-Down to Earth The world has a new ‘water-scarce’ generation growing up, with women and girls spending as much as 40% of their calorific intake carrying water in dry lands The frequency and duration of drought is increasing at an alarming rate across the world since the onset of the 21st century, according to the drought in Numbers, 2022 report released May 11 at the ongoing 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15) to...

-The Hindu Reviving the official household spending survey is only a first step India’s official statistical machinery is gearing up to relaunch the All-India Household Consumer Expenditure Survey, traditionally undertaken quinquennially, from July 2022. If it fructifies, the result may be known towards the latter half of 2024, provided the Government permits the release. The last such Survey (2017-18), did not get such a sanction — its results reportedly indicated the first...

-The Hindu Business Line To make farmers aatmanirbhar, the governments should instead nurture a healthy credit culture and empower them via a robust ecosystem rather than relieving all the borrowers, irrespective of their distress levels. Only 4 out of the 21 political parties lost the election (either at the Centre or State) following the electoral promise and implementation of a farm loan waiver (FLW) scheme started by Haryana’s Devi Lal government. A...

-The Hindu The existing approach of dealing with surface water and groundwater independently has severe limitations The theme of this year’s World Water Day (March 22) was ‘Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible’. The primary focus is to draw attention to the role of groundwater in water and sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems, and climate change adaptation. Groundwater helps reduce the risk of temporary water shortage and caters to the needs of arid...

-TheWire.in According to a research note by SBI, for every one dollar of increase in the pooled gas rate, India’s fertiliser subsidy bill shoots up by Rs 4,000-5,000 crore. There is no such thing as a localised conflict in a globalised world. Sooner rather than later, fallouts from the Russia-Ukraine war will overwhelm the operations of developed and developing economies alike, leading up to the largest, and possibly, the worst food crisis...