In the summer of 2011, Seth Berkley moved from New York to Geneva as the new chief executive of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). For over a decade previously, Berkley had run the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), an institution he had founded. This experience confirmed his status as one of the world’s frontline soldiers in the battle against disease. A polymath and explorer in his spare time, Berkley is a public health specialist of some renown.

Joe Bast and his libertarian think tank are a major force among climate sceptics — but they just can't win the battle over science.

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110727/full/475440a.html

A demagogue is able to make New Delhi panic and shoot itself in the foot. (Editorial)

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh isn't bothered how industry looks at him. He's here to enforce green laws.

Human rights activist Binayak Sen spent two years in jail before being granted bail. Charged with sedition, waging war against the Indian state, as well as being a Maoist supporter, both under normal laws and under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and the Unlawful Activities Act, the evidence has been full of discrepancies and contradictions on material points.

To change this 'demoncracy' to a democracy, we must all join hands and demand for a judiciary that is not rotting and rusting!

Bal Krishan Keayla, a key figure in the National Working Group on Patent Law and an indefatigable campaigner for two decades against the GATT/WTO agreement on intellectual property, died on 27 November. A colleague in the working group reminisces.

Ruhi Kandhari travels to a cold desert in Himachal Pradesh to see how a former bureaucrat is greening it.

How one man's vision transformed Kuthambakkam village near Chennai into a model of self-governance.

R Chandrasekhar, IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, is credited with establishing India's first department of information technology (DIT) in his home state. The architect of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), he is also regarded as the father of e-governance in India and has won the prime minister's award for public services. Edited excerpts from an interview with him.