-Down to Earth 'CPCB underestimating pollution from coal-fired thermal power plants' Data released by NASA's Aura satellite calls into question the veracity of Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) claim made in 2012 that the mean sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions in India decreased in 2010 as compared to 2001 level. A new study led by Zifeng Lu of Decision and Information Sciences Division of Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, USA, based on images...

-Down to Earth More than a fourth of rural students opt for private schools for better education, says Annual State of Education Report by non-profit Pratham The Union government may have made right to education a fundamental right by bringing into force the Right To Education (RTE) Act of 2009, but government schools are lagging far behind in providing quality education, according to the latest report released by Delhi-based non-profit, Pratham. At...

-Down to Earth G Nammalvar was one of a kind, a messiah of farmers who was revered as a saint-teacher by his followers. He was an agriculture scientist, a graduate of Annamalai University, who left a government job at the research station at Kovilpatti when he realised that he could do nothing for the resource-poor farmers who depend on rains to cultivate their parched land. Thus began an odyssey of half...

-Down to Earth   Scientists in Bihar find a plausible link between pesticides and breast cancer "There were no apparent risk factors. I had no family history of breast cancer, married early, had a baby whom I breastfed. Above all, I followed a healthy lifestyle. The only thing that could have led to my cancer could be environmental factors-exposure to pesticide residues through food and pollution," narrated Niti, a young breast cancer survivor,...

-Down to Earth It can help reduce diarrhoea prevalence by 47 per cent among children Better sanitation facilities can significantly help improve children's health. A World Bank report, published on January 6, states that prevalence of diarrhoea can be reduced by 47 per cent among children if they are provided improved sanitation facilities at home as well as in their community. The report, Sanitation and Externalities, analysed the data of 206,414 children under...