-The Hindu     Until activists and patients question approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment, TB will continue to plague us Tuberculosis in India is big: 2.3 million cases, 30,000 deaths, a million missing patients. These terrifying numbers remind us of a continuing crisis - when every TB death is preventable. Behind these numbers are innumerable unheard stories of human suffering - of misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment and lack of access to care resulting in...

A new report entitled Improving Access to Finance for Women-owned Businesses in India (2014), jointly produced by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Government of Japan, underlines the importance of lending to women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)* in India (see the link below). It discusses the problem of accessing finance faced by women entrepreneurs despite them having stronger repayment track records vis-à-vis men (non-performing loans are 30 to...

-The Hindu But Forest Department estimates damage to 620 hectares Bangalore: Recent satellite imagery reveals that nearly 2,500 hectares of land have been destroyed by forest fires at Bandipur and Nagarahole National Parks since they began over a week ago on March 13. An additional 450 hectares have been ravaged in Bandipur and 70 hectares in Nagarahole in the last three days alone, according to images captured by the Indian Space Research...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: As the world is already staring at impending water crisis due to climate change, population increase and pollution, a UN report has predicted that as many as 3.4 billion people will be living in "water-scarce" countries by 2025. It also pointed out that the situation will be deteriorated further in the next 25 years (by 2050), culminating into instances of human conflicts in many parts of...

-The United Nations To mark World Water Day, the United Nations is highlighting the key role that water and energy play in economic development and the eradication of poverty worldwide, and calling for strong measures to ensure their efficient and equitable use. In his message for the Day, focused this year on the interdependence between the management of water and energy, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that "they interact with each other...