The ICDS programme launched in the 1970s was based on the results of extensive surveys which identified rampant child under-nutrition in India. Using the weight-for-age and height-for-age criteria, only 10 per cent children under five could be classified normal. And 15-20 per cent were underweight even when they were short. The situation has not improved in the past 35 years despite
THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE SEA by O P Sharma, Oxford University Press, Rs 795 The law of the sea has undergone more changes in the last 60 years than in the past 100. This book deals with some of the changes.
US became a superpower and Argentina a basket case owes nothing to intricacies of geography, culture or religion. Countries become rich or poor because of the choices their rulers make. But what is so new about that? Why some countries thrive and others fail is a big question in economics. Beattie hops from country to country and across history for answers. In one chapter he visits
A new bill in Tamil Nadu puts farmers at the thrall of agriculture university graduates On the last day of its budget session the Tamil Nadu assembly passed 30 bills without any discussion. One of them was without parallel. If the governer signs the bill, writings of Thiruvalluavar, Oovaiyar and many more poets would become unlawful as they have several things to say about farming. Let
Please accept my greetings I am a Dongria Kondh and take pride in my identity. I live in the Niyamgiri hills. The hills are also the abode of our gods. It never occurred to us or our ancestors that our home or way of living would one day come under threat. And such a time is upon us. We do not know what will happen to us when Vedanta
Producing food simply to dump it is a waste of land, water, energy required for growing, processing and transporting it. Tristram Stuart,author of the recently published book, Waste, Uncovering the Food Scandal, shows how the way we live has created a global food crisis and how simple it would be to fix it. Kaushik Das Gupta spoke to him over phone. Excerpts On the enormity of the problem
