The Emerald Tablet—an ancient document that contains the essence of the alchemical teachings—has had an important influence on many Western spiritual and religious traditions. Ostensibly concerned with turning base metals into gold, alchemy was in fact dedicated to transforming the lead of self into the gold of spirit. This brilliant history of alchemy traces its sources back to ancient Egypt, and presents alchemy as a useful, practical system of self-transformation. Each of the seven step...

This account by Bassma Kodmani details her passionate fight for democratic change in Syria. It is both her personal testimony and a unique historical document. As a westernised Syrian intellectual who, in 2011, became a figure of the Syrian opposition in exile, her candid narrative sheds fresh light on this conflict with its multiple twists and turns drawn from her direct involvement over a decade. Kodmani participated in and initiated meetings and negotiations with diplom...

Agriculture in southern Asia has undergone a radical transformation in recent years, one that continues to alter the political economy of the area. Beyond the familiar elements of the green revolution, there has been an increase in resource exploitation for food production, and a rise in the economic and political strength of food producers, as wel

Stories by English authors: London (Selected by Scribners) offers a collection of narratives that examine daily life through subtle humor, sharp observation, and reflections on social boundaries within a bustling city. The opening tale follows a club member whose routine is unsettled when a familiar server begins behaving in unexpected ways. What appears at first to be a minor inconvenience slowly reveals disconnect between those absorbed in their comfortable habits and those whose struggl...

'One of the world's most prominent radical scientists', Vandana Shiva demolishes the myths propagated by corporate globalisation in its pursuit of profit and power, revealing the devastating environmental impact of corporate capitalism.Shiva argues that consumerism lubricates the war against the earth and that corporate control violates all ethical and ecological limits. She takes the reader on a journey through the world's devastated eco-landscape, one of genetic engineering, indu...

World-renowned environmental activist and physicist Vandana Shiva calls for a radical shift in the values that govern democracies, condemning the role that unrestricted capitalism has played in the destruction of environments and livelihoods. She explores the issues she helped bring to international attention—genetic food engineering, culture theft, and natural resource privatization—uncovering their links to the rising tide of fundamentalism, violence against women, and planetary death. S...

Reclaiming the Commons: Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge, and the Rights of Mother Earth lays out the scientific, legal, political, and cultural struggle to defend the sovereignty of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge. Corporate war on nature and people through patents and corporate Intellectual Property Rights has unleashed an epidemic of biopiracy resulting in important legal battles fighting efforts to patent the rights to many plants, including basmati, neem, and wheat. The autho...

Rural development is a strategy designed to improve the economic and social life of the rural people. Rural development involves extending the benefits of development to the poorest among the population. The concept of rural development has now undergone a change and has become more comprehensive. This book covering all the topics of Rural Development as per UGC syllabus.

The difficulty of finding solutions After six decades of policy-making and planning that appear perfect on paper, vast pockets of poverty persist across the country, accompanied by low human development indices. In Poor but Spirited in Karimnagar, Sumita Dawra recounts her experiences as collector in the district of Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh, and grapples with the question of why even with crores of rupees of government funding, well-meaning implementing agencies and constructive action...

Some Like It Cold plunges headlong into the political conundrum of Canada’s climatechange debate. Focusing on the past responses of both Liberal and Conservative governmentsto the looming crisis—ranging from negligence to complicity and connivance—Paehlke illuminatesthe issues surrounding compliance with global regulations such as Kyoto, includingthe dilemma of tar sands development. But he also lays out crucial political steps that could, if taken, lead towards a solution. While ...

Why Agriculture Productivity Falls: The Political Economy of Agrarian Transition in Developing Countries offers a new explanation for the decline in agricultural productivity in developing countries. Transcending the conventional approaches to understanding productivity using agricultural inputs and factors of production, this work brings in the role of formal and informal institutions that govern transactions, property rights, and accumulation. This more robust methodology leads ...

Over the last 50 years, Nepal has been considered an experiential model in determining the effectiveness and success of global human development strategies, both in theory and in practice. As such, it provides a rich array of in-depth case studies in both development success and failure. This edited collection examines these in order to propose a novel perspective on how human development occurs and how it can be aided and sustained.Aid, Technology and Development: The lessons from...