It is mostly caused by deliberate neglect and designed failure of the way we manage water and land

It’s drought time again. Nothing new in this announcement. Each year, first we have crippling droughts between December and June, and then devastating floods in the next few months. It’s a cycle of despair, which is more or less predictable. But this is not an inevitable cycle of nature we must live with.

It is not in the interest of food companies to advertise what their products contain, but it is in our interest to know

Junk food is junk by its very definition. But how bad is it and what is it that companies do not tell people about this food? This is what the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) laboratory checked. The results were both predictable and alarming. Equally predictable was the response of big food companies and their spokespersons — denials and dismissals. But they are missing the point.

Unavailability of natural gas and destruction of forests and water bodies due to our inability to use our coal fields optimally is having a huge impact on our health and environment

Two monopolies. One private; the other public. One in gas; the other in coal. Both equally disastrous for the environment. I speak here of Reliance Industries Ltd and Coal India Ltd.

The idea of interlinking rivers is appealing because it is so grand, but this is also the reason it is nothing more than a distraction

The Supreme Court recently issued a diktat to the central government about the scheme to interlink rivers. The directions are straightforward. The government shall set up a high-level committee of ministers and other representatives on interlinking of rivers; the committee shall meet “at least once in two months”;

Spending has been increased again, but there’s still no effort in the Budget to improve outcomes

In this Budget, the government has raised the outlay for social sector schemes — from drinking water and sanitation to education and health. This is clearly important. But the question is: how will this money be spent so that it can make the difference in people’s welfare? At this moment, there is little understanding about how to ensure that the social service schemes are more effective and reach the people they are meant to service.

The world does not need another cheap energy option, it needs options that will drive it to secure its future

In the US, the climate change issue has lost so much traction that President Barack Obama, who came with a promise of change, has backed down on any discussion on it. After his election in 2008, Obama announced: “This is the moment when the rise of oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” But since then, little has happened to cut emissions at the scale and pace needed.

CSE study shows that wind energy business often subverts the purpose for profit, and wind farms do not generate energy

It was a trade exhibition abuzz with the restrained chatter of busy suited executives at company stalls making contacts and finalising deals. Nothing out of place — except that this trade was in renewable energy technologies, which have unconventional reasons for growth.