Forest fires are not just confined to countries like the United States of America (California, 2020), Brazil (Amazon forest, 2019-2020) or Australia (2019-20); they happen every year across many states in India too. Media reports suggest that forest fires have taken place in the recent months in odisha's Simlipal National Park, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, among other states. Forest fires have also been reported this year in Nagaland-Manipur border (Dzukou...

-Down to Earth The country reported 82,170 VIIRS alerts in the fortnight till April 14; Uttarakhand sees significant jump in number   India recorded 82,170 forest fire alerts from April 1-14, 2021 nearly double the number reported during the same period past year, according to Global Forest Watch (GFW), an open-source monitoring application. The country reported 43,031 alerts during the corresponding fortnight in 2020, according to GFW data using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer...

The National Food Security Act 2013 guarantees maternity benefit to the tune of Rs. 6,000/- per child by the Central Government for pregnant women and lactating mothers, barring those who are already availing such benefits while being in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or under other laws. The NFSA 2013 also legally guarantees free meals for every pregnant woman and lactating mother...

-Down to Earth Among marginalised groups, indebtedness was highest in Muslim-majority and Scheduled Caste-majority hamlets Indebtedness became more acute in around 70 per cent hamlets surveyed in 75 Indian districts during October-December 2020, according to a study on the effects of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and lockdowns. The figure was 76 per cent in the first few months following last year’s lockdown. There was a slight dip in the indebtedness of...

-Newsclick.in The paper by economists Jean Dreze, Reetike Khera, and Anmol Somanchi is based on the findings of the Jaccha Baccha Survey (JABS), a survey of pregnant and nursing women in rural India conducted in June 2019. A large majority of Indian women are still deprived of maternity benefits they are entitled to under the National Food Security Act, 2013, according to a recent paper by economists Jean Dreze, Reetike Khera, and...