Feature Article

A hybrid plant combines wind, solar and hybrid power conditioning unit with a battery to supply electricity to remote areas.

Edible forest fruits have immense potential for export since they are produced purely organically by nature and the question of use of agrochemicals for their production does not arise. Kendu is one such edible forest fruit, which has been used as fresh table fruit and in dried form for centuries mostly by tribals.

Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD) has been working in the Rayalseema reion of Andhra Pradesh since the mid 1990s on restoration of Panchayati Raj tanks. Around 40 tanks have been restored in the region by SPWD in collaboration with local Non Government Organizations (NGOs), through formation of representative community-based Tank Management Committees (TMCs).

The conventional grid-based electricity has not been able to reach many remote rural areas and small settlements.

A range of antimalarial drugs were procured from private pharmacies in urban and peri-urban areas in the major cities of six African countries, situated in the part of that continent and the world that is most highly endemic for malaria. Semiquantitative thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and dissolution testing were used to measure active pharmaceutical ingredient content against internationally acceptable standards. 35% of all samples tested failed either or both tests, and were substandard. Further, 33% of treatments collected were artemisinin monotherapies, most of which (78%) were

The climate of the North Atlantic region exhibits fluctuations on decadal timescales that have large societal consequences. Prominent examples include hurricane activity in the Atlantic, and surface-temperature and rainfall variations over North America, Europe and northern Africa. Although these multidecadal variations are potentially predictable if the current state of the ocean is known, the lack of subsurface ocean observations that constrain this state has been a limiting factor for realizing the full skill potential of such predictions.

Plants are an integral part of life and culture. Folk songs give an idea of plants growing in the surrounding environs of tribal's and throw light on plant-based practices in usage in various spheres of their lives, including the material benefits derived and recreational opportunities offered. This article talks about the desert plants like khejri, ber and its uses.

NREGA is the culmination of a long struggle by mass organizations on the issue of providing a minimum right to work. NREGA is clear on the fact that this right is available to all rural communities. To operationalize this Act, the state of poverty in different parts of the country was studied and to start with the worst affected districts were taken up.

The effects of global warming over the coming decades will be modified by shorter-term climate variability. Finding ways to incorporate these variations will give us a better grip on what kind of climate change to expect.

A payments for ecosystem services (PES) system came about in South Africa with the establishment of the government-funded Working for Water (WfW) programme that clears mountain catchments and riparian zones of invasive alien plants to restore natural fire regimes, the productive potential of land, biodiversity, and hydrological functioning. The success of the programme is largely attributed to it being mainly funded as a poverty-relief initiative, although water users also contribute through their water fees.