Global Warming and the Hypocrisy of the Rich Countries

FIGHTING global warming is not just providing a path to net-zero carbon emissions for all countries. It is also about how to meet the energy needs of the people while doing so. If fossil fuels … Read more

COP26 Under-achieves, India Disorganised

COP26 came to a close on November 13, nearly 24 hours after originally scheduled. The final plenary got stuck at the final draft of the COP statement, now named Glasgow Climate Pact. For hours, viewers … Read more

India and Glasgow COP26

WELL into the second week of COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, the climate summit is shrouded in a dense fog of uncertainty, confusion and broken or empty promises, while activists both inside as observers and outside … Read more

Facebook’s Meta: Rebranding out of Trouble or Building a Dystopian Future?

LAST week, Zuckerberg at Connect 2021 launched a new company brand Meta. According to Facebook, “…brings together our apps and technologies under one new company brand. Meta’s focus will be to bring the metaverse to … Read more

Current Power Cuts Due to Criminal Negligence in Government’s Planning

THE Modi government has created an artificial electricity shortage during the festival season, which normally sees a high electricity demand. With the opening of the economy post-Covid-19 second wave, power demands were expected to pick … Read more

Whistleblower: How Facebook’s Algorithms Promote Hate and Toxic Content

FACEBOOK is in the limelight for both the right reasons and the wrong reasons. The wrong reason is that, what was supposed to be a small configuration change took Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp down for a … Read more

AUKUS, Quad and India’s Losing the Plot Internationally

THE recent Quad leaders meeting in the White House on September 24 appears to have shifted focus away from its original framing as a security dialogue between four countries, the US, India, Japan and Australia. … Read more

Science Another Casualty in Modi Govt’s Handling of Covid-19

THE New York Times (NYT) has recently published an article (September 14, 2021) detailing how politics overrode science in India’s deadly second wave. It is based on the struggle of a young scientist, Dr Anup Agarwal, who … Read more

New Oil Palm Mission: Unscientific, Misconceived and Over-Estimated

THE union government recently approved a new, poorly conceived Rs11,040 crore National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) with an ecologically damaging focus on oil palm plantations in the North-East and the Andaman & Nicobar … Read more

Reckless, Malafide Go-Ahead for Seven Hydro Projects

THE Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) last week filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court conveying that it has now given the go-ahead for seven controversial hydro-electric projects in the Upper Ganga … Read more

Chip Wars or the Crisis of Late Capitalism?

WITH the US imposing technology sanctions on China, the world’s electronics industry is facing turbulent times. After the sanctions, Huawei has slipped from its number one slot as a mobile phone supplier (2nd quarter 2020) … Read more

Self-Reliance: 75th Year of Independence

THE nation has been debating our collective achievements, weaknesses and failures over the past 74 years since Independence in relation to the vision of the republic’s founders and of the independence movement. This article discusses … Read more