-PTI Washinton: Research compares impact of dung cake burning versus the burning of municipal solid waste on browning of Taj Mahal and on the health of people living nearby. Burning of municipal solid waste in the vicinity of the iconic Taj Mahal is significantly contributing to the discolouring of the world heritage monument, an Indo-American research team has found. The research compared the impact of dung cake burning versus the burning of municipal...

-The Hindu Business Line Retail inflation worrisome on regional variations and transportation challenges New Delhi: Retail inflation may have eased to a 13-month low of 4.31 per cent in September, but surging prices continue to pinch the pockets of consumers in rural areas due to regional variations and transportation challenges. Though the consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation in rural areas fell to 4.96 per cent in September, against 5.87 per cent in August,...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The government will keep a record of all the services and benefits availed using the Aadhaar number for seven years, say new rules, prompting fears that the database could be used for surveillance. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues the 12-digit biometric identity to all Indian residents, will be required to preserve its record of verification of an Aadhaar number for the duration. “This is an...

-The Telegraph The world's 197 nations have finalised a landmark pact in Rwanda's Kigali to combat global warming by phasing out industrial gases called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) currently used in air-conditioners and refrigerators. The Kigali agreement gives India 10 years to prepare its industry to shift from HFCs to alternatives that are now expensive and could mean higher prices for consumers. "We were flexible, accommodative and ambitious," Union environment minister Anil Madhav Dave said...

-The Hindu The Global TB Report 2016, recently released, has revised the estimates for the tuberculosis (TB) burden in India upwards. The country has 27 per cent of the global burden of incident tuberculosis and 34 per cent of global TB deaths. For the year 2015, the updated estimate of incidence (new and relapse TB cases per year) is 2.8 million cases. India diagnosed and notified 1.7 million incident TB patients...