The increase in the total number of suicides committed in India during 2020 in comparison to the previous years has hit the headlines recently. While some media commentators have stated that the economic distress (caused by job loss, income loss, failure of business, and growing hunger, among other things) in 2020 could have led to more suicides being committed, others have said that home isolation and deteriorating mental health (associated...

-The Hindu Yawning gap between States in access to online education, says the study. The percentage of rural children who were not enrolled in school doubled during the pandemic, with Government schools seeing an increase in enrolment at the expense of private schools, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021. Over a third of children enrolled in Classes 1 and 2 have never attended school in person. However, enrolment does...

-PTI/ The Hindu At least 38 people were injured in an attack by a skulk of foxes in West bengal’s Malda district on Thursday, police said. The incident happened in Hardam Nagar village in the Harishchandrapur police station area. A skulk of 15-20 foxes attacked several houses in the village at the break of the dawn, injuring at least 40 people, as most were caught by surprise, the police said. Twenty of them...

-PTI/ The Hindu Health Ministry writes to Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday asked Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir to undertake a review of the rising COVID-19 case numbers and weekly positivity rates, and enhance testing. In letters to the Himachal Pradesh Health Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Principal Secretary of Health and the Jammu and Kashmir Additional Chief Secretary of Health, Arti Ahuja,...

-IDROnline.org Natural resource management activities under NREGA have the potential to help India increase carbon sequestration and combat climate change. The world’s largest anti-poverty programme may also help India achieve its target of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent, through additional forest and tree cover, by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) captured 102...