Modi on a plane Courtesy: MEA Flickr
21 May 2015

Modi’s global quest for clean energy

A common thread during Modi’s recent visits to China, Mongolia, and South Korea—as well as on his visits to other countries over the last year—is an attempt to move India away from coal and towards cleaner forms of energy such as solar power, natural gas, and nuclear energy. This signals a more responsible approach to development

Air pollution in China- Nicolò Lazzati (Flickr) Courtesy:
14 May 2015

Asia’s environmental emergency

The idea that Asia can follow the West’s ‘get dirty, get rich, get clean’ strategy grows more absurd with every year. Nor can Asian political leaders say the region can’t afford the cost of environmental progress. It is now clear that India and other countries cannot afford the skyrocketing cost of environmental degradation.

Expensive shortcuts: mining
3 November 2014

Expensive shortcuts: mining

Investors have welcomed the dilution in government regulations that currently require companies to seek the consent of local communities for industrial projects in tribal areas. We analyse the outcome of this development.

DD paper cover Courtesy: Spenta Multimedia
10 October 2014

Taking Doordarshan global

News channels like China’s CCTV, Russia Today and Al-Jazeera have become definitive voices for their nations and for international views. Now, with the Modi government on a public messaging and public realations spree, it is the right time to re-configure our public broadcaster, Doordarshan, to showcase India’s growing global ties and the success of its democracy to the world.

Sustainable gardening Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
10 October 2014

The UN and sustainability

The UN and the global finance industry are making gradual but concerted efforts to align business interests and ecological sustainability. A growing number of companies are combining profit-making with social responsibility. There is still a long way to go, but the UN system has created useful mechanisms of change