THE ELEVEN countries in southern Africa, with a population of over 120 million, are in the midst of a drought of unprecedented severity in the region, mainly due to the failure of last year's

Droughts seem to be here to stay. Wrong development policies, governmental indifference and relief schemes which don't work have led to a situation where a large part of the nation faces scarcity despite a year of almost normal rainfall

THE current drought across central and western India and Kerala is forcing attention once again on how to deal with the problem. Ecologists have always had a deep interest in the problem, their

THE morning hours in Barapal, near Udaipur, present a curious sight. Hundreds of headloaders crowd around the national highway looking for vehicles to transport charcoal or firewood

Vilas Salunke Grain Gaurav Pratislithan Post Box No 1202 67 Hadapsar Industrial Estate Puna 411 013 R K Patil Centre for Applied Systems and Analysis Ganesh Kutir 1st Floor 68 Prarthana

IT is at a time like this that the famous Ralegan Siddhi village in Ahmednagar district -- the handiwork of a social worker, Anna Hazare -- stands out with a difference. It is green and it

Perceptions of famines are as important for historians to study as the famines themselves, says a British historian. The British created famines in India. But the vision of starving people only reinforced their belief in their superiority and right