-Outlook Mumbai: Weak coordination among government agencies was one of the challenges in tackling vector-borne diseases (such as malaria, dengue) in India, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO is going to initiate an awareness campaign in the metropolis on such diseases by roping in the famed 'dabbawalas' (tiffin carriers) of the city, it said. The organisation, with Maharashtra Health Department and Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust, today called...

-DNA The Indian political class is completely disengaged with the environment because the issue does not get votes. And the poor, who will be the most affected by climate change, are mostly unaware about it, though it is an existential issue for our country. In William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, a series of bizarre events happen in Rome before Caesar's assassination, leading a soothsayer to warn him: "Beware the ides of...

-Deccan Herald India stares at an agriculture loss worth Rs 42,000 crore ($7 billion) by 2030, due to the dangerous consequences of climate change, says the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its latest report. The loss will mostly be on account of a sharp drop in wheat productivity because of the heat stress in the Indo-Gangetic plains, which produce almost 90 million tonnes of wheat annually. Ranging from Punjab and...

-PTI High levels of warming resulting from continued growth in greenhouse gas emissions may hit India's food security system with a global report warning that the impact could be "more severe" on the country' rice and maize production. Like crops, the country's fisheries could also be negatively affected by climate change, says a report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in Yokohama, Japan. It says that emissions of CO2 often...

-Live Mint Inefficient government relief is reason to allow access to alternatives The increased probability of an El Nino weather pattern has already begun to rustle up fears about how a bad Monsoon could hurt a sluggish Indian economy. The concerns are valid even though the economy is less dependent on agriculture than before and reservoir levels this summer are quite comfortable. The lessons of previous El Nino episodes in 2002...