-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Only outdoor air pollution in urban areas claims 1.09 lakh lives of adults, another 7,513 of children below 5 years annually, says a latest report of World Bank. The study released on Wednesday revealed that the annual cost of environmental degradation in India is about Rs 3.75 lakh crores, which is equivalent to 5.7% of country's GDP. The study commissioned by the Central government has brought...

-The Economic Times The monsoon made a dream start this year. Bountiful rainfall in June has prepared the ground for bumper harvest and lower food inflation. But don't celebrate. Look beyond the immediate future and good monsoon this year may not really be good news. It has merely delayed an agricultural crisis, which our complacent policymakers perhaps need to jolt them into action. With food demand rising in step with the growing...

-The Indian Express The I&B Ministry is planning to generate real-time data on what the 120 million TV viewing households are watching by putting a chip into the set top boxes (STB). The move comes at a time when dominant television ratings company, TAM Media Research, is facing the heat from the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The move may also raise privacy concerns and invite protests from rights activists but ministry...

-The Business Standard Food insecurity and hunger are rooted in bad policies, faulty design, poor governance and a lack of political will According to the latest Global Hunger Report, India continues to be in the category of those nations where hunger is "alarming". What is worse, despite high growth, the hunger index in India between 1996 and 2011 has gone up from 22.9 to 23.7. National Sample Survey Organisation data show that...

-The Business Standard Fear of bad monsoon has suddenly hiked vegetable and fruit prices by about 300% from the farm to your dining table Bangalore: Steep rise in prices of fruits and vegetables has resulted in over 55% of middle and low-income group families opting for pre-cooked and ready-to-eat food items to keep the kitchen budget intact, according to a survey. "The fear of bad monsoon has suddenly hiked the vegetables...