Feature Article

On December 13, 2006, scientists warned that the Arctic ice is melting at a rate faster than was estimated. The ice has been shrinking steadily over the past 30 years, but now scientists say there's a possibility of an ice-free Arctic in the next few decades.

The last frontier of the Bengal floodplains, the Sunderbans is a sprawling archipelago of several hundred islands, some large, some minuscule, stretching nearly 300 km between West Bengal and Bangladesh.

Sagar Refugee Colony, Ganga Sagar gram panchayat: Ever since her older son went off to work as a daily labourer in Kashmir two years ago, Sahajadi Bibi has to worry a little less about how to feed her family of eight.

The business of settling new-formed land, rehabilitation of environmental refugees and building and maintaining embankments is subject to much political manoeuvring. Anthropologist Amites Mukhopadhyay of Kalyani University, West Bengal, who's researched these machinations extensively, calls it " char politics'.

So, is there any way the islands can be saved while maintaining the ecological balance of this unique mangrove system?

The Himalayas possess one of the largest resources of snow and ice, which act as a huge freshwater reservoir. Monitoring the glaciers is important to assess the overall reservoir health. In this investigation, glacial retreat was estimated for 466 glaciers in Chenab, Parbati and Baspa basins from 1962.

Jharia Coalfield in Jharkhand, India, is known for being the exclusive storehouse of prime coking coal in the country. The coalfield is also known for hosting the maximum number of known coal fires among all coalfields in India.

Metropolitan slums in diverse nations like India have always been homes to rural migrants from a variety of linguistic, religious and regional backgrounds and reflect a unique cultural dynamism.

Human-induced modifications on land and water are posing a serious threat to geo-environment in general and groundwater regime in particular along the fringe areas of most cities in the world.

Massive releases of agents intentionally or unintentionally can be disruptive to the lines of individuals at many levels. In 1984, the release of toxic Methylisocyanate gas had occurred suddenly and without warning from the union carbide plant in Bhopal. This disaster had created thousands of casualties thereby overwhelming local, health and medical resources.