The decision to set up a nuclear power station with U.S.-made reactors at Kovvada in Ranasthalam mandal of Srikakulam district has caused serious concern among environmental and social activists. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is confident of completing the land acquisition process for Kovvada and four other coastal-based plants within one and half years. It wants clearances for the plants as fast-track projects. Sources have told The Hindu that...

Governments and people have to make choices about accepting new scientific developments into their daily lives. Many attribute high levels of objectivity and integrity to scientists, which is not true of many of them. Scientists have been known to manipulate results to their advantage. Scientific issues are often complex, there are differing views among scientists and the layman finds it difficult to decide which scientific course is harmful or beneficial....

Climate change is posing a serious threat to communities in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region, bringing both drought and catastrophic floods to hundreds of millions of people, according to a new United Nations-backed report. Food security, housing, infrastructure, business and even the survival of people living in mountainous regions and their neighbours in river basins downstream in the region are extremely vulnerable to climate change, it said. The publication was launched...

At a time when there is growing concern about the causes of increasing discontent and alienation among tribals, it is important to recall a very important law for improving the governance of the Scheduled Areas in such a way as to protect the interests of tribals. The reference here is to the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (briefly called the PESA law). If this Act had been properly...

  A new report by Save the Children, a global child rights organization, says that climate change is the biggest global health threat to children in the 21st century. Titled Feeling the Heat: Child Survival in a Changing Climate (2009), published in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, the report examines the vulnerabilities regarding climate change and identifies the adaptation measures that can be taken...