-The Hindu The demand for a reverse osmosis water filter device has been growing in my household. ‘Has our existing water filter stopped being friendly?’ has been my consistent query. ‘It is time we got a new one’ has been the standard response. Considered to be one of that generation to whom the ‘utility’ of a product carries a lot of meaning, listing the virtues of new technology has often been...

-The Hindu Business Line The numbers may look good but the consumer’s monthly budget hasn’t eased up. Here are four reasons why the common man has no respite from inflation It’s official! Inflation is down. The wholesale price inflation has been in negative territory for the last eight months. CPI, the consumer price-based inflation, has also dropped, from 8-8.5 per cent in the beginning of 2014 to sub-5 per cent now. Inflation...

-Tehelka Last year’s Red Fort rhetoric has not been matched by action on the ground, with separate toilets for students remaining elusive as ever One part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Independence Day this year can safely be predicted: the reeling out of statistics to prove that the Swachh Bharat campaign is sweeping the nation. The cleanliness drive launched on 2 October, 2014, was announced from the ramparts of the...

-Odisha Sun Times Bhubaneswar: The depleting groundwater level in the Odisha capital has become a major cause of concern for planners. In the past five years, the groundwater level has shrunk by as much as  in major areas of the capital city, according to a survey. With monsoon playing truant, deficit rainfall and excessive drawing of ground water through bore wells in the absence of pipe water supply has contributed to groundwater depletion. Chandrasekharpur...

-DNA Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Mission has not only failed at his constituency, Varanasi but also in the nation's capital, Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign that started a year back hasn't achieved desired goals yet.  In a recent assessment on cleanliness carried out by Union Urban Development Ministry, Modi's own constituency, Varanasi ranked 418 on a list of 476 cities.  Meanwhile, the capital is also on the bottom of the list....