-ThePrint.in The paddy being grown in Punjab is alien to conditions in Punjab, and the burning of its stubble has had a big impact on the state’s air quality. Punjab is an agrarian state with predominant wheat-paddy cropping cycle. During the kharif season every year, paddy is grown in standing water on about 2.9 million hectares of land. This paddy crop, taken up by Punjab farmers in the early 1980s, is alien to...

-The Indian Express Breathing has certainly become injurious to health in Delhi. Yet, those of us who live here and have vocalised our breathlessness, struggle to acknowledge that we too have somehow contributed to what the social media has termed an “apocalypse”. Delhi, where 25 million people reside, has struggled to breathe this month. A thick layer of smog, initially deemed “severe” and then an “emergency”, enveloped the national capital region....

-The Times of India blog With the approaching winter the air quality in many Indian cities, especially in Delhi, becomes a public health hazard. Something so fundamental as breathing easy can no longer be taken for granted. It’s a wake-up call worthy of a civic revolution. For decades now those who could afford it (very much including this writer), have seceded from public services. The Indian elite send their children to expensive...

-Hindustan Times Medical Journal Lancet released a report highlighting the impact of climate change on people. The report focuses on the need for climate policies that also curb air pollution. New Delhi: Indoor air pollution was linked to over 1.24 lakh deaths across India in 2015, a report published in Lancet – a noted medical journal – has stated. This count was higher than deaths caused by pollution emanating from coal power...

-Livemint.com Govt plans to?help firms revamp manufacturing units,?refurbish machinery,?ensure subsidized power in bid to produce drugs such as penicillin at competitive rates New Delhi: The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), during a meeting on Wednesday, urged pharma companies to strive for self-sufficiency in critical drugs like penicillin, rifampicin and insulin, in a sign of government concern over India’s dependence on Chinese imports. A large number of so-called active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), or bulk drugs,...