Countries in Asia and the Pacific must strike a balance between rising prosperity and rising emission as their success or failure will have repercussions worldwide, a latest report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has said. "The Asia-Pacific region must continue to grow economically to lift millions out of poverty, but it must also respond to climate change to survive. Growing first and cleaning up later is no longer an...

-CNN-IBN More than 3000 working poor are right now agitating at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, under the banner of Pension Parishad as the curtains are up on the 'right to pension' campaign. Spearheaded by Aruna Roy, the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan leader and member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), the campaign seeks universalisation of a minimum pension of Rs 2000 per person per month for all elderly citizens of...

The debate about essential-medicine pricing and access in India illustrates the difficulties inherent in establishing policies that serve conflicting public interests in achieving goals such as caring well and ensuring safety for all, while also pursuing financially-sustainable success in scientific innovation and trade. It highlights problems facing those interested in continuing drug and vaccines development and ensuring that, once marketed, such products contribute effectively to improving public health. Modern pharmaceuticals...

Anish Begum, 70, a widow from Bhalaswa struggling to make two ends meet with her meagre pension from the civic body, has to ensure she takes regular medication for diabetes and high blood pressure. “Most of the time, the councillor’s men tell us that the pension for this month has not arrived. Of the promised Rs. 1,000 per month, my mother gets just about Rs. 8,000-9,000 per year. Running from pillar...

-The Business Standard Without policy correctives, a water crisis is inevitable In a future India, urban neighbourhoods might well be racked by internecine battles over water. The main reason to fear this dystopia is the astonishing rates at which groundwater is being sucked up from below the earth in this country. Groundwater finds a home in natural aquifers, layers of rock, clay and sand far underground. For thousands of years, Indians...