-Reuters   The world's urban areas will more than double in size by 2030, presenting an opportunity to build greener and healthier Cities, a UN study showed on Monday.   Simple planning measures such as more parks, trees or roof gardens could make Cities less polluted and help protect plants and animals, especially in emerging nations led by China and India where city growth will be fastest, it said. "Rich biodiversity can exist in Cities...

-Outlook Out in our streets, disabled people feel the pain everyday The Gaping Holes     India yet to get a cohesive, standardised sign language     Barrier-free infrastructure yet to be implemented in public areas like bus stations, railway stations, schools, cinema halls     Lack of basic, inclusive civic facilities: no audio-enabled traffic signals, pavements with ramps, few disability-friendly toilets, negligible penalties     Poor functional entertainment accessibility, like no subtitling on local language TV channels     Reservation...

-The Hindu The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics for 2011 said Bangalore ranks fourth among Cities of the country in recorded rape cases. The city accounted for 3.8 per cent of the reported cases in the country. When all crimes against women were considered, Bangalore went up a couple of notches to occupy the second place. The latest reports of gang rape — on three women, which came within a week...

-Outlook Hyderabad: New approaches such as Public Private Partnerships(PPP) and community-based activities would go a long way in maintaining healthy ecosystems and improving livelihoods, a senior World Bank official said here today. Observing that there is not enough public money to invest in the biodiversity needs of the world, Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development, said new approaches are needed to finance nature conservation efforts. The World Bank has a...

-The Times of India India's two top metros, Mumbai and Delhi, still lack what it takes to be world class Cities. In a United Nations report on world's Cities, India's financial capital ranked 52 among 95 Cities while the political capital came in 58th. The State of World's Cities report released by UN Habitat on Wednesday, ranked Cities on five parameters of "prosperity". While Shanghai, Beijing and Bangkok were all ranked higher...