Feature Article

The book under review comes in the wake of the launch of the National Solar Mission, which intends to use grid-connected solar power to meet its ambitious target. Till recently, solar energy was considered a roof top option both for power and heat. Integration of solar power into the national grid will require new protocols.

The average human spends three years of his or her life in the toilet. The filthy streets of Europe are thought to be the reason for the sudden popularity, in the 17th century, of high heels.

The joint committee set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to enquire into the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of the Forest Rights) Act, 2006, came out with its final report in December 2010. The report suggests that some states had not even started initial procedures to give rights to forest dwellers. But other states like Kerala had vested individual land titles.

Farmer-breeders are an unsung tribe. In far corners of the world, farmers study the seeds they use, experiment with them, do simple back-crossing to improve yields and taste, and quite often come up with winners. Some farmers are geniuses when it comes to improving their seed and introducing simple but effective agronomic practices. And they quite readily share the fruits of their researches with fellow farmers.

We were staying in a small coastal town of Karwar in Karnataka, about seven kilometres from south of Goa. My two-year-old daughter was not able to acclimatise. I was giving her anti-allergics and antibiotics, but she kept catching cold. One day, my friend in Karwar, Megha Gaonkar, told me about the medicinal powers of a plant called saveer sambar soppu in Kannada. It means a thousand utility leaf. The leaves smelled like ajwain or carom seeds. But Gaonkar said it was some other plant. “Boil 10 to 12 leaves in about a glass of water till one third the amount is left. The decoction will act as a great cold and cough reliever,” she told me. It worked. My daughter recovered within five days.

Immediately after school, 15-yearold Surendra Kumar rushes to the wheat fields running parallel to the main Chambal canal in Umaidganj village in Rajasthan’s Kota district. He begins his search for a pair of Saras Cranes and their two young ones—the crane family he has been tracking for four years now. After spotting them he takes out a pen and a notebook from his muddy school bag to note down the exact time, date and location.

DRUG-resistant NDM-1 gene has been debated ever since India was identified a source of the gene in patients in the UK. The debate intensified on April 7, 2011, when the journal Lancet Infectious Disease published a paper which stated that the gene (New Delhi Metallo-betalactamase- 1) was found in tap water, rivulets and water pools in Delhi. The gene makes the microbe that carries it resistant to antibiotics.

VEHICLES and fuels must be seen as a system and not in isolation. Even a clean fuel like CNG may emit high air pollutants if the vehicle engine technology is inefficient to burn the fuel. This is the message from the first detailed testing of CNG three-wheelers in Delhi by researchers from University of British Columbia, Canada.

RESEARCHERS have found a new culprit of cardiovascular diseases—gut flora. The bacteria present in the intestine help in the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates setting off a chain of reactions which lead to the development of plaque. Its accumulation clogs the arteries which finally becomes the cause of cardiac disorders.

NO MATTER what season it is, denims are now a wardrobe staple. But the techniques used to process denim to suit the fashion, like rugged or faded, are highly polluting and hazardous.