-BBC   Half a billion children could grow up physically and mentally stunted over the next 15 years because they do not have enough to eat, the charity Save the Children says in a new report. It says much more needs to be done to tackle malnutrition in the world's poorest countries. The charity found that many families could not afford meat, milk or vegetables. The survey covered families in India, Bangladesh, Peru, Pakistan and...

-The Hindu Business Line   A total of 15 States registered an aggregate increase of 5,000 sq km in their forest cover while 12 States/Union Territories showed a decrease of 867 sq km. The country recorded a decrease of 367 square km in forest cover last year, compared with 2009, according to India State of Forest Report 2011, released here on Tuesday. The forest and tree cover of the country stands at 78.29 million...

Interview with D.N. Jha, historian of ancient India and the author of ‘The Myth of the Holy Cow'. IN his career spanning more than 25 years, Dwijendra Narayan Jha, an eminent historian of ancient India, has dispelled many Hindutva myths. He has used ancient Indian literary and archaeological sources to show that much of the Hindutva propaganda is based on false premises. His book The Myth of the Holy Cow shows...

Observed changes in rainfall patterns and increased temperatures, particularly in the North-Eastern region, are the major projections on which Indian agriculture scientists are pegging their “mitigation and adaptation” plans in the farm sector in the absence of definitive long-term and area-specific data on climate change. Acknowledging that in India the “climate system is extremely complex and poorly understood in terms of extent, timing and impact”, Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR)...

Eureka Forbes, known for its water purifiers, is now out to banish darkness from Indian villages with its solar lighting products. Its Eurodiya brand of solar bulbs are made with US-based Nokero (short for ‘no kerosene’) that makes affordable solar bulbs, panels and chargers for communities that have no access to electricity. Over 85,000 villages (or 63% of rural India) are without electricity. Eurodiya is expected to be an alternative to...