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Unfair fields of cotton
Asymmetric World Trade Organization rules that allow the US to inflate its cotton subsidies, much to the peril of farmers in India and elsewhere, must be reformed
SHORT SHRIFT TO RURAL ECONOMY
The Union Budget 2021-22 prioritises spending, but fails to provide agriculture and the rural sector the boost needed to revive growth
The science behind the art
Cooking is an art, most would say. However, at its root, cooking is a form of chemical engineering, writes Krish Ashok in his recent book, Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking. Understanding the science behind food preparation can arm the chef with techniques to augment flavours. Here’s a crash course on the physics and chemistry of food.
IT'S TAKEN ROOTS
It is likely that COVID-19 would soon become endemic in several countries, including India
AN AGRARIAN BIOPSY
The widespread protests by farmers across India have forced us to probe the fundamentals of the farm economy
COPY AND EVOLVE
BUILDING UPON THE IDEAS OF PREVIOUS GENERATIONS MADE CIVILISATION AND THE ECONOMY POSSIBLE, WRITES TIM HARFORD
WATER WISE
FARMERS IN A TAMIL NADU VILLAGE WERE ABLE TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS BY BUDGETING WATER AND DIVERSIFYING CROPS
SOUR SAGA
EASIER ACCESS TO TENDER CHICKPEA GREENS WILL HELP PROMOTE THIS NUTRITIOUS FOOD
FIRST SHOT
The death of eight people and hesitancy among health workers mar the first phase of India’s vaccination drive against COVID-19
India's E-Waste Generation Up By 27%
In just one year, India's e-waste generation jumped 27 per cent, says a recent report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). In 2019-20, the country generated 1,014,961 tonnes of e-waste, as against the 771,215 tonnes generated in 2018-19.
Arctic On Thin Ice
NO PLACE felt the heat in 2020 like the Arctic and its surrounding seas. Its ice cover melted to its second-lowest annual minimum extent of 3.74 million km2 in summer, while the freeze-up in autumn saw a sluggish start.
Stem pepper
THE WOODY STEMS OF CHUI OOZE FIERY FLAVOURS
SO, WHO BLINKS FIRST
Recent mutations in COVID-19 virus have complicated the fight against the pandemic. Can we win?
Let it flow
The scientific community has rolled out plans to remove hurdles in the shift to open access publishing. Will this ensure equitable access?
Two of a kind
India has lost two environmental crusaders who embodied the spirit of conservation
What's in a name?
INDIA’S WILDLIFE LAW HAS NOT INCORPORATED NEW SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES AND UNDERSTANDINGS, WHICH IS LEADING TO CONFUSION AND CHAOS IN WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
Are we there yet?
Model villages are still far from the goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022
Lesser pandemic?
A new viral infection in cattle sweeps across India, threatening one of the largest rural economies
‘We hardly lived before we died'
PANDEMICS IN THE PAST HAVE CHANGED THE WORLD ORDER. WILL COVID-19 DO THE SAME?
Araku's pioneer
A tribal farmer in Andhra Pradesh got the best of both worlds when he combined natural farming with his wisdom from shifting cultivation
The Forests We Forgot
Huge swathes of forestland have been declared reserve forests but never notified since the colonial era, leaving thousands of people encroachers on their own land for generations. For them, it is a perennial existence of uncertainty. ISHAN KUKRETI travels to several villages across JHARKHAND, ANDHRA PRADESH AND MADHYA PRADESH to find how government failure, both at the Centre and the states, is hurting the communities and forests alike
Sting operation
One of India’s worst malaria-affected districts, Malkangiri in Odisha, is on its way to win the fight against this scourge
The great discontent
Farmers delivered the country’s historic harvest bucking the pandemic in 2020. But the year also broke all records of their protests as they demand fair price and access to markets
Fungal attack in apple orchards across the valley
WIDESPREAD FUNGAL infection is set to hit apple production in Kashmir this season.
SHRINKING WORLD OF CHANGPAS
The Changpas are trans-Himalayan nomads. For ages, they have roamed the Changthang region of southeastern Ladakh, cut off from the world. Some accounts say they travelled across the Himalayas to arrive here around the 8th century. Located at an altitude of 4,500 metres, life in this arid, vast and rugged plateau is hard. Winters are very long, summers short and vegetation scarce. As a result, the Changpas have led a pastoral life. They rear Changthangi goat, from whose under coat comes the famous pashmina wool. The goats graze on the mountainsides, feeding on seasonal grasses. The weather, however, has changed in the past few decades. The winters and summers are warmer, and there is a perceptive decline in precipitation and snowfall between November and March. This has drastically reduced the size of the grazing grounds and the Changpas now have to shift locations more frequently. RITAYAN MUKHERJEE captures the changing lifestyle of the Changpas
Collateral damage
India’s latest plan to save its vultures from dying due to drugs used on cattle offers little hope
PURE TRASH
THE GOVERNMENT’S NEW PROPOSAL ON EXTENDED PRODUCER’S RESPONSIBILITY ON PLASTIC WASTE IS A MOCKERY OF THE COVID-19 REALITY WE FACE TODAY
Gated farming societies
An agritech startup in Bengaluru is helping city dwellers own and manage farms for long-term wealth benefits
2020 Endless Fallouts
COVID-19 has turned the clock back in terms of global health and development indices. The recovery will be long and arduous for a world facing climate change on an unprecedented scale. Indicators are already there that the year ahead will be turbulent
Question Of Ecological Identity
ISHAN KUKRETI speaks to a legislator, an anthropologist and legal experts to make sense of this simmering debate