Last week's column, “The plight of Dalits and the news media” (October 25, 2010), has generated a lively and interesting response from several readers. The column was about the prioritisation of the tasks before the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes (NCSC) by its new Chairman, P.L. Punia (not P.J. Punia as erroneously mentioned in the column.) The concern of most who wrote was over the failure of successive governments...

While renewable energy was always considered more desirable from the point of view of environment protection, its importance has increased several times in these times of climate change. Solar energy is particularly seen as a very promising source in energy planning for the future in tropical countries like India. Interest in realising the potential of solar energy is fast increasing and organisations which have been pioneers in solar energy are...

Malaria kills around 205,000 people in India each year, more than 13 times the estimate made by the World Health Organization, researchers said on Thursday. WHO, the public health arm of the UN, estimates that approximately 15,000 people a year die from malaria in India, and 100,000 adults worldwide. The researchers called for both figures to be urgently revised so they do not hurt funding for prevention, rapid diagnosis and treatment. “If you...

Ten years, 125 more heads. Hardly anything to write home about in these times of billion-plus populations, but anthropologists aren’t complaining. Not when the last headcount showed 240 and the people in question are a threatened tribe — the Jarawas. The latest report by the Andaman Adim Janjati Vikash Samity (AAJVS), a government-affiliated autonomous agency headed by the Union territory’s lieutenant governor, shows the Jarawas now number 365 — 125 more since...

Malnutrition or due to socio-economic reasons and backwardness? Ninety-eight children under six died of various causes in Maharashtra's Melghat region in September alone. While confirming this, Amravati district health officer S.K. Yelurkar told The Hindu that there was no outbreak of any illness and the deaths were due to “routine socio-economic reasons and the backwardness of the region.” The forested region, comprising Dharni and Chikhaldara taluks, is largely inhabited by Korku Adivasis...