-Down to Earth Farmers belonging Jharkhand, Karnataka, Telangana, and Maharashtra have the highest amounts pending under insurance claims Over Rs 3,300 crore is pending in payment to farmers across India in crop insurance claims  since 2018-19 under the government’s flagship crop insurance scheme, due to ‘payment failure’ and delay in state subsidy. An amount of Rs 3,372.72 crore out of claims worth Rs 66,460 crore in the last three years under the Pradhan...

-The Hindu From urbanisation to missing links of stormwater drains, the maps tell it all. Every rainy season, Chennai is flooded. Some of its streets get inundated even after a single spell. The maps show that as the need for residential units grew, houses were built in low-lying areas and floodplains, leading to stagnation. The loss of a portion of the Pallikaranai marshland added to the crisis. Moreover, many missing links of...

-The Hindu True agricultural reform rests with local governments, and States need to go back to the basics and expert suggestions The recent announcement by the Prime Minister that the Union Government would seek to repeal the three Farm Laws in the winter session of Parliament has prompted diverse reactions. On November 29, the first day in Parliament, the Farm Laws Repeal Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha without discussion. These...

-The Hindu We need to change behaviours and social norms as family planning is considered responsibility of women, says NGO Less than one in 10 men use condoms in India, while nearly four in 10 women undergo sterilisation to avoid pregnancy, according to the latest National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021), which also shows that female sterilisation continues to be on the rise including in urban India. Only 9.5% men used condoms but 37.9%...

-The Hindu The sustained campaign helps 43% reach the ‘normal’ mark Following the adoption of a bottom-up approach to strengthening child protection systems, 43% of malnourished children in one of the 11 blocks in tribal-dominated Banswara district in southern Rajasthan have hit the normal mark. The initiative has sought to protect the most vulnerable ones among the undernourished children and safeguarded them against a possible third wave of the pandemic. The drive for...