Flat yields for five years and rising insecticide use are jeopardising the success of Bt cotton technology.

Centre approves field trials of 14 GM crops. But some states refuse trials, saying safety regulations are too lax. With politicians joining activists, the issue is likely to take a politically volatile turn. This special report in DTE uncovers the mess in GM crops.

The Department of Biotechnology is playing venture capitalist to private companies to push agri research.

Why would a company with a turnover of Rs 9,712 crore and profits of Rs 933 crore want a research loan of less than Rs 10 crore from the government? Ask the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), which has become venture capitalist to the well-heeled industry.

A crack in the western part of the red mud pond of Vedanta Alumina refinery has leaked into nearby water bodies and hence into the Vamsadhara river.

Governments and corporations are eager to control the Net. Surveillance of netizens is commonplace whether in democracies or in totalitarian regimes. What does the loss of Internet freedom mean? Down To Earth finds out.

A special report on the five-day biennial conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons that ended on January 15 at Hyderabad. As the commons come under increasing assault, academics, practitioners and policymakers came together to devise ways to protect shared resources.

Rajasthan signs agreements with seven biotech companies to restructure agriculture. Read this special report on the fundamental shift in the way farming operates in India by giving private companies access to the state’s research facilities to test and market their hybrid seeds and other technologies.

The access and benefit-sharing protocol on biodiversity may do little to deter multinationals from grabbing the planet’s resources.

 

A shoddy inter-academy report on GM crops casts a shadow on the integrity and competence of Indian science, while a US expert finds approval for Bt brinjal deeply flawed according to this latest special report in Down to Earth.  

 

By ending ownership of ideas we can banish ignorance and change human history.

Pages