Air quality in North India in general and Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi NCR) in particular plunged to its lowest point in recent years during October-November thanks to a variety of factors. Through media reports one comes to know that stubble burning (also called paddy straw burning/ crop residue burning) is chiefly responsible for the public health crisis in India's capital and its nearby regions. Data accessed from the website...

-Livemint.com Affluent states like Gujarat are failing to ensure their poorer children have a decent diet and that the richer ones are protected from lifestyle diseases India’s healthiest children live in its north-eastern states and Kerala, an analysis of a new national survey conducted by the government shows, but children in these states are also at greater risk of ‘lifestyle diseases’. However, some of the most affluent states - particularly Gujarat, Maharashtra...

-The Telegraph Can issuing work permits and settling people outside Assam resolve the problem temporarily? In his Outlook article, (retired Union Cabinet secretary and a long-time North-east hand at the Centre) G.K. Pillai offered a temporary arrangement of granting ‘a five-year work permit’ to those not included in the final NRC, basically to maintain status quo, ‘to calm things down and allow a range of policy options to be developed carefully over...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: After cities like Bhopal and Nagpur, it’s Delhi’s turn to go green by at least partially replacing firewood used in cremation with gobar kashth — wood-like dry blocks made from cattle dung. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which inspected the Goyla dairy in south Delhi last week, has asked South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to utilise cattle dung from dairy colonies to manufacture these dry...

-The Indian Express The fresh set of orders triggered panic as people boarded buses, hired SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles and pick-up trucks to reach towns like Jorhat, Charaideo, Sivasagar and Golaghat. Guwahati: From two sisters on board a bus to a senior citizen who fell ill during a hearing, four persons, including a 14-year-old girl, have died since Monday in Assam. All were among the thousands summoned for fresh National Register...