'ALL HAVE A RIGHT TO MARRIAGE'

Nearly five years after scrapping Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised homosexuality, the Supreme Court in April 2023 began hearing petitions seeking legalisation of same-sex marriage, which would not just recognise unions within India’s LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, transgender, queer-identifying and others) community, but also allow partners to open joint bank accounts, make medical decisions and be eligible for inheritance. As a five-judge bench of the Apex Court headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud heard arguments both for and against the petitions, debates arose on the institution of marriage, on whether marriage equality was an “elitist concept”, and even on the biological definitions of a man and a woman. DOWN TO EARTH spoke to two experts on the fate of marriage equality in India.

PLANT BABOOL

The tree can grow well on degraded land, can survive droughts and floods, and has numerous medicinal properties

GREEN FLIGHT

From sustainable fuel to hydrogenpropelled engines, the aviation sector is experimenting with various technologies for a clean future

When generics turn into Big Pharma

Top generics firms, some from India, are charged with price-fixing and sleazy deals; Sun Pharma has paid up to settle claims

Every count matters

India’s first census of waterbodies is a much awaited one but experts question the methodology

POTENT EMITTER

Termites are a major source of methane, but determining the risk they pose to global warming is fraught with uncertainty

A silent crisis

Years of undernutrition and a heavy reliance on rice, supplied through public distribution system, could be fuelling diabetes among tribal population

Deserted by state

Rural households in West Bengal are pushed into debt traps and forced migration after the Centre’s decision to withhold funds to implement India’s flagship public wage programme in the state

Link as old as time

CONSIDERED AN ENIGMA TODAY, CHEETAH IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF INDIAN HISTORY, NOTES WILDLIFE EXPERT DIVYABHANUSINH IN THE STORY OF INDIA’S CHEETAHS. FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1995, A NEW EDITION OF THE BOOK WAS LAUNCHED RECENTLY, WITH A CHAPTER ON INDIA’S PROJECT CHEETAH

Amplifying discontent

Absence of a good census allows politicians to exploit aspirations, hopes, sentiments, language traditions and social identities of people in Manipur

Lethal hypocrisy of US Special 301 Report

Patent protection in the US is a convoluted and expensive business and yet it pulls up other countries that have robust systems

Displaced by disasters

Climate emergency replaces wars and conflicts as the biggest global cause for internal displacement of people

15 KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS, 11 DIE

Despite ample laws and implementation structures, industries continue to release untreated effluents into the environment. What can be done to make the defaulters follow the law?

Small wonder?

The government believes that nano-fertiliser can improve soil health and help double agricultural income, but farmers and scientists remain unsure about its benefits

Will The Aral Sea Ever Come Back?

Forty years of “creeping environmental problems” built up into a mammoth monster insidiously sucking the great Aral Sea virtually dry

A SILENT CRISIS

Years of undernutrition and a heavy reliance on rice, supplied through public distribution system, could be fuelling diabetes among tribal population

ARE WE THERE YET?

Model villages are Still far from the goal of doubling farmers’ income by 2022

A FOREST DROUGHT NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT

Severe dry spells in Indian forests have hit the livelihood of more than 100 million people

DEADLY TARGET

Health experts blame Centre's over-emphasis on women's sterilisation for the Chhattisgarh tragedy

ETHICS ON TRIAL

Five per cent of the clinical trials conducted across the world will be in India by 2012. While doctors and organisations conducting trials make big bucks, the rights and safety of the subjects are often overlooked

Village Democracy, Mendha Style

A nondescript Maria Gond village in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district can offer a lesson to urbanites on how to run a functioning democracy

HOMELESS HILSA

The ocean fish that swims against the tide to spawn in rivers is moving away from Bangladesh

IT's UNDERBELLY

India produces about 400,000 tonnes of electronic waste each year, growing exponentially. The country is one of the lead importers of all kinds of waste. Almost all of this is recycled or scrapped by the unorganised sector

ON SHAKY GROUND

Nearly half a million people living in and around the Jharia coalfield in Jharkhand have to be shifted to control underground fires

PRIVATE (LTD)

A controversial plan to sell water from the Sheonath river

ORPHANED BY APATHY

Hidden from the outside world, this is the plight of the Van Taungiyas

REPUBLIC QUAKED

How can a region officially recognised as the most earthquake prone be so helpless when it strikes?

TURNING TURTLE

Olive Ridley sea turtles have been coming to the Gahirmatha coast in Odisha for thousands of years for mass nesting. But for two consecutive years now they have failed to nest here, though they have shown up

THE RULERS NOUVEAUX

Madhya Pradesh became the first state in the country to implement the 3-tier panchayati raj. But lack of finances might just undo the transfer of power to the people

THE SALT OF THE EARTH

Moves are afoot to convert the brackish Pulicat lake into a freshwater one to supply water to Madras city and authorities seem to have little regard for its consequences on the environment