-IANS Sikkim has set for itself the Goal of becoming an organic agricultural state by 2015 -- but there are several challenges that it needs to overcome to see the shift, said an ecology expert from the Himalayan state. "Organic agriculture, as an adaptation strategy to climate change, is a concrete, holistic and sustainable option but has challenges in terms of acceptance and the sustainability of such a move needs critical appraisal,"...

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Probably, this can be said about the ‘Sample Registration System Statistical Report 2012', which carries the latest figures on the social sector by far. The report has provided some interesting trends in child mortality indicators for India and its bigger states during 2012 (see the links below). It says that states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, which have consistently...

-The Telegraph India will celebrate three years without a single case of polio caused by the wild poliovirus on Tuesday, but public health experts have said the "endgame" to eradicate polio from the country will begin only next year and might last until 2018. The Union health ministry has planned a celebratory event at a stadium here, inviting India's political leaders, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials, international agencies, and over 1000...

-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Women and Child Development) The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted during the U.N. Millennium Summit, 2000 by 189 countries including India consists of eight Goals which are sought to be achieved during the period 1990 to 2015. The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) -1 is regarding Eradication of Extreme Poverty and Hunger, which have 2 targets namely, (i) Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the percentage of population...

-Outlook Sikkim has become the only state in the country to achieve more than 100 per cent sanitation in rural and urban households, schools, sanitary complexes and Aanganwadi centres. All 6,10,577 inhabitants in Sikkim have latrines with high sanitation and hygiene standards. The Himalayan state has constructed 98,043 individual household latrines against the target of 87,014 till January, thus achieving 112.67 per cent target under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan scheme implemented by Union Ministry...