The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) has been the target of criticism from industry groups to the Prime Minister for allegedly holding up infrastructure and industrial development through its system of green clearances. But a recent analysis of 5 years of decision-making put out by an environmental group suggests why these attacks might be misplaced, given the ease with which every single of 262 proposed hydropower and irrigation projects...

-PTI Washington: Early breast cancer diagnosis and survival rates are very low among women living in rural India compared to those in developed nations, a new study has claimed. Researchers said women in developed countries survive roughly 10 years longer after a breast cancer diagnosis compared to women in poor-to-middle-income countries. The study by University of Michigan demonstrates the lack of access to good health care faced by women in poor countries, said...

-The Economic Times UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi would launch a new scheme on Wednesday to improve child healthcare under the National rural Health Mission, under which every child younger than six years would be screened for 30 select deficiencies and disorders. To be kicked off at Palghar, a tribal block in Maharashtra's Thane district, the scheme envisages issuing a follow-up or treatment guidance to children, depending on their symptoms and health status....

-The Hindu They will be involved in the exercise in panchayats other than their own Chennai: Beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are going to be involved in carrying out social audit of works of the MGNREGS from April 1. To ensure that there is no conflict of interest, they will be engaged in the audit of village panchayats other than theirs. For each village panchayat, five persons...

-The United Nations The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today called on countries to boost efforts to promote agroforestry, a practice involving the combination of trees with crop or livestock production, stressing it can help millions of people escape poverty and prevent environmental degradation, making it crucial to ensure food security in the future. “In many countries the potential of agroforestry to enrich farmers, communities and industry has not been...