-The Hindu Business Line To make farmers aatmanirbhar, the governments should instead nurture a healthy credit culture and empower them via a robust ecosystem rather than relieving all the borrowers, irrespective of their distress levels. Only 4 out of the 21 political parties lost the election (either at the Centre or State) following the electoral promise and implementation of a farm loan waiver (FLW) scheme started by Haryana’s Devi Lal government. A...

-Newsclick.in The intense, destructive fires that have dominated headlines in recent years are expected to become more frequent, even in places like the Arctic. Experts warn our response must shift toward planning and preparedness. Exhausted firefighters have been battling blazes in northern Argentina for weeks. Fueled by strong winds, little rain and dry conditions brought on by an unusually long drought, wildfires have already destroyed nearly 8,000 square kilometers (3,000 square miles)...

In the month of January this year, more than 100 homeless persons died (please click here and here to access) in Delhi-NCR due to cold wave like conditions. Although a Delhi-based non-government organisation (NGO) Centre for Holistic Development (CHD) made that claim, and therefore asked the Chief Minister of Delhi to make proper arrangements for the homeless poor during winters, the officials of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB)...

In the previous news alert, we looked at the under-nutrition problem in the Bundelkhand region in terms of 3 indicators -- proportion of children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age); proportion of children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height); and proportion of children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age). However, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data also indicates that severe under-nutrition like severe wasting and anaemia among...

-Down to Earth Till 2020, 7.86% of India’s land was under drought-like conditions   Over a fifth of India’s land area (21.06 per cent) is facing drought-like conditions, according to recent data released by Drought Early Warning System (DEWS), a real-time drought-monitoring platform.  This is 62 per cent more than the area under drought during the same period last year, which was 7.86 per cent.  The 21.06 per cent area is under different degrees...