Science
Down To Earth
Now Money Decides Lives
As COVID-19 makes inroads in rural India, state GDP losses will kill more people than the disease
3 min |
September 01, 2020
Down To Earth
How much is zero?
Paddy farmers of Andhra Pradesh are saving water, energy and money by adopting Zero Budget Natural Farming
3 min |
September 01, 2020
Down To Earth
THE HILLS ARE COMING ALIVE
Deserted villages of Uttarakhand are springing back to life as residents return to the hills after decades. The state government has announced several schemes to retain them, but has it reached people?
9 min |
September 01, 2020
Down To Earth
More action than words
Rajesh Choubey has stopped ration shops from pilfering, sensitised people and assisted them in finding livelihood during the pandemic
2 min |
September 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Only 35% cities partially segregate waste at source
THE GOVERNMENT recently released the Swachh Survekshan 2020 report, with much fanfare.
1 min |
September 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Supercharged water
HERBS CAN TURN AN AVERAGE GLASS OF WATER INTO A FRAGRANT, HEALTHY BEVERAGE
4 min |
September 01, 2020
Down To Earth
From where did the tiger come?
GENETICISTS, HISTORIANS AND EXPERTS HAVE SEVERAL THEORIES ON THE BIG CAT
5 min |
September 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Left to starve
The COVID-19 lockdown is likely to render millions of children in India malnourished
6 min |
September 01, 2020
Down To Earth
619,097
This is the number of assets created across rural India in the four months since the COVID-19 lockdown to tap natural resources. This is also the potential of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA), a programme envisaged to alleviate poverty among the rural people by using their only capital—labour. So, what has helped the program that over the years got mired in controversies make a comeback? Down To Earth travels to districts that witnessed reverse migration on a large scale to understand this transition. They find a script that can change the rural-urban dynamics forever. Demand for MGNREGA works shows an unprecedented spike—more than 30 million households have asked for employment for three consecutive months. Governments are harnessing the surplus labour to create assets that will ensure livelihood even after people are weaned off the wage support. People too are using this opportunity to pick up the pieces of their lives in villages they had once left.
10+ min |
September 01, 2020
Down To Earth
World Sees Spike In Polio Cases Due To Oral Vaccine
The fight against polio through massive vaccination efforts since 1988 has helped reduce the number of cases by more than 99 per cent worldwide—but there remains a worry. Instances of vaccinederived poliovirus (VDPV), caused by the virus strains used in the vaccine by regaining their ability to cause the paralytic disease, have seen a spike between 2010 and 2019.
2 min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
“Communities need more benefits for conservation”
V B MATHUR, CHAIRPERSON OF THE NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY AUTHORITY, CHENNAI, TALKS TO ABHILASH KHANDEKAR ON THE COMING OF AGE OF THE COUNTRY’S BIODIVERSITY GOVERNANCE. EXCERPTS
4 min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
Gardens of hope
Krishna Mawasi and 230 other residents in Madhya Pradesh opened their kitchen gardens to vulnerable families to help them tide over the lockdown
2 min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
Softening the blow
In absence of a robust forecasting infrastructure, mobile phones can improve climate resilience of African farmers
5 min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
THE FACADE OF RECOVERY
While the government harps on recovered cases, it must also closely track them as studies hint recovery offers no surety of good health
8 min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
And there was light
Scientists have for some time now theorised scenarios in which black hole mergers are accompanied by light. We now have evidence, maybe
9 min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
DHARAVI, THE SURVIVOR
Dharavi has proven the doomsday predictions wrong and is now being hailed as a global model to combat COVID-19. How did one of the world’s biggest slums curtail the spread of the pandemic, when at least 10 people live in a cramped 1-2-metre shack? How did it manage to keep the number of cases and deaths low despite pathetic hygiene conditions and without proper medical facilities?
10+ min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
BLACK BUSINESS
On June 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at an event to auction 41 coal blocks for commercial mining, said that India needs to use its domestic coal for energy needs.
10+ min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
Celebrating knowledge
Creating a People’s Biodiversity Register is more than a legal requirement. It is an exercise of empowering communities and spreading their knowledge of biodiversity
4 min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
A SHARP BITE
On July 3, Nagaland chief secretary Temjen Toy tweeted that the state government has decided to ban import and trading of dogs and the sale of dog meat, both cooked and uncooked. In the message he tagged Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Maneka Gandhi, Member of Parliament and founder of non-profit People for Animals. A day later, the government issued a notification, which says violations will attract punishments under sections 428 and 429 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, which deal with “mischief” against animals and the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals Act, 1960. Though Nagaland does not have a formal dog meat industry, certain Naga tribes consume it for nutrition. The ban might look logical to the outsider, but the Nagas believe it infringes on their cultural freedom and will lead to stigmatisation and further alienation. Small wonder, when ISHAN KUKRETI spoke with several organisations and individuals across Nagaland, he found many opposers but hardly any supporters of the ban
3 min |
August 16, 2020
Down To Earth
Disease Of Inequality
COVID-19 has drilled deep holes in an already unequal world, making life for the underprivileged unlivable
3 min |
August 01, 2020
Down To Earth
WHO Is Tracking India's Health?
The burden of mysterious ailments mounts in India as its disease surveillance system lies in a shambles
10+ min |
August 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Rain rupture in monsoon pattern
While some parts of the northeast, especially Assam, are suffering from unprecedented floods, other states are receiving deficit rainfall
3 min |
August 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Toxic row
Industry lobby is at work to dilute the proposed ban on 27 widely used hazardous pesticides
3 min |
August 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Predicting a shock
In the past few months, India has been rocked by numerous small earthquakes. But science to predict them is still in its infancy
5 min |
August 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Peril in the hills
THE NILGIRI HILLS ARE WITNESSING ECOSYSTEM COLLAPSE DUE TO EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS TRIGGERED BY CLIMATE CHANGE
5 min |
August 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Grounded in wisdom
TRADITIONAL MINI FLOUR MILLS MAY NO LONGER BE IN VOGUE IN OUR HOMES, BUT THEY HELP PREPARE NUTRITIOUS FOOD
4 min |
August 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Corona 2.0
The next coronavirus is round the corner. But scientists don’t know when, and how it will explode
3 min |
July 16, 2020
Down To Earth
Let There Be Blue Sky
The nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has unwittingly given us a glimpse of what our cities can look like if we wean away from polluting vehicles and industries. Let’s make this an everlasting reality
7 min |
July 16, 2020
Down To Earth
Mobility redefined
The pandemic offers probably the last chance to reform our public transport and make way for walking and cycling
7 min |
July 16, 2020
Down To Earth
Silver lining
From real-time monitoring to flying drones, Indian cities are innovating ways to handle COVID-19 biomedical waste
3 min |