-The Hindu The pandemic also has its hidden victims — over 500 million children forced out of school globally and India accounted for more than half of them. The country is all set to usher in a ‘pandemic generation’, with 375 million children (from newborns to 14-year-olds) likely to suffer long-lasting impacts, ranging from being underweight, stunting and increased child mortality, to losses in education and work productivity, according to the State...

-The Hindu This year can go down as the year when we set the planet on a path towards healing As COVID-19 upends our lives, a more persistent crisis demands urgent action on a global scale. Three environmental crises — climate change; nature loss; and the pollution of air, soil and water — add up to a planetary emergency that will cause far more pain than COVID-19 in the long-term. For years, scientists...

-The Hindu On several significant items relating to the environment, allocations have remained stagnant or fallen In 1991, when the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh ushered in economic reforms that catapulted India into the global economy, I had asked him how he intended to balance rapid economic growth with environmental protection. He said that the experience of the West is that once there is enough money in the economy through growth, it...

-Down to Earth This water causes diarrhoeal diseases that kill 800 children every day, mostly in India, Afghanistan and Congo To limit the spread of disease and reduce Environmental Pollution, human waste (excreta) needs to be safely contained and effectively treated. Yet 4.2 billion people, more than half of the world’s population, lack access to safe sanitation. In developing countries, each person produces, on average, six litres of toilet wastewater each day. Based...

-Down to Earth The EAC recommended that the coal mine be expanded to 1.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from 1 MTPA through opencast method A central expert appraisal committee (EAC) has okayed the expansion of a Chhattisgarh coal mine, which is in violation of a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order. Gare Palma IV-4 can produce 1.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), up from 1 MTPA, through the open-cast method, recommended the EAC...