-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: Emissions of fine particulate matter or PM2.5 in Delhi have increased by 11.5% over the past four years, according to a GIS-based inventory prepared by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), an autonomous body under the ministry of earth sciences. The transport sector appears to be the worst culprit as it's the biggest contributor to this jump followed by manufacturing industries and power plants. After...

-The United Nations   Millions of people suffering under the yoke of modern slavery - more than half are women and girls primarily in commercial sex trade or domestic work - are generating some $150 billion a year in illegal profits for the people who are exploiting them, according to a new report released today by the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO). The startling new report, Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced...

-The Hindu   This election has created new trends and narratives even as it has sharpened old ones, says Rukmini S. through an analysis of electoral data High voter turnouts are frequently believed to be indicative of anti-incumbency. Following the record-breaking 66.7 per cent voter turnout this time, political parties and some in the media declared that this meant that the country had voted for change. Yet The Hindu's analysis shows that there...

-The Business Standard   A seven-point agenda to fix India's public services, and overcome poorly designed systems India's Achilles Heel remains its inability to deliver public services. India's aspiration to be a global economic power will be unrealised if this remains unsolved. Why is this problem so particularly acute? Is it political interference and corruption, poorly designed programmes and weak administration? Or a much deeper cultural problem of aversion to collective action, often...

-The Hindu Business Line   Pokkali cultivation gets help from Krishi Vigyan Kendra and fisheries research body KOCHI: Kerala's Pokkali farming, a unique saline tolerant rice variety that is facing extinction, could be on a revival path if efforts of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Ernakulam) under the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute bear fruit. This old and traditional method of cultivation has been reduced to less than 1,000 hectares in the coastal areas of Ernakulam...