-Down to Earth Northern plains region in India and Pakistan most impacted, meeting India’s air quality standard would have reduced loss by 7 per cent Pregnant women in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh exposed to poor-quality air may be at higher risk of stillbirths and miscarriages, according to a study published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal January 6 2020. Some 349,681 pregnancies were lost every year in these three South Asian countries due...

Commenting on the recently released fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data for 17 states and five Union Territories (UTs) in an article published in The Indian Express (dated 6th January, 2021), Arvind Subramanian and his co-authors have stated that India has made progress on certain outcomes, including infant mortality rate (IMR), under-five mortality rate (U5MR) and neonatal mortality rate (NNMR). Relying on various rounds of NFHS data,...

-Hindustan Times The grim development comes just a month before India is set to witness a second migration period. Thousands of birds have died due to different variants of bird flu in Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, prompting the Centre to issue an alert to the states to monitor their health in forest areas and near water bodies. The Union ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying on Wednesday pointed...

-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 Alcohol consumption among women aged 15 years and above highest in north-eastern states Five years since the sustainable development goals of the United Nations came into force, we ask ourselves: How is India and its states progressing towards the goals directly dealing with tobacco (SDG 3.a) and alcohol (SDG 3.5) use? These are critical goals, not only because the aspects they deal with are well evidenced in proving detrimental to...