Science
Down To Earth
1.37 Billion And Not Counting
India, like the rest of the world, is intensely debating population explosion. But while countries are struggling to keep their numbers at replacement level, India is on the right path towards stabilising population sooner than expected. So what's the discussion all about? KUNDAN PANDEY captures the debate
10+ min |
February 01, 2020
Down To Earth
Thar's Friend
MEET TINY MELON KACHRI WHICH TURNS SHORT OF GOLD UPON DRYING AND CHANGES THE FATE OF ALL THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH IT
2 min |
December 01, 2019
Down To Earth
We Will Never Have Paris
The climate emergency is defined not in terms of deadlines but critical thresholds. Four years after the Paris Agreement, on the eve of the 25 th UN Climate Change Conference, countries' under-performance on their Paris targets is set to take us past 3°C warming. Next year, countries are due to announce a new set of climate action goals. Can we course-correct to achieve the objective of being carbon neutral by 2050 and stay below the 1.5°C warming threshold? An assessment by TARUN GOPALAKRISHNAN & KAPIL SUBRAMANIAN
10+ min |
December 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Punctured Cover
Crop insurance companies withdraw from Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana as extreme weather events spike claim rates resulting in heavy losses JITENDRA
5 min |
December 01, 2019
Down To Earth
‘Weavers Of Bengal Were An Incredible Asset For The East India Company'
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE IS HABITUATED TO HIS BOOKS CREATING A BUZZ. HIS LATEST, THE ANARCHY, FOCUSES ON HOW A JOINT- STOCK COMPANY, ESTABLISHED BY THE MERCHANTS OF LONDON, TOOK OVER PRACTICALLY THE ENTIRE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT BETWEEN 1756 AND 1803. RAJAT GHAI SPEAKS TO THE HISTORIAN-AUTHOR ABOUT THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE FACTORS THAT LED TO ITS ASCENT IN SOUTH ASIA. EXCERPTS:
3 min |
December 01, 2019
Down To Earth
A Perfect Zero
Cities in the Philippines have adopted zero waste model to manage their waste. It's not just turning their waste to gold, but also making the surroundings clean, green and environmentally sustainable
5 min |
December 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Seed Money
CHIRONJI, A MILDLY SWEET NUT, ENSURES THAT FOREST DWELLERS NEVER RUN OUT OF CASH
3 min |
November 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Lockdown's Other Victim
Walnut tree has been the strange casualty of Kashmir’s transition from a state to a Union Territory
4 min |
November 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Let It Flow
Two private and one government owners of dams on the Ganga refuse to follow the upcoming water discharge guidelines necessary for the cleaning and rejuvenation of the river
4 min |
November 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Chaos Deferred
India's withdrawl from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership sits well in this era of hyper deglobalisation. It now needs a roadmap to make the domestic economy competitive.
10+ min |
November 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Farmer And The New-Age Health Market
India’s booming nutraceutical market provides a big opportunity to farmer producer organisations
3 min |
November 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Himachal's Affair With Flowers
Farmers in Himachal Pradesh are ditching traditional food crops to grow aromatic plants that offer higher and assured returns
3 min |
November 01, 2019
Down To Earth
“Community Rights Over Common Lands Must Be Recognised”
COMMONS LIKE GRAZING LANDS, WASTELANDS, LAKES AND COMMUNITY FORESTS ARE RAPIDLY VANISHING, PUTTING THE LIVELIHOODS OF MARGINALISED PEOPLE AT RISK. JITENDRA SPOKE TO RUTH MEINZEN-DICK, A SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE US-BASED INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, ON THE COMMONS, COMMUNITIES AND POLICIES
3 min |
November 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Default By Design?
As the Union government’s PM-KISAN scheme completes a crop cycle, farmers complain of exclusion and partial cash support
6 min |
November 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Powerful Winds Of Change
Technological improvements and falling costs are driving a boom in offshore wind power projects worldwide. Still, the industry faces its own peculiar share of challenges
10+ min |
November 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Debunking Myths On Migration
ABHIJIT V BANERJEE and ESTHER DUFLO, who jointly won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences recently, say that wage differences between countries have little to do with whether or not people migrate. In fact, evidence suggests that migration makes both migrants and local people better off
7 min |
November 01, 2019
Down To Earth
Chambal In The Making
Soil erosion has triggered expansion of ravines in four districts of Gujarat, threatening agriculture and livelihood
4 min |
October 16, 2019
Down To Earth
The Weather Paywall
There will be heavy rainfall in... (subscribe to read on). That’s how all weather information will be delivered in the future, if private players are allowed to have their way. The chase to control and commodify forecast data is heating up. Competition could lead to greater accuracy in predictions, but it might also corrupt the public service that has so far been free.
10+ min |
October 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Burst Of Spice
Bhut Jolokia, One Of The Hottest Chillies, Went Through A Dip In Its Intense Spiciness And Price When Its Production Spread And Cross- Pollination Began On A Large Scale
3 min |
October 16, 2019
Down To Earth
What The Dog Saw
Noel Fitzpatrick, The Celebrity Vet Behind The Channel 4 Show The Supervet, Recounts His Often-surprising Journey In A Memoir That Celebrates The Bond Between Humans And Animals
4 min |
October 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Relocation Charade
21 tribal families say forest officials allied with property dealers to dupe them of the money they received for relocating from Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai Tiger Reserve
6 min |
October 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Towards Turbulence
As countries grapple with intense marine heat waves and stronger storms, the latest IPCC report says climate change has already altered our oceans, polar regions and high snowy mountains
5 min |
October 16, 2019
Down To Earth
Congratulations! India Is Open Defecation Free
On Mahatma Gandhi’s 150 th birthday, India becomes open defecation free. While it is an occasion to celebrate the achievement of creating millions of toilets in record time, it is also a time to plan for ensuring that the gains made are not lost and the pollution remains checked. Down To Earth reporters travel to 13 districts in six states to gauge if India can sustain its open defecation-free status, while Sushmita Sengupta and Snigdha Das analyse the challenges ahead
10+ min |
October 1, 2019
Down To Earth
Insects As Food!
Will insects become an integral part of our diets, again?
3 min |
October 1, 2019
Down To Earth
How Food Travelled Throughout The World
Evolution ensured people adopted new foods through generations of experiments. But in a fast globalising age, this tradition has been bypassed
5 min |
October 1, 2019
Down To Earth
Mahatma Gandhi's Environmentalism
Gandhi’s personal lifestyle choices are not what make him crucial to the future of our species. What matters more is to understand why Gandhi anticipated the environmental crisis more than half a century before the term “sustainable development” was coined.
10+ min |
October 1, 2019
Down To Earth
The Peasant Rebels
THE BOOK IS A FICTIONAL RETELL OF THE SATNAMI REVOLT AGAINST AURANGZEB, AND UNDERLINES THE IMPORTANCE OF REBELLION IN TIMES OF OPPRESSION
2 min |
October 1, 2019
Down To Earth
The Importance Of Justification In Conservation
Why we should not stray away from the idea of justice in conservation in a rapidly changing planet
2 min |
September 16, 2019
Down To Earth
The Gaps In Closing The Ozone Hole
The cooling industry which first drilled the hole in the ozone layer is now burning the whole planet
3 min |
September 16, 2019
Down To Earth
The Union Government Lends A Helping Hand To A Multinational Central
The Centre’s decision to provide only fortified food items under government schemes will ensure an annual market of over ₹3,000 crore to just five multinational companies
5 min |