Declining birth rates are slowing down the world population growth. India's population, 1 billion as of today, is set to increase by 540 million over the next 50 years overtaking China convincingly. Identifying India's population growth at "stage two", where death rate is low while birth rate is high, this another lucid rendition from Worldwatch, warns of falling living standards, writes Subir Ghosh

Estimates are that around 30 per cent of the global burden of disease can be averted by improvements in household environs and of these, 20 per cent are just modest interventions. The gender specific situation of environmental effects arises from pre-existing gender inequalities in the division of labour; intra-household distribution of subsistence resources; access to productive resources; income-earning opportunities; and participation in decision-making, says Subir Ghosh

The preface to the book puts it succinctly why it is a must for one's own personal reference library. Specialist textbooks designed for professional lawyers, more often than not, prove to be a minefield of confusion for lay people on the lookout for information on environmental laws. Such books assume prior knowledge of court procedure and the legal system that is only typical of a qualified lawyer, points out Subir Ghosh

you have currency notes to tear up and flush down the commode, do it - don't buy this shame of an encyclopaedia. Forget the pricey Rs 1100/- tag, it is not even worth keeping for free. Yes, it can have one utility value - you can use it as a paperweight. But perhaps even that would not be worth it. Anyone conversant with Northeast India seeing you with the book is likely to snigger at you. Why? Answers Subir Ghosh

It is no more the ultimate and authoritative family reference book. The Guinness Book of Records itself might hold the record for being the world's bestselling copyrighted book, but entries seem to be becoming more and more bizarre by the year, writes Subir Ghosh

The man never ends to fascinate. Filmmaker, composer, writer, artist - you name one creative-artistic aspect of life, and he would revel in it. If there has been any man in India who has been a one-man institution after Rabindranath Tagore, it has been Satyajit Ray. What went into the making of this genius, asks Subir Ghosh

The book conveys a message - it is an indictment of the use of terrorism as a means to achieve social justice. What it does not is why Ghose was hell-bent in taking on an enemy far more powerful than he could ever be. He was not drawn into any vortex, he himself mixed up social priorities and political prejudices, giving one the impression that perhaps he was more keen on becoming a martyr, contends Subir Ghosh