Madhav Gadgil and K Kasturirangan are both scientists of great repute.

It is an inconvenient truth that the poorest people in India live in the country's richest forests. The management of this green wealth has not brought any benefits to the locals

Chulhas - cook stoves of poor women who collect sticks, twigs, leaves and every other biomass material they can find to cook meals - are today at the centre of failing international action.

Way back in 1986, Rajiv Gandhi launched the Ganga Action Plan. But years later, after much water (sewage) and money have flowed down the river, it is as bad as it could get. Why are we failing, and what needs to be done differently to clean this and many other rivers?

According to recent estimates by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), faecal coliform levels in the mainstream of the river - some 2,500 kilometres from Gangotri to Diamond Harbour - remain above the acceptable level in all stretches, other than its upper reaches.

The year 2013 was a wasted one. How can 2014 be different? When I look back on the year, I think of a cacophony.

Does the Indian government's loud voice in international negotiations lead to results?

India has emerged as a "voice" in climate change and trade negotiations.

In middle-class environmentalism, there is no appetite for changing lifestyles to minimise waste and pollution. In the past 10 years, India's environmental movement has undergone a rebirth.

We have built city roads only for cars to move. Cars rule the road

I write this column from my bed, recovering from an accident that broke my bones. I was hit by a speeding car while cycling. The driver fled the scene of the accident in the car, leaving me bleeding on the road. This is what happens again and again, in every city of our country, on every road - as we plan without care for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.