Every time there is a crisis in the countryside, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), 2005, has come to the rescue of the rural poor. The 100 days of assured employment have not only saved some of the poorest in the
One of the most alarming human interest stories in recent times is unfolding in the temple town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand. Yet, it has disappeared from the mainstream media. The subsidence of Joshimath should serve as a cautionary tale for blindly “chasing
In October last year, after the Government of India gave its approval for commercialisation of GM mustard, it kicked up a raging storm. Activists were quick to criticise the government’s move and filed Public Interest Litigations (PILs) in the Supreme Court against
In 1965, when the then prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, launched the Green Revolution under the stewardship of noted agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan, it amounted to insurance against the devastating famines that had ravaged India since Independence. The success of this revolution
Development and conservation have always been a tough balancing act. Resource extraction and exploitation drive the wheels of economic progress, which in turn improves the quality of life for people. Development goals for large and populous countries like India dictate the pace
One of the most undesirable outcomes of economic development is increased consumption, which, in turn, leads to the generation of urban waste. Today, safely disposing municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the biggest global challenges. For India, it’s a matter of
From being recreational tools to becoming versatile machines that can perform a wide range of tasks, in a little more than a decade, the evolution of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs), popularly known as drones, has been rapid and transformative. Over the years,
The internet has transformed our lives in ways unimagined. It has opened up the vast possibilities of cyberspace, democratised knowledge and markets, helped trade and commerce, to name a few aspects. It has certainly empowered people and handed them tools of progress.
The rule of law is the lifeblood of a constitutional democracy and citizens are expected to obey the law of the land. Otherwise, without just laws societies will simply descend into chaos. The idea of laws keeps evolving with the passage of
The agitating farmers have gone home, the government has withdrawn the three contentious laws that it passed in September, but the crisis that India’s agriculture sector has been facing for decades continues to persist as India’s ranking slips to 101 out of