From the time settled agriculture started on the Indian subcontinent millennia ago, there was a dependence on the calendrical reliability of the rains as they sustained the crops. Every year…
As southwest India finally has a respite from the recent heavy rains, the discussions have now turned to what went wrong. In the district of Kodagu, nine days of non-stop…
The high noon sun makes it tough to inspect the shrubs and plants in the butterfly park without squinting. Despite the harsh conditions, the Athalye family - Sandeep, his wife,…
Asserting that the range and intensity of desertification have increased in some dryland areas over the past several decades, a latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)…
As salt-spoiled soils increase across the world, can neglected and underutilised crop species be the rising stars in sustainable agriculture in salinisation-hit countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh? Spotlighting…
As you sip the freshly brewed craft beer, there is nothing to indicate the pale brew is generously infused with bajra, or pearl millet, a grain that has been grown…
In the runup to the observance of the first anniversary of the torrential floods that wreaked havoc in Kerala, causing a loss of Rs. 310 billion (31,000 crores) and claiming…
Barron Joseph Orr, lead scientist at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), is at the forefront of the UN body’s efforts to tackle land degradation. The UNCCD was…
With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) making a landslide victory in the 2019 general elections of India, one cannot relegate apprehensions about the ways in which…
When I was a schoolboy in Kerala, there was an annual calendar event that we hated. It was the date June 1. That was the day on which the schools…
