-Economic and Political Weekly Sacred groves have survived very long without human interference, and thus are of anthropological, cultural, economic, and ecological significance. In India, these groves are concentrated in the North-East and along the Western Ghats, both globally recognised Hotspots of biodiversity. Unfortunately, their size and number are now shrinking at an alarming rate, and it is high time a workable solution is found to sustain them. Please click here to...

-The United Nations The global supply of cereal this year will surpass the 2012 level by nearly eight per cent, the United Nations food agency reported today, as it also announced a drop in global food prices for the fifth consecutive month. In its Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the increase is mainly the result of an 11 per cent anticipated expansion in coarse...

-Down to Earth Infant deaths in West Bengal’s only super specialty hospital underscrore an urgent need to improve healthcare facilities in rural areas SUPER SPECIALTY B C Roy Children’s Hospital in Kolkata looks like a refugee camp. A sit-out for families inside the complex is roofed with plastic in bright shades of blue, red and green. The sheets protect families from the regular monsoon downpour. The not-so-lucky ones huddle under buildings when...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The recent communal violence in Muzaffarnagar has once again brought home the danger of playing politics with religious beliefs. In the past eight years, there have been nearly a thousand communal incidents across the country. While the casualties are countable - 965 dead and over 18,000 injured - the toll on India's economic and social fabric is beyond any metric. More than half of these...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India had 74,000 excess deaths among girls aged below five last year, a new study has estimated providing what public health researchers say is fresh evidence for widespread neglect of girls over boys during their vulnerable childhood years. The study by a team of researchers in India and Canada has also found that 222 of 597 districts are on track to achieve India's target of reducing under-five child...