-Hindustan Times Undernutrition, alcohol abuse and smoking are the biggest risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) in India, where the infection affected an estimated 2.69 million people and killed 449,000 in 2018, according to World Health Organisation Global TB Report 2019 released this week. While the poor with little or no access to treatment are at highest risk of disease and death, the airborne infection – it spreads through droplets from coughing —...

-Down to Earth blog Overburdened drainage, frenzied and unregulated construction, no regard to the natural topography and hydro-geomorphology all make urban floods a man-made disaster The recent floods in Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh have taken by surprise both governments and people. In Patna, severe water logging has brought the city to a halt, with hospitals and residential areas filled with waist-deep water. Transport services have been disrupted, with many trains cancelled. There is...

-The Telegraph Dalits account for over a third of the homeless New Delhi: Three in five homeless people surveyed across 15 Indian Cities have said they were born in the city they now live in, a situation implying families trapped in destitution down the generations. A strong caste link too has emerged, with Dalits accounting for over a third of the homeless, double their share of India’s population. The European Union-funded study by the...

-The New Indian Express Madras High Court in August gave permission for the project based on a  submission by Public Works Department that the area has plenty of groundwater. CHENNAI: Many localities have permanently lost their groundwater source due to excessive extraction of water to meet the city’s growing needs. Residents of Madambakkam, a residential area in south Chennai, are worried whether their case too will end up the same. Madambakkam panchayat...

-Livemint.com/ howindialives.com Among the six largest metropolitan Cities, Hyderabad saw the biggest inflow of migrants in the 2001-11 period, followed by Chennai and Bengaluru NEW DELHI: The stories of Cities are often shaped by the migrants they attract from other parts of the country and the world. In India too, big Cities have acted as large magnets for migrants, with more than half of Mumbai and a little less than half of...