-The Hindu The campaign to end open defecation can succeed only if it takes communities with it India’s declaration on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi that its rural areas are now open defecation-free will be acknowledged around the world as a milestone in its developmental journey. Cleanliness and sanitation were central to Gandhi’s concerns for his vast number of impoverished countrymen, and should ideally have been pursued zealously by governments...

-The Hindu Business Line A dispersed pattern of urbanisation leads to sprawl with higher motorisation and pollution. A new urban vision is needed India’s demographic dividend cannot be realised if young entrants to the labour force as well as potential migrants from agriculture do not gain new livelihoods. Hastening of the structural transformation brings with it three mega-challenges for policy-makers: employment of migrants; growing urbanisation; and ensuring better education and vocational training...

-The Hindu Business Line Kochi (Kerala): In a significant attempt to protect coastal wetlands in the wake of the climate crisis, a mobile app has been developed to collect the complete datasets on smaller wetlands across the coastal region of the country. The app was developed by the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of the ISRO upon the request of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in line with a memorandum of...

-The Telegraph Yediyurappa sought department cash for flood relief Bangalore: The Karnataka government has shunted out an IAS officer who reportedly refused to divert funds from her department for flood relief. Rohini Sindhuri, secretary of the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board, was shifted without a posting after she apparently ignored orders to contribute a slice of the department’s funds for flood relief. Chief minister and BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa had...

-News18.com House-building advance is available to central and state government employees for constructing a new house on a plot owned by the employee or jointly with the spouse. The scheme can also be availed while buying a new house or flat. New Delhi: In a bid to boost the housing sector, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced reduction in interest rates on house-building advance and linking to 10-year government securities yields. The...