-The Telegraph A significant factor behind legal pendency is the number of judicial vacancies, especially in lower courts — more than 5,000 vacancies over the last decade That justice delayed is justice denied is a reality with which Indians are all too familiar. A decade ago, India already had the world’s largest backlog of cases; the total has now climbed to a monumental 4.6 crore. The pandemic, predictably, has exacerbated the problem,...

-Down to Earth Groundwater contaminated with arsenic is extensively used for irrigation and finds its way into the food chain  Arsenic contamination in groundwater has been a growing concern in several parts of the country. Now, the chemical has found its way into the food chain — mainly rice, wheat and potato — a recent study has found. Ashok Kr Ghosh, one of the leading scientists of the team that led the research...

-Down to Earth Incentivising farmers to sell solar power as a remunerative crop can help reduce the usage of diesel pumps The irrigation-energy nexus in India's agriculture sector is characterised primarily by depleting groundwater and a growing debt burden of power distribution companies (DISCOM). This is due to massive power subsidies that remain underfunded by the states.   The Government of India (GoI) has been promoting solar irrigation pumps by offering substantial investment...

-ThePrint.in ISEC Bangalore researchers studied NFHS data to find that out-of-pocket expenditure for a normal delivery at a public facility is higher for rural households (Rs 5,368) than urban (Rs 4,330). Maternal and child healthcare services in India – including antenatal care, natal care (institutional delivery, or births delivered in a medical facility), postnatal care, and childcare – are meant to be free of cost in public health facilities. Several policies and...

-Scroll.in Caste and religious identity have to be explicitly accounted for if the high burden of chronic malnourishment in India is to be addressed. There are few more glaring holes in the Indian development story than child health and nutrition. India has one of the highest rates of child stunting in the world: more than a third of its children under five years are short enough for their age to be counted as...