-The Hindu Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal and Kerala directed to enforce culling in sick birds Avian flu has been reported at 12 epicentres in four States — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala. Directions have been given to enforce culling in sick birds as per the government’s 2015 National Avian Influenza Plan, according to a press statement from the Ministry of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry on Wednesday. In these States, cases of...

-Livemint.com Three-fourths of India’s population depend on cereals from states that over-exploit groundwater, finds a study. This raises concerns about the country’s food security The farmer protests near Delhi have brought renewed attention to the agricultural practices of northern India, groundwater use in particular. A new study finds that states where groundwater reserves are at critical levels, such as Punjab, form the major source of cereals for around 76% of India’s population....

-Down to Earth The percentage of women using safe menstrual products highest in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (98.9%); least in Bihar at 58.8% The percentage of women using sanitary products and practising Hygiene during menstrual cycle increased across states and Union territories in the past decade-and-a-half, first phase of the recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) has found. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa and Telangana...

-The Hindu Hyderabad-based Balamitra Foundation’s project of distributing menstrual Hygiene kits in Andhra’s Billalavalasa village has started conversations on a topic often brushed under the carpet When Sravani got her first period, she had no idea how to manage the bleeding since nobody had spoken about it to her. Even her mother was hush-hush about it. She ended up using cloth and missing a week’s class at school. Several girls like her...

-CaravanMagazine.in On 17 May, for the third time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Narendra Modi administration extended India’s lockdown—one of the harshest across the world. For the third time, the Indian government did so without seeking scientific inputs from a national task force constituted to advise the central government on its pandemic response, according to multiple members of the team of scientists. There was a consensus among members we spoke...