UNLESS THE prices of vegetables skyrocket and become a scandal — as they have over several weeks now, or as did the price of sugar last year — little in the out-of-sight world of Indian agriculture excites the imagination of the city folks, who influence, rather disproportionately, everything from government policies to newspaper content. Few of those who enjoy a hearty meal and wax lovingly on their favourite dishes can...

The lesson from the rest of the world is that seat reservation for women to merely increase their representation in the legislature will not do; they need to be empowered in the real sense.  During the debate in Parliament and outside over the Women's Reservation Bill, many people have referred to quota “success stories” worldwide — proposing that India could gain from the experience of about 40 other countries that...

Rajendra Pachauri, the embattled head of the UN’s climate change panel, clocked up more than half a million miles of air travel in a year and a half as he travelled the world warning of the global warming threat. On his international missions, Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), called for radical action to stave off environmental disaster. He urged people to eat less meat, pay...

R.K. Pachauri says he was not personally responsible for the mistake  Insists it was an “isolated” mistake, “totally out of character” with IPCC’s rigorous standards “I don’t do many populist things, that’s why I’m so unpopular with a certain section of society” LONDON: Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), on Wednesday admitted that its credibility was damaged by the controversy over its 2007 report, which falsely...

The State of Environment Report 2009, a report put out by the Union government that is meant to be an up-to-date official view on environmental issues says that “...Himalayan glaciers could disappear in the next 50 years” It may have gone on an offensive against a controversial report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Indian glaciers disappearing by 2035, but till August, the ministry of environment and forests...