-The Hindu Why New Delhi must not bask in the WHO’s polio-free certification and, instead, have an ambitious plan to eradicate polio-like flaccid paralysis. On November 30, the day India introduced an Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV) in its routine immunisation programme, stating that it “will be an important step in the Polio Endgame Strategy”, a case of Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (VDPV) was reported from New Delhi. This was the second such...

-Livemint.com The environment ministry, with the aim of making water bodies fit for bathing, has decided to tighten water quality norms. It made the draft of the new standards made public on Monday, seeking views within 30 days. In the draft standards, the ministry has presented 14 points to determine the quality of water in a river or water body. They include factors such as total coliform (TC), fecal coliform, pH value, bio-chemical...

-Down to Earth Both cities might have air pollution issues, but Delhi is way behind Beijing as far as awareness and solutions are concerned The authorities in Beijing declared a “smog alert” in the city on November 29, when China’s capital recorded a reading of 391 microgram/cubic metre for PM2.5. According to the air quality standards issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), the 24-hour safe standard for PM2.5 is 25 microgram/cubic...

-The Hindu The observation by the Supreme Court that political leaders should not take criticism as a personal insult highlights a particular kind of intolerance that is rarely referred to in the ongoing debate on the subject: the inability of public figures to tolerate criticism and their repeated resort to criminal defamation proceedings to stifle adverse comment. Nothing exemplifies this as much as the 100-odd prosecutions launched by the government of...

-PTI United Nations: India has been ranked a low 131 out of 167 nations on a global index that measures the level of information and communication technology access, even as the number of households with Internet and computer has increased in the country over the last five years. UN International Telecommunications Union’s flagship annual Measuring the Information Society Report said that globally 3.2 billion people are now online, representing 43.4 per cent...