Multidimensional poverty is about non-monetary poverty and is strongly associated with the challenges of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although previously defined only in monetary terms, poverty is now understood to include the lived reality of people’s experiences and the multiple deprivations they face. India’s multidimensional headcount ratio (H) i.e. the proportion or incidence of people (within a given population) who experience multiple deprivations has reduced from 55.1 percent to...

-PTI The appeal filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has challenged the September 3 high court order, which said it was for Parliament and the state legislatures to enact laws and not for the court. New Delhi: A plea challenging a Delhi High Court order dismissing a PIL seeking implementation of certain steps, including the two-child norm, to control the country’s rising population has been...

-Down to Earth Enforcement of graded response action plan on pollution hotspots in the national capital can help achieve Clean Air Delhi has, in the last 10 years, made visible strides in ameliorating its air quality. Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Sunita Narain and Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director and head of the air pollution and clean transportation programme at CSE discuss how this was achieved and how to bring...

-The Indian Express The Punjab government felt that people would heed to the reinforcement of the Guru’s message and stop abusing natural resources. The Punjab government recently passed a resolution based on one of the basic tenets of Guru Nanak’s philosophy to desist farmers from burning stubble post paddy harvest and stop overexploiting groundwater. The Indian Express explains why something that the Guru said over five centuries ago is relevant in...

-The Hindu Cases of acute encephalitis syndrome have seen a spike in Muzaffarpur this year, already claiming more than a hundred lives. Jacob Koshy reports on the appalling state of health care in Bihar, even as the debate on what is causing the deaths rages on For three days, Bihari Mahato and Shyam Babu Saha’s families have shared a hospital bed. The two daily-wage labourers, who have had to give up work...