The Indian Express The BJP-NDA members, while underlining that environment is an important issue, are learnt to have suggested that the committee can discuss the final draft once it is released. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change began discussing the draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 notification despite objections raised by some BJP-NDA members at a meeting on Friday. The ruling alliance members, it is...

-TheWire.in Various opposition parties have used the rising number of cases to question the Modi government's handling of the pandemic. Bengaluru/ New Delhi: India’s tally of the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country breached the psychologically significant two-million mark on August 6. At 10 am on the Union health ministry’s website, the total number of cases amounted to 2,027,074. Of this, 607,384 – nearly 30% – are currently active while...

-TheWire.in As her mother lay in the ICU, a young woman fought harder than a government representative to enforce the state’s price cap order for COVID cases. She won the battle, but lost her mother. New Delhi: On June 24, when Mayanka Sanghotra learned that her mother, Narender Kaur, had tested positive for COVID-19, she was naturally alarmed. She could not get through to any of the government helpline numbers listed online,...

-Down to Earth Water bodies have become even more critical in current times when cities are facing the challenge of rapid, unplanned urbanisation Lakes and wetlands are an important part of urban ecosystem. They perform significant environmental, social and economic functions — from being a source of drinking water and recharging groundwater to supporting biodiversity and providing livelihoods. Their role becomes even more critical in the present context, when cities are facing the...

-The Hindu The state and the rich and middle classes remain indifferent as millions slip into chronic hunger and intense poverty India’s labouring poor have largely disappeared even from the inner pages of newspapers and from television screens. It is as though, after the country has gradually unlocked and most migrants have returned home, the wrenching distress of mass hunger and sudden unemployment that racked their lives has somehow passed. The reality...