-The Hindu With the era of cheap, bountiful water having been replaced by increasing supply-and-quality constraints, many international investors are beginning to view water as the new oil There is a popular, tongue-in-cheek saying in America - attributed to the writer Mark Twain, who lived through the early phase of the California Water Wars - that "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." It highlights the consequences, even if...

-Down to Earth Four-day world congress on agroforestry in Delhi pushes for accelerating growing trees on farms for sustainable agriculture and mitigating climate change impacts In what is seen as a ground-breaking move, India has become the first nation in the world to adopt an agroforestry policy. The National Agroforestry Policy, which deals with the practice of integrating trees, crops and livestock on the same plot of land, was launched February 10,...

-The Times of India India must discuss phasing down hydrofluorocarbons which endanger the planet. In September, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Barack Obama agreed to discuss how hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are hundreds to thousands of times more potent global warming compounds than carbon dioxide, could be phased down. They agreed, bilaterally and at the G20 summit, to use the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol and report emissions under...

-The Hindu Jaipur: Rajasthan is set to play a major role in solar and renewable energy, according to its Governor Margaret Alva. "Energy is the key to progress. At the same time, it is a big challenge too. Rajasthan is a national leader in solar energy and under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, a majority of the solar projects are located in Rajasthan. In wind energy, India is globally positioned at...

KEY TRENDS   • According to National Sample Survey report no. 583: Persons with Disabilities in India, the percentage of persons with disability who received aid/help from Government was 21.8 percent, 1.8 percent received aid/help from organisation other than Government and another 76.4 percent did not receive aid/ help *8   • As per National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), the Under-five Mortality Rate (U5MR) was 57.2 per 1,000 live births (for the non-STs it was 38.5)...