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Foodwise

Dark brown seeds pointed at both ends resemble the kind of wild seeds growing just anywhere that children would collect to play with. Only, this seed is one of the rare and nutritious foods losing out to the rush for market food. To the Mahadeo Koli and Thakar tribals in the rain-shadow areas of Sahyadri hills, this millet is known as batu . The agriculture department of Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra has no records of this crop, and the local agriculture universities have not been able to put a scientific name to it.

Their own suppliers

Thirty-something Gulab Kunju remembers the days when she would drink milk to quench thirst because drinking water was scarce. Her village Dhaurada had three hand pumps to meet the needs of more than 120 families settled in four hamlets. Each day she would make several trips to the nearest hand pump on the outskirts of her hamlet.

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.