-United Nations News Severe malnutrition, also known as severe wasting, is one of the top threats to child survival, yet perhaps one of the least known or understood, according to a report issued on Tuesday by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Severe Wasting: An overlooked child survival emergency, details that around one in five deaths among children under age five, can be attributed to severe wasting. Triggered by a lack of nutritious food...

-NITI Aayog Working Paper, ISBN: 978-81-953811-7-3 Abstract -  The importance of agriculture in an economy usually declines as it climbs the development ladder. Raising agriculture productivity has been known to be an important precursor. Labour productivity in agriculture can either be increased by higher land productivity or higher land availability per farmer and mechanisation. In India, however, the dramatic increase in land productivity through industrial farming has caused severe environmental damage and...

-The Telegraph India’s decarbonization targets as laid out at COP26 may require enhanced funding The Union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, made energy transition and climate action focal points in this year’s budget. The ministry of environment, forest and climate change secured an allocation of Rs 3,030 crore. Yet, the question as to whether the financing would be adequate to ensure a timely transition to a sustainable environment stands. At COP26 held in Glasgow,...

-The Telegraph The risks of mining in Goa far outweigh ‘developmental gains’ Over five years ago, Hartman de Souza, a Goan, wrote a very angry book, Eat Dust: Mining and Greed in Goa, about the political economy of mining, giving a harrowing account of the mining racket orchestrated by those with political power, money and influence during the Age of Greed (2008-2011). This year, four national political parties are fighting the Goa elections...

-TheWire.in Despite increasing allocated funds, the Union government has been unable to significantly improve penetration of crop insurance in terms of enrolled farmers and insured areas. India’s agriculture sector, which provides employment to more than 50% of the labour force and contributes about 17% of the gross domestic product, currently faces multiple challenges. Smaller land holdings, unfavourable climate changes events, dismal public and private investment, low monthly incomes, a high proportion of...