Feature Article

Eighty-one countries have either banned endosulfan or are in the process of banning it. As the fifth Conference of Parties (COP) of the Stockholm Convention meets in Geneva from April 25 to April 30 to decide the fate of the pesticide, India still remains in denial mode.

For more than 1000 years, we have known that the seas off the coast of Sendai in Japan can turn treacherous. An account of how one quake unleashed a flood that swept away a castle town can be found in Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku (The True History of Three Reigns of Japan), completed in AD 901 for the emperor. (Editorial)

Most of India's 2.8 million prostitutes own cellphones – making it easier to contact them about HIV tests.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028095.100-cellphones-get-help-t...

Should the anti-corruption struggle be defined in terms of a virtuous “civil society” versus an “evil” State? (Editorial)

An official committee’s recipe for forest management will, if implemented, have a disastrous impact. (Editorial)

The Lokpal Bill movement of Anna Hazare assumes that monetary corruption can be separated from policy and that a skewed set of development priorities can peacefully coexist with complete and transparent financial honesty. This is a fundamental mistake. The Lokpal Bill is not ill-intentioned and some version of it is even necessary.