-The Hindu Paper products made out of elephant and rhinoceros excreta are a duo’s idea of nature conservation. Innovation can be described as finding creative solutions to a problem. And if the solution happens to solve more than one problem, then that’s a huge bonus. Retired Coal India engineer M.C. Bora and his daughter Nisha Bora recently hit upon a unique solution to protect the wildlife in the eastern state of Assam,...

-The Hoot The media welcomed the UID's promise of giving an identity to those outside the system, but has failed to track its failure to do so. On January 1, the Indian government announced roll out of its ambitious cash transfer scheme  in 20 districts of the country based on unique identification (UID), also called Aadhaar. The media, while presenting the pros and cons of cash transfer, also mentioned that...

-Farmlandgrab.org Oxfam’s Phil Bloomer reports on the shocking scandal of (mostly) secretive land-grabbing, usually from those least able to defend their rights Land grabbing has fast become a major threat to poor communities in Africa, Asia and South America. Poverty-stricken women and men are being driven from their homes and the land they rely on to grow food to eat and make a living, usually without compensation. In many cases this is...

-Al Jazeera Treaty to ban chemicals that harmed the ozone layer came about when there was consensus between science and politics. In 1974, chemists Mario Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland published a landmark article that demonstrated the ability of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to break down the ozone layer, the atmospheric region that plays a vital role in shielding humans and other life from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It marked the opening salvo of...

-The Economist Growing inequality is one of the biggest social, economic and political challenges of our time. But it is not inevitable, says Zanny Minton Beddoes IN 1889, AT the height of America’s first Gilded Age, George Vanderbilt II, grandson of the original railway magnate, set out to build a country estate in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. He hired the most prominent architect of the time, toured the chateaux...