Uncommon Ground – For The Children Of India
The debate has shifted to higher studies, but we I cannot afford to take the foot off the pedal on early education. In this, the final column in this series, I turn to a core area of my work over the past decade—the education and development of young children. Some sights and sounds remain sharply […]
Uncommon Ground – A Fine Balance in Kutch
There’s a massive export of virtual water from dry regions to wet, through the sale of both milk and meat products. on work, with soaring temperatures and no promise of rain despite an unusual cloud cover. We travelled a couple of hundred kilometres in the clay desert, despairing at the spread of Prosopis juli-flora which […]
Uncommon Ground – Tilling The Urban Soil
Urban farming enthusiasts believe it is the best way to green the city, while providing a little food security too. It is remarkable how much you can grow in a small space with very little fuss. My colleague Vishwanath, who himself has demonstrated the viability of growing paddy on his small rooftop garden, taught me […]
Uncommon Ground – Greening The Toilet
The past century of sanitation has been an environmental and financial nightmare for the world. It is supposedly the 100th anniversary of the modern lavatory, though there is some dispute about when the modern flush toilet as we now know it was invented and by whom. Nevertheless, for the billions around the world who take […]
Uncommon Ground – Mind The Gender Gap
Not only does violence against women continue in the old brutality, it is taking new bewildering forms. Twenty-five years ago, I used to volunteer with Vimochana, a women’s group that focuses on violence against women. At that time in Bangalore, dowry deaths were particularly disturbing, and much work was being done to raise awareness about […]
Uncommon Ground – A Conflict Of Paradigms
The demand for limited fresh water has brought the issue to the centre of the debate on development. At summertime, thoughts turn naturally to water. For millions of citizens, especially women, it is a time of extreme shortage, and for ever more creative coping mechanisms. Many states have improved access to lifeline water, but there […]
Uncommon Ground – Rising From The Ashes
There is a growing consensus that this crisis is unlike any other, that it’s a discontinuity with potential for great change. The airy cafe at London’s British Museum, just across a hallway exhibiting newly discovered mummies of sacred animals from ancient Egypt, was the perfect place to chat with John Elkington about the Phoenix Economy. […]
Uncommon Ground – Next Wave of Voluntarism?
For India’s sake as much as its own, Bihar needs to be strong, less vulnerable to forces that deny democracy. In parts of Bihar, such as the district of Gaya, ironically famous for its Buddhist tourism, Maoists have threatened to chop off the hands of anyone who dares to vote. This is slightly more of […]
Uncommon Ground – Bringing The State Back In
There are just too many millions below the scope of ‘efficient’ markets and beyond the reach of most NGOs. Whenever the family travelled together, while most of us would admire the greenery, my father-in-law would sigh ecstatically over the beauty of the giant pylons striding across the fields. To him, they represented the engineering talent […]
Uncommon Ground – Good Growth, Bad Growth
A question: is this economic slowdown improving the value of the environmental economy? As a family, we are not much into buying things recklessly. Although we live very well, we only buy things that we know will be used. My motherin-law and my son take this to a sort of extreme. They will only have […]