 01, 2019
Down To Earth
The Right Pill
Africa will be setting up its first agency to check the spread of spurious drugs
3 min |
January 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Reign Over Rain
Rainfall deficit can be a challenge as well as an opportunity. Last year, Dhanbad faced a rainfall deficit of 60 per cent. EKLAVYA PRASAD narrates his personal experience of catching rainwater where it falls in his home, Uttarayan. By constructing rainwater harvesting structures, Uttarayan not only showed the way to address urban water scarcity, it also helped recharge groundwater with 1.06 million litres of rainwater
4 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Try Some Salt, Fresh And Seasoned
Uttarakhand's age-old flavoured salts loaded with micronutrients are not only a healthy option, but can also tickle your taste buds
3 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Corridor Catharsis
The proposed Similipal-Satkosia wildlife corridor in Odisha can be connecting link for the survival of endangered species. But mining activities need to be eliminated
3 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Anthropocene In The Arctic
A behind the scenes account of how the scientific community came to terms with the changing landscape of the Arctic
3 min |
January 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Who Is Economically Secular?
The rich have the chance to get richer in an economic crisis, while the poor face the prospect of sinking deeper in poverty
2 min |
February 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Conflict Of Diet
It's not just fragmented corridors that take elephants to farms. They get drawn towards crops that improve their state of mind and well-being
3 min |
February 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Good Old Sap
Gums secreted by trees are a treasure trove of nutrition and have been used by communities in making seasonal delicacies
3 min |
February 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Whose Waste Is It?
Producers are shifting their plastic recovery responsibility to other companies
3 min |
February 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Commons No More
Odisha government is setting up land banks to lure industries and investments. In the rush, it is alienating people from the commons. ISHAN KUKRETI travels to some of the areas worst hit by the government-sponsored land grab.
9 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Rise After The Fall
Sikkim, once the world's largest producer of large cardamom, is trying to regain its lost glory. Can it achieve the feat in the face of a changing climate?
6 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Save The Cow Mother
Oxytocin is given to women during and after childbirth to save their lives from blood loss. But the government is planning to restrict its use as it is illegally given to cattle to increase milk production.
4 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Deluge Of The Century
Kerala's worst flood since 1924 reinforces how local environmental degradation and lack of disaster preparedness can make extreme weather events deadly.
9 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Where India Fears To Tread
Even rich nations are using compulsory .licences to ensure cheaper life-saving drugs for public healthcare unlike India.
2 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Bizarre, Serious, Jocular
Janaki Lenin captures the animal (and human) world in all its mystique and charm.
2 min |
September 01, 2018
Down To Earth
Drowning In Debris
Construction and demolition waste is piling up across India. Regulations are in place, but recycling is yet to gain momentum.AVIKAL SOMVANSHI breaks down the cartouche of waste mismanagement
9 min |
June 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Why We Need A Circular Economy
Reusing products is not only necessary for a sustainable future, but also makes business sense
4 min |
June 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Crisis Management
Jared Diamond's latest book espouses that nations can come out of a crisis just the way people do Ishan Kukreti
3 min |
July 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Curbing True Lies
The answer may not be to enact laws to ban fake news, as Singapore has recently done.
3 min |
July 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Scorcher
Heat waves have swept 23 Indian states and union territories claiming lives and throttling livelihoods. They are breaching boundaries across the world and are also becoming more intense. What can we do to cope with it?
10+ min |