The economic crisis, the ecological crisis and the food crisis are a reflection of an outmoded and fossilised economic paradigm. It is a paradigm that grew out of mobilising resources for the war by creating the category of “growth”. It is rooted in the age of oil and fossil fuels. It is fossilised because it is obsolete, a product of the age of fossil fuels. If we have to address...
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Public policy in a knowledge society-Shiv Visvanathan
Imagine you are a citizen racing across newspapers rapid fire. As you flip the pages you run across events like the Vedanta mining case, the Koodankulam nuclear controversy, the debate on poverty and reports about climate change. Each of these can be a life-threatening event and none of them have a life support system of knowledge which allows them to be debated in the open. The basic information comes from...
More »Private trusts running public plots may come under RTI
-The Times of India The amended draft policy on open spaces is ready and the BMC plans to bring private trusts managing public spaces under theRTI Act. If the plan is approved , trusts looking after recreation grounds (RGs), playgrounds (PGs), parks and gardens-on adoption or caretaker basiswill have to share details of their operationswiththe public . The move comes after the BMC caught flak at a civic improvementscommittee meeting in March...
More »Orange tumbles-Aparna Pallavi
Nagpur orange’s survival hinges precariously on its return to sustainable cultivation. Farmers have woken up to this, but will the government? A beaming Uday Wath hugs the trunk of his sturdy, disease-free Nagpur orange tree. All around him are trees drooping with the fruit, large and healthy. The tree trunks are singularly free of both telltale gummosis wounds and bluish white bordeaux paste, the chemical meant to prevent them. Not more than...
More »The Khamam way by Devinder Sharma
Indian agriculture can be transformed into a healthy and vibrant system, where farmers’ suicides are relegated to history. As we enter 2010, the script for a futuristic agriculture which brings back the smile on the face of the Indian farmer, without leaving any scar on the environment, is being rewritten. What began as a small initiative some six years back in a non-descript village in Khamam district, has now spread to over...
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