Air quality in North India in general and Delhi National Capital Region (Delhi NCR) in particular plunged to its lowest point in recent years during October-November thanks to a variety of factors. Through media reports one comes to know that stubble burning (also called paddy straw burning/ crop residue burning) is chiefly responsible for the public health crisis in India's capital and its nearby regions. Data accessed from the website...

-The Telegraph The government plans to frontload additional expenditures in the rural job scheme to boost demand in the rural economy New Delhi: Rural development schemes are likely to get more funds than allotted in the budget to boost consumption growth, which has fallen to a seven-year low in the villages. The Narendra Modi-government plans to frontload additional expenditure in the rural job scheme and highway Construction projects to boost demand in the...

-Down to Earth blog Overburdened drainage, frenzied and unregulated Construction, no regard to the natural topography and hydro-geomorphology all make urban floods a man-made disaster The recent floods in Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh have taken by surprise both governments and people. In Patna, severe water logging has brought the city to a halt, with hospitals and residential areas filled with waist-deep water. Transport services have been disrupted, with many trains cancelled. There is...

-Frontline.in Little seems to have improved in the five years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to make India open-defecation free (ODF) under the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) by the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2. Confounding government claims of Madhya Pradesh being ODF, two Dalit minors, Roshni (12) and Avinash (10), were lynched to death in Shivpuri district by their upper-caste neighbours on September 25 for...

-The Indian Express From September 28 to October 1, Patna received about 400 mm of rainfall. With all 39 sump houses remaining non-functional till October 1, at least 60 per cent of Patna faced water-logging. * “Any modern city requires four basic infrastructure systems in place to function efficiently — drinking water supply system, storm water drainage system, sewage system and sewerage network system, and solid waste management system. Patna Municipal...