IT IS a profoundly unhealthy world we occupy today. THE World Health Report, 1995 brought out by the World Health Organization, Geneva, reveals that about 51 million people died in 1993 worldwide:

The world is heading towards a water crisis. The doubling of the world's population between 1940 and 1990 has led to a doubling in per capita use of water, from 400 to 800 cubic metres per person

The 1993-94 Annual Review and Assessment of the World Tropical Timber Situation reports that declining global production and imports have increased the chasm between exports and imports to over

Farmers in the developing world are in for tough times ahead. A 1994 Food and Agricultural Organization publication titled Medium- Term Prospects for Agricultural Commodities warns that the rate of

Going by the statistics provided by this year's International Labour Organisation report on world employment, "modernise or perish" has become the mantra of progress for developing nations. This is

The energy, especially oil, consumed to transport goods and people is galloping. Almost uncontrollable urbanisation in India, especially in and around the larger cities, highlights the acute problems

IN RURAL areas, the use of collected biomass continues to burgeon because the availability of alternate sources of energy has increased more tardily than expected. The poorest of the rural poor are

Since 1985, countries -- particularly in Latin America -- have negotiated several arrangements to reduce their crippling debt burden. They promptly ended up losing the right to decide what to do with

THE Indian fertility graph mirrors the falling rate. Urban women who have 1 child less, on an average, are spearheading the fertility downslide. Women in their 40s have an average 5 children each,

By AD 2025, 4.3 billion people will be living in Asia, nearly 2.5 billion in the urban areas. Claustrophobic mayhem. There will be more people in Southeast Asia's cities scrabbling for vegetables