-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Anti-cracker campaigns by the central and Delhi governments appeared to have made no significant impact as the capital celebrated another dirty Diwali, with fireworks well into the night, leaving the city's air choked with alarmingly high levels of pollution. Real time data showed levels of coarse pollution particles (PM 10) peak up to 19 times the national safe standard for 24 hours and levels of fine,...

-The Indian