India is well on its way to a low-carbon economic future, but its global image suffers because we lack the public discourse to bolster our argument, unlike China and the Western countries, writes Darryl D'Monte.

The atomic energy programme is an economic failure as well as an environmental disaster. Moreover, by its very functioning, the AEC has undermined the democratic ideals of the nation, writes Ramachandra Guha.

What should a town-planning engineer in a district or taluk headquarters know of the Energy Conservation Building Code to get it successfully implemented, without complicating things? Chandrashekar Hariharan provides some answers.

Will the Kudankulam nuclear power plant finally become operational this month as assured by the Prime Minister? Krithika Ramalingam takes an in-depth look at the long history of delays and conflicts that has plagued the project since its inception.

Both the Ministry of Renewable Energy and the Ministry of Environment and Forests appear loath to pay attention to the potential environmental impact of small hydel power projects in the country. Parineeta Dandekar underlines the shortcomings in the official stance towards such projects.

Fly ash, the residue from coal used in thermal power plants, is not only a headache for plant operators; its use in agriculture and other sectors violates environmental sanctity and poses a serious risk to human health. Shripad Dharmadhikary studies a new CEA report to bring us more.

Pune-based NGO Prayas Energy’s ESMI programme provides easily comprehensible data on the extent and quality of power supply in regions across the country, which can be used to demand accountability as well as enable social research. Manasi Mathkar reports.

Has the CAG overstepped its mandate by auditing the capital’s three power distributors at the behest of the ruling Delhi government? While the recent High Court ruling seems to indicate that, Himanshu Upadhyaya argues why the draft audit report must not be rejected.

High rhetoric and token gestures abound on International Women’s Day. Yet, a brave woman of the soil was threatened, attacked and prevented from holding a rally that would have voiced the real issues faced by many women. Freny Manecksha met Soni Sori days before she was attacked, and recounts her story.

Newsletters in UP that began as a development effort to help women communicate among themselves have evolved into much more, addressing problems that are relevant to whole communities instead. Tarannum Manjul reports on a crop of 'alternate media' that is in fact very much the centre of the communities they serve.

A 90-second video put together by a group of women activists demands a pop-up statutory warning on screen every time a woman is assaulted or abused. Shoma Chatterji critiques the video, raising several questions over its content as well as the stance that it takes.

As the Kerala government takes steps to re-inspire citizens to engage in grassroots level governance, P Mohammad Nizar draws attention to certain critical issues that must be addressed for the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the state to be effectively revitalised.

Public attention must focus on what Pakistan's options are, both in battlefield tactical terms, and in the face of India's military resurgence, says Firdaus Ahmed.

What India does or does not do is critical to the two power centers in Pakistan. The triumph of democratic forces there cannot be done without such Indian help, writes Firdaus Ahmed.

Is military combat the only way to deal with the Islamic state and its likes? Firdaus Ahmed ponders about the role India can play in making the ongoing temporary ceasefire in the five-year old Syrian civil war a more permanent one.

Disillusioned by the total lack of responsiveness from mainstream parties to their plight, displaced tribals from Polavaram decide to contents the assembly elections themselves. R Uma Maheshwari reports.

Illegal dumping of industrial waste around Raigarh takes the life of 7-year-old Twinkle Thakur, raising familiar troubling questions about the trajectory of 'development' in India. Kanchi Kohli reports.

The Kerala government is proposing to construct a new dam only a few kilometres from the site of one of India's great environment struggles in the Silent Valley National Park. But cooked data and ignored court orders have once again invited the wrath of conservationists. M Suchitra reports.

A Jindal group-Government of Tamilnadu firm attempted to get forest clearance for mining in the Eastern Ghats forests of TN. Both the Ministry of Environment and a Supreme Court monitoring committee rejected clearance. Kanchi Kohli has more.

Tribal women in Uttarakhand are standing up for their community rights, and resisting the dispossession of their lands by a nexus between powerful landlords and the government machinery. Puja Awasthi reports.

Chandi Prasad Bhatt said that for him every river was a Ganga, a source of life and renewal, abused or ill-treated at one's peril. His work has been an education for others, writes Ramachandra Guha.

The world’s largest and longest-running longitudinal research and action initiative on gender in the news media released in New York on 2 March, where the 54th session of United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is currently on. Ammu Joseph summarises the findings.

We need to reflect on the political and social possibilities that India has contributed to the modern world. The Indian experience offers new interpretations of key modern concepts such as nationhood, democracy, citizenship and individual freedom, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

The Mumbai attacks are a direct threat against the existence of the Indian state. Still, we should distance ourselves from votaries of direct action, including war against Pakistan, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

The images of developmental utopia cluster together in our head into a kind of heaven, a secular afterlife of instantly met desires. Rajesh Kasturirangan explores the narrative of development.

The problem of Indian politics is not that it exists, but rather that success in the system doesn't seem to be connected in any way to the ability to govern, writes Rajesh Kasturirangan.

