Filter by Dates

 

Filter by Content Types

Feature Service

Lethal games

Toys can be dangerous. Laboratory analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment shows the presence of phthalates, a highly toxic chemical, in toys sold in the Indian market. Worse, and almost predictable now, the Indian government does not regulate or monitor the use of these inimical chemicals, putting children at risk by CSE team

Run from cover

Health insurance companies pursue customers till policies are sold. Then they disappear. The nature of business has already changed the treatment mechanism. A market awaits capture. Without stringent regulation, where is the industry headed? by Vibha Varshney Saif Siddiqui spent a little under Rs 14,000 on his appendicitis operation three years ago. The 35-year-old dentist from Bhubaneswar relied on an insurance cover for his family from Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd. He paid Rs 5,184 as premium for the policy.

How Bt brinjal was cleared

Anti-GM groups say expert panel acted under pressure by Savvy Soumya Misra A coalition of organizations opposed to genetically modified food in India has written to the minister of state for environment and forests seeking withdrawal of clearance given to Bt brinjal. The Coalition for GM-free India alleged the expert committee that cleared the genetically modified brinjal for commercial cultivation in the country was neither impartial nor thorough.

Nature's own water purifiers

River banks are efficient water filters. Haridwar shows how to make most of them   by Bharat Lal Seth The holy town of Haridwar on the banks of the Ganga has of late been receiving pilgrims of a different kind. They are students and professors from India and abroad who come to study its water supply system. Over a third (38 per cent) of the water supplied in Haridwar is naturally treated as it passes through the river banks.

Subterranean leak

High amounts of pesticides and heavy metals in soil and water inside and around the Union Carbide plant by Sapna Johnson, Ramakant Sahu, Nimisha Jadol and Clara Duca

An ecological triumph goes sour

Kerala celebrates silver jubilee of the Silent Valley project, but dismisses conservation measures by M K Prasad, an environmentalist and educator, participated in the movement against the hydropower project in the Silent Valley

Switch on biomass

Power crisis spurs market for renewables in rural Bihar by Alok Gupta, Saran Until a year ago, T N Pandit, a pathologist in Bihar’s Saran district would juggle four different power supplies to keep his lab operational. The sources included inverter, generator, solar cell and state power grid. Voltage fluctuation had caused faults in his gadgets till he decided to install one more switch on his already overcrowded switchboard.

CSE/Down to Earth Feature Service

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) offers a free feature service to media organisations across the country. This service has been operational for more than four years now, and is steadily being accepted as a trusted source for topical news stories and opinion pieces on hotly debated issues of environment, science and health.

Rubber stamp authority

by Ashutosh Mishra, Nidhi Jamwal, Sujit Kumar Singh, Aparna Pallavi and Ruhi Kandhari Chhattisgarh announced a proposed investment of more than Rs 1,77,000 crore in the state. Until October 2008, it had signed over a hundred MOUs with companies like Jindals, Tata Steel and Essar. After a couple of months of this announcement, a bureaucrat heading the state environment regulatory body resigned.