Harish Hande’s SELCO India pioneered a financing-first solar energy model, using a social enterprise approach to expand clean energy access in rural and underserved communities. Through SELCO Foundation and its wider ecosystem, the model continues to influence off-grid solar and last-mile energy solutions. In the early 1990s, Harish Hande was midway through a PhD in…
New Delhi and the 10-nation bloc chart a food-security roadmap through 2030, but a modest track record raises questions about whether the pledges will reach the smallholders they name. NEW DELHI— India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded the 9th ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Forestry on September 9, setting the stage…
The temperatures inside government schools in TN can reach roughly 42 degrees Celsius in May. The students fan notebooks over their faces and pretend to study inside with no proper ventilation or air conditioning. The stone walls of the schools hold heat from the day before. This picture prompted an IAS officer, Supriya Sahu, to…
The Coal India subsidiary, Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), launched Special Campaign 6.0 at its headquarters on September 4, 2026. The campaign aligns with the “Waste to Wealth” campaign promoted by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances and with the Ministry of Coal’s emphasis on managing e-waste. CMD Satish Jha inaugurated the campaign in…
The Rice Paradox More than one billion people in India depend on rice fields for their sustenance. They also are becoming one of the most intractable climate issues on earth. The same flooded and glistening paddies that contribute to food security and export economics are also extracting a greenhouse gas – one that is 25…
India’s tiger population has increased significantly, from 2,967 in 2018 to 3,682 in 2022. But beyond the success of tiger recovery lies a harder question: can India protect wildlife while ensuring dignified livelihoods for communities living around tiger landscapes?
At the 29th UN Climate Conference in Baku, only 8 of the 78 world leaders present were women, i.e half as many as the year before. The gap is not unique to global summits. In India’s own climate and clean energy sector, women remain strikingly underrepresented in leadership roles, even though women and girls make…
Roughly 100 million families in India farm small plots and lose money doing it, on average, year after year. Kaushik Kappagantulu did not come to this problem through agriculture. He spent his first five years out of college helping school dropouts find jobs through vocational training, and noticed something troubling: nearly every trainee came from…
For years, Rehana Khatun’s world was the size of her family’s home in Kumbhirgadi, a small village in Odisha’s Balasore district. A spinal cord condition called myelitis, discovered in her school years, made doctors too nervous to operate. So, she stayed at home, filled her days with chores and a tailoring job, and waited for…
India generates an estimated 26,000 tonnes of plastic waste every day, putting pressure on waste-management and recycling systems. The 2026 Plastic Waste Management amendments introduce stricter recycled-content and EPR requirements, while raising questions about recycling capacity, traceability and informal waste workers.
