-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's annual toll of premature deaths from air pollution is likely to rise to 1.7 million over the next two decades despite planned initiatives to lower power sector and transport emissions, says a study that highlights the need for more action. Released today by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), the study cautions that rising incomes, urbanisation and industrialisation are raising energy consumption in India and worsening air...

-The Financial Express Dismantling cane economy will not be painless, shift crop to drip irrigation Opinion-makers, from agricultural economists and academics to environmentalists, have blamed sugarcane for aggravating the water shortage in Marathwada. But the view is contested. ‘I reject the hypothesis,’ says Venkat Mayande, during a conversation in Pune. Mayande was vice-chancellor of Akola’s Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University till 2012. How can 2.1 lakh hectare (ha) of cane cause a shortage of...

-The Hindu In all this, more than 90 per cent of cases of diabetes are lifestyle-induced India is now in the midst of a diabetes epidemic, with an adult prevalence rate of nine per cent and almost 69 million people living with diabetes. In another 15 years, the figure is expected to rise to 101 million. In all this, more than 90 per cent of cases are lifestyle-induced. Individuals with diabetes do not...

-Hindustan Times It is good to see Harsh Vardhan, Union minister for science and technology, apprising members of the Lok Sabha on adulterated milk, which has become a part of our diet. However, like many previous mentions of the issue, this one also missed the point: Contamination due to management practices. While efforts are put into testing milk available in the market, we often forget the cows and buffaloes, which are the...

-Down to Earth The BJP-led government's change of heart for big-ticket rural programmes says a lot about its dwindling political fortune India's current political season has a nostalgic tint. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has apparently met party leaders to kickstart a campaign against the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA’S) overt efforts to softly kill the erstwhile government’s flagship programmes. Particularly, the NDA government’s political decisions to not pursue the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural...