-Press released by Christian Aid dated 27 December, 2022 * Study identifies the year’s 10 costliest extreme events influenced by the climate crisis - each caused more than $3 billion in damage. * Report also examines 10 other extreme events that caused massive human and environmental damage, mostly in the poorest countries. * The floods that submerged parts of Pakistan in June displaced 7m people and caused more than $30 billion in estimated...

-The Hindu Delay would increase their suffering and deprive them of welfare schemes, Parliamentary panel on Social Justice and Empowerment said The Parliamentary panel on Social Justice and Empowerment has pulled up the Union government over the “very slow” process to categorise over 260 denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes under either the SC/ST/OBC lists, which government officials have pointed to for the delay in the approval of benefits under the SEED (Scheme...

-The Hindu The West’s attempt to cut Russia’s oil revenues without drastically affecting global oil supplies may be too fine a balancing act in the longer run The Group of Seven (G7) countries, the European Union and Australia have imposed a price cap on Russian sea-borne oil to make it harder for Russia to fund its war against Ukraine. Under the plan, which took effect on December 5 , Western companies that...

-The Telegraph Committee asks govt to take steps to strengthen radiotherapy facilities in the country, expressing concerns about inadequate infrastructure A parliamentary panel has asked the Centre to provide free cancer treatment to middle-class households through a government-funded health insurance scheme and to cap cancer diagnostics and treatment services in government and private hospitals. The parliamentary standing committee on health has also called on the government to take steps to strengthen radiotherapy facilities...

-The Hindu Business Line The main grouse that States have with PMFBY is that while premiums are distributed evenly across participants, claims are cornered by a few Six years after its launch and post multiple overhauls, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), India’s flagship scheme for crop insurance, has largely failed to deliver on its objectives. An expert committee steered by Ashok Dalwai recently submitted a report showing that, between 2016 and...