Examples of innate intelligence, even “innovation at its best”: Meetings with a Warli village blacksmith, the tailor, the cattle-rearer, the hunter-gatherer, the farmer, the fisherman, and an expert who treats poison bites – Maharashtra

Read the full article and view a series of photographs here >> Did my car slow down on its own near a house made of karvi sticks? Or did the muscle memory of my legs press on the brake ever so lightly? Whatever be the case, I had halted at the house of Anusuyabai, my host in … Read more

”No one wants the forest to disappear”: Dr. Felix Padel on peace, justice, the Forest Rights Act and music

How could peace be brought, with justice? Is there even a movement for peace? How does this war compare with other wars in India, and worldwide? Few have targeted civilian villagers as remorselessly, though Ashoka’s Kalinga war, over 2,000 years ago, that killed 100000 people directly, and many indirectly according to Ashoka’s own inscriptions, presents … Read more

Alternative ways of living: “Buen vivir”, the lived knowledge of ancestral indigenous nations – Andes and the Amazon basin

Mateo Martínez Abarca (Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal) | Read the full paper here >> We are currently facing a crisis that threatens not only the survival of our civilisation and humans as a species, but that of life on our planet as a whole. At the same time, the exploitation-based approach to development is facing … Read more

11 & 13 February unites women from India, and from every corner of the world: Two days to celebrate!

International Day of Women and Girls in ScienceIn order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls, and further achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly declared 11 February as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science in … Read more

A way to preserve biodiversity: India’s inspiring tradition of sacred groves – Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel

In commissioning a High-Level Working Group headed by the space scientist K. Kasturirangan to study the recommendations of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), the Ministry of Environment and Forests hoped to resolve an impasse. It now appears that far from nearing resolution, the question of preserving and ensuring holistic development of the Ghats … Read more