Disaster situations in the recent past have only led to sporadic study and discussions but yielded little by way of lessons for the long term; will the devastating North Indian floods this time change that? Kanchi Kohli ruminates.

Public audit of an organisation or individual by a statutory authority is proven to give teeth to enforcement. Why then has India's CAG failed to instill fear in the various government departments and enterprises it monitors? A new book by B P Mathur tackles this and more, says Himanshu Upadhyaya.

Sikkim leads the nation in per-student expenditure by quite some distance, but bureaucratic hurdles to progress common elsewhere are to be found here too. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.

Taking a 360-degree view of the Union Budget 2013, Shankar Jaganathan points out that despite 'inclusive and sustainable development' being a stated goal, the emphasis has primarily been on growth and finances.

Inadequate training, shortfall in personnel, weak monitoring systems and unconvincing responses from the government to the CAG.s objections regarding the same reveal the flaws in implementation of the NREGS scheme in Uttar Pradesh. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports.

In Jahangirpur Gram Panchayat of Bihar’s Kishanganj district, Rs 30 lakh meant for pregnant Muslim women had already been misappropriated, when a community-driven project launched by Oxfam decided to tackle the corruption head on. Ajitha Menon reports.

Media reports following the two-day Accountants’ General conference have focused largely on the observations and advice on CAG audits by the Finance Minister and the PAC chairman. Himanshu Upadhyaya wonders if such a meet cannot be evolved into a more citizen-focused and constructive exercise.

The success of ‘spot fixes’ and other initiatives by independent resident-collectives or organisations in cleaning up urban spaces and dumping spots has been noteworthy, but a long-term plan for solving waste issues in Indian cities needs more. Pooja Ramamurthi explains.

The report of a high level committee under BJP MP Shanta Kumar proposes radical restructuring of the PDS and reduced coverage of the food security act. But is the estimate of leakages in the report flawed in itself? Shambhu Ghatak presents alternative findings.

When this social communication event hit Kolkata in 2002, the entire ambience spilled over with empathy and a deep understanding for films – documentary, fiction and docu-fiction – made on or about the marginalised and the oppressed. Very little of all that was in the air during the 2007 version, writes Shoma Chatterji.

Celluloid Man pays a moving tribute to P.K. Nair, a man whose passion and commitment has kept alive the history of Indian cinema for film lovers, even as it exposes the tragic indifference of the establishment towards Nair, and archiving in general. Shoma A. Chatterji reviews the film.

Filmmaker Q's reinterpretation of Rabindranath Tagore's Tasher Desh is a bold experiment, not only in format but also content, as it seeks to layer the classic satire with unprecedented connotations of sexuality and gender issues. Shoma A Chatterji reviews the film.

Even in regions touted as India’s food bowl, Rs 3000 a month is all that a farmer earns for his family! Devinder Sharma crunches data from CACP to highlight the grave crisis in the agrarian economy.

Encouraging contract farming is going to hurt the 600 million people dependent on subsistence agriculture, says Devinder Sharma.

To expect poor and marginal farmers to trade online seems to be a wild imagination of a stockbroker, says Devinder Sharma.

Kasturi Das makes a strategic case for a shift to organic agriculture in India.

Well-known experts presented `Water: More Nutrition Per Drop' at the April 20 meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in New York. Sudhirendar Sharma reviews the report and its considerations of the Indian situation.

India's upcoming National Biotech Policy will aim at food security, health-safety, farmer well-being, protection of the environment and security of trade in farm commodities. But favouring GM crops over alternatives runs real risks of jeopardizing this agenda, argues Kasturi Das.

A two-day seminar held recently in Mumbai brought together policy makers, bureaucrats, social workers, farmers, journalists, activists and researchers. Scrutinising farm policy in depth, they said that policy had failed to address some of the main challenges, reports Aparna Pallavi.

Barely three days after the conclusion of the last of six public hearings, Minister of Environment Jairam Ramesh slapped a moratorium on the release of Bt Brinjal. Anupama Rao summarises key points from the Minister's note.

The Mayawati government proposes to reduce the distance that farmers must travel to take their produce to market to an average of seven kms. This should help farming families boost their incomes, writes Devinder Sharma.

With a multitude of problems and the diversity of languages, the medium of instruction remains a topic of impassioned debate. Teaching in the mother tongue fuels pride, but English is here to stay. Fostering multilingualism in our schools, however, is far from smooth sailing. Deepa A reports.

The recent decisions of several state governments to ban sex education in all schools concern everyone, particularly women. In this age of the knowledge economy, we cannot believe that people's access to information on any subject, including matters relating to sex, can be controlled, says Kalpana Sharma.

The aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami saw an unprecedented outpouring of goodwill. But with the traditional panchayats in Nagapattinam's fishing hamlets controlling relief, single women and dalits were systematically exlcuded. Two and half years later, nothing has changed, reports S Gautham.