-Down to Earth Lack of access to sanitation wiped off US $106.7 billion from India's GDP in 2015. It is almost half of the total global losses A report—True cost of sanitation—was published jointly by the LIXIL Group Corporation, Water Aid and Oxford Economics recently. Oxford Economics mainly works on economic forecasting and modelling. It says that in 2015 lack of access to sanitation cost the global economy around US $ 222.9...

-NDTV Sikkim, the small north eastern hill state, is the cleanest in India, with Kerala coming in a close second, according to a Swachhta (cleanliness) survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on the condition of sanitation in rural areas of 26 states. Chhattisgarh and neighbouring Jharkhand placed last in the survey, which was carried out last year. “A survey on Swachhta status was conducted by NSSO during May-June 2015 covering...

-Livemint.com August saw good rains in northern and eastern regions while peninsula, parts of central India remained mostly dry New Delhi: The southwest monsoon was 3% short of its long-term average till the end of August, India’s weather office said on Thursday. Around 87% of the country has received normal to excess rainfall so far. Including 1 September, the shortfall has come down to 2%. August saw good rains in the country’s northern...

-The Hindu Cap on hearings crucial to reduce pendency: Study The average hearing time for listed cases on a particular day in an Indian high court could be as little as two minutes, according to an analysis of cases pending in 21 high courts. The findings come from the “State of The Indian Judiciary” report released on Wednesday by the Bangalore-based research organisation DAKSH. Their “Rule of Law Project” aims to move the...

Rising prices of dal: How to deal with it? The 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. In India, however, ordinary citizens are under enormous duress due to the skyrocketing prices of dal/ lentils since the last one year. The website of Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs shows that dal prices varied across places. For example, the...