-Economic and Political Weekly Policies ensuring food security and nutrition support require a renewed focus and sense of urgency. It is a national shame that, even several decades after independence, the country has not been able to free itself from the problem of hunger and malnutrition that endangers the life and health of the population, especially that of children, women, and vulnerable groups. The global hunger index (GHI) published this year has...

  The newly released Global Tuberculosis Report 2019 finds that among the five risk factors behind TB cases in the country, undernourishment posed the greatest risk. Close to 7 lakh TB cases in India could be attributable to undernourishment during 2018. The other four risk factors behind TB cases were alcohol consumption (around 3 lakh TB cases), smoking (nearly 2 lakh TB cases), diabetes (more than 1 lakh TB cases) and HIV...

-Hindustan Times Beijing’s four-tier emergency response plan kicks in based on air quality index (AQI) forecasts and not actual recorded concentrations. Delhi’s deadly air pollution has exposed the lack of preparedness in NCR states to implement the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). It has also shown that many interventions under GRAP should have kicked in much earlier based on forecasts rather than when particulate matter concentrations were already peaking. Beijing’s four-tier emergency response...

  Air quality in North India in general and Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi NCR) in particular plunged to its lowest point in recent years during October-November thanks to a variety of factors. Through media reports one comes to know that stubble burning (also called paddy straw burning/ crop residue burning) is chiefly responsible for the public health crisis in India's capital and its nearby regions. Data accessed from the website...

-The Indian Express Delhi, Punjab and Haryana asked to send enforcement teams: Top official With Air pollution levels increasing to ‘severe levels’ in the National Capital region and Air Quality Index measuring an alarming 494 Sunday, with at least 37 flights diverted between 9 am and 1 pm because of poor visibility, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Sunday called a review meeting on air pollution in Delhi and its surrounding areas. A...