-The Times of India LONDON: India is the world's antibiotic popping capital, recording the highest number of such pills consumed annually — 13 billion pills as against 10 billion in China and 7 billion in the US. As a result of such reckless use, deadly strains of life-taking bacteria that are resistant to even the latest generation of antibiotics have been found to be rampant in India. The first State of the World's...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The war against dengue and other deadly mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and chikungunya appears to have been lost in Delhi. While the focus has been on the paucity of hospital beds for dengue patients, no one is asking the real question: what has been done to prevent the outbreak of vector-borne diseases, year after year? Why have things come to this pass? Far from girding...

-Livemint.com Amid all the gloom, the lower inflation rate and commodity prices could bring some respite With the southwest monsoon retracing, concerns about the deficiency of rainfall and its impact on the economy are increasing. The 15% rainfall deficit makes it the second consecutive year of less-than-normal monsoon dotted with some unseasonal showers. Together, this would have multiple ramifications on economic growth. Both macroeconomic and sectoral analysts have turned cautious and some...

-Down to Earth With only 58 per cent rainfall this season, Maharashtra is likely to face one of the worst agrarian crises ever As the fear of drought looms large over India, Beed district in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region is gearing up to face one of its worst agrarian crises this year. Matters have come to such a pass that the residents of Gangamasla village in the district have threatened self-immolation to protest against...

-The Hindu Ramaswamy R. Iyer, a water policy expert who wrote extensively for The Hindu, saw rivers as inextricable parts of the lives of communities. Ramaswamy R. Iyer passed away on September 9 in Delhi after a severe bout of viral fever. The water policy expert, who last held the position of an honorary research professor at the Centre for Policy Research, earlier served as Secretary of Water Resources in the Central...