-PTI/ Business Standard The Nobel laureate was sharing his observations from a recent visit to West Bengal. People in India are in "extreme pain" and the economy is still below the 2019 levels, with "small aspirations" of people becoming even smaller now, Nobel laureate economist Abhijit Banerjee has said. He was virtually addressing students of the Ahmedabad University in Gujarat on Saturday night from the US during the varsity's 11th annual convocation which...

-GaonConnection.com At least ten districts of Bihar have reported high levels of uranium in their groundwater, the primary source of drinking water in rural areas, which far exceeds the tolerable limit prescribed by the World Health Organization. Millions in Bihar are already facing a high disease burden due to elevated levels of arsenic, fluoride and iron in their water. Presence of uranium has multiplied their worries manifold. The state government is...

-Scroll.in UnPLAnned urbanisation, changing rainfall patterns and delayed preventive measures have created perfect conditions for mosquitoes to thrive. When Dr Shaukat Kalam visited Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh in August, he saw signs of a deadly dengue outbreak everywhere. “We found mosquito breeding in every second house, in the garbage, on the roadside, in articles where water was accumulating,” said the entomologist, an expert on insects, who currently works with the central government’s...

-The Telegraph The Opposition members said the govt’s drum-beating over vaccination was premature as only 38% of the adult population had been fully inoculated so far The Opposition on Thursday tore into the Narendra Modi government during a Lok Sabha debate for the mishandling of the second Covid wave and asked what measures were being taken to tackle a possible third surge that could be fuelled by the omicron variant. “When will all...

-The Hindu The company’s registration of the variety has been revoked by the Protection of PLAnt Varieties and Farmers Rights’ Authority. Two years after PepsiCo India provoked outrage by suing nine Gujarati farmers for allegedly infringing patent rights by growing its registered potato variety, the company’s registration has been revoked by the Protection of PLAnt Varieties and Farmers Rights’ Authority (PPV&FRA). “This judgement is a historic victory for the farmers of India. It...