-The Indian Express In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on whether the number of lakes has declined substantially across the country over recent years, MoEFCC Prakash Javadekar said rapid urbanisation, development activities and anthropogenic pressures have stressed water bodies. Over Rs 1,000 crore has been released for the conservation of 157 wetlands in the country under the National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-systems (NPCA), Union Minister...

-The Indian Express The state must prioritise removing malnutrition, give uncompromising priority to improving primary health infrastructure In 1947, post-colonial India set off with the ambition of building a modern state on the principles of equality where citizens, by virtue of their birth in the country, would be entitled to a life of dignity. While the Constitution provided the rights to life, liberty, nutritional standards and maternity care, it did not explicitly...

Quite often it is argued by mainstream economists that a sizeable chunk of the Union Budget every year is wasted because the Government spends that on food and fertiliser subsidies. The burgeoning size of these two subsidies relative to the entire Budget as well as the gross domestic product (GDP) is often used to build the argument that economic as well as environmental sustainability of the country is at stake...

-The Indian Express States have spent less in this year, may focus on fiscal consolidation in the year to come. This belies hopes of a public-spending-led recovery. Over the past few weeks, several state governments have presented their Budgets for the financial year 2021-22. These Budgets shed light not only on how state finances have fared during the current year (2020-21) but equally critically, detail the expenditure stance of these governments during...

-IDROnline.org How a government scheme designed to extend maternity benefits to pregnant women in India is unequal and exclusionary. Child stunting (low height for age) has increased in 13 states, child wasting (low weight for height) has increased in more than 12 states, number of underweight children has increased in 16 states, and children who are overweight has increased in 20 states. (All four indicators refer to children between the ages of...