India and China are normally compared for economic growth. But the two are poles apart the way they push reforms to foster growth. Read more

With a United Nations report saying this week that the world is straying away from commitments to combat climate change, there will be renewed pressure on China and India to check its growing global warming causing carbon emissions at the global conference of 200 countries at Doha, Qatar to vet second commitment period for Kyoto Protocol, the existing climate treaty. Read more

The flipside of high economic growth is its impact on environment, rarely recognized in our country. Read more

Country’s top agriculture leadership may be in denial and pushing the threshold but the drought fear is for real. Read more

Mining in India is a scam bigger than 2G or Commonwealth Games but has failed to catch people’s attention because of difficulty in linking it with big political names, its eventual beneficiaries. Read more

2011 had two contrasting dimensions for Indian environment — Jairam Ramesh and Jayanthi Natarajan as environment ministers.

Ramesh was the minister for first seven months of the year when he was replaced by Jayanthi. Read more

Two unrelated reports have indicated that world is heading for climate disasters if countries fail to shun their parochial outlook at Durban climate conference and join hands for welfare of mankind. Read more

There is a need to change the Right To Information law, as suggested by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but to strengthen it, not weaken.

PM Singh has rightly pointed out concerns of the government but these concerns need to be looked in the context of what the transparency law has done to governance in India. Read more

It is not the global economic recession but the world leaders who have failed to take climate negotiations to a logical end. Read more

What India has failed to do, Sri Lanka has done – meet people’s aspirations for cars without damaging the environment much – with astonishing results.

Silence introduced a new differentiated tax regime for imported vehicles this year with just 50% duty on hybrid vehicles and up to 450% on vehicles running on climate change causing fossil fuel driven vehicles. Read more