-FirstPost.com What compelled a group of leading economists from India and abroad to shoot a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the government's job scheme - the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA? Is it to speak out against the government's desperation to throttle the scheme or did the economists sense any ulterior motive behind the government's move? A section of prominent Indian economists working out of the country or...

-The Third Pole Cities and villages in India will soon run out of potable water if current trends continue, warns senior water official India's groundwater tables are plunging at an alarming rate with reserves in some states dwindling to critical levels, according to the latest report from the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) - the apex body under the Ministry of Water Resources. Over 16% of the country's groundwater resources are ‘over-exploited' -...

-The Hindu Agroforestry promotes productive cropping environments, prevents deforestation, protects watersheds and enables agricultural land to withstand extreme weather events Growing trees on farms is a triple-win strategy for combating simultaneously the challenges of increasing food production, mitigating greenhouse gases and adapting to climate change. It is an instrument of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), catapulted to centre-stage by President Obama's launch of the Global Alliance for CSA at the World Climate Summit on...

-The Hindu A new provisional data from a survey conducted by the government and UNICEF shows The proportion of underweight children in India might have declined from 45.1 per cent in 2005-6 to a historic low of 30.7 per cent last year, new provisional data from a survey conducted by the government and UNICEF shows. Since 2005-6, there has been no new data on child and adult weights and heights, key in determining...

-NDTV Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received a sharp letter from 28 leading economists who say they fear his government is trying to dilute the rural jobs guarantee scheme brought in by the previous UPA government. "We are writing to express our deep concern about the future of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for NREGA," the letter said. (Read the full text of the letter) "It is alarming to hear of multiple...