The virility of Muslim men vis-à-vis men from other religious communities have often been used as a political tool and to create a divisive agenda just before elections for getting votes from the majority of the Indian electorate who are Hindus. Instead of focusing on positive agendas like human development, employment generation, and poverty reduction, political campaigns just before the elections oftentimes reduce to mere communal propaganda (when a lot...

-The Hindu Total Fertility Rate has dropped to 2.0, indicating just replacement level. Births in institutional facilities, such as a hospital, improved by nearly eight percentage points but children who were either stunted or displayed signs of wasting only dropped by a maximum of three percentage points, shows a comparison of the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) and NFHS-4. The complete results of the NFHS-5 were made public on Wednesday. The NFHS-4 was...

-TheThirdPole.net Over two-thirds of traditional water sources in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh are dead; experts blame climate change and human activities The population of Mundaghat village in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh has come down to half of what it was a decade ago. There were nearly 500 people living in the village in 2010, now the number is reduced to 250, claimed Sita Ram, a retired water board...

-The Hindu In order to address the multiple goals of fertilizer policy, India needs to work on four key areas Since 1991, when economic reforms began in India, several attempts have been made to reform the fertilizer sector to keep a check on the rising fertilizer subsidy bill, promote the efficient use of fertilizers, achieve balanced use of N, P, and K (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium), and reduce water and air pollution...

-The Hindu The onus is on the government to ensure that there is a robust system of public data production and use When evidence-based policymaking becomes the cornerstone of good governance, it is difficult to overstate the importance of reliable and timely public data. Such data have a direct bearing on the state’s capability to design and implement programmes effectively. Among the emerging economies, India is credited to have a relatively robust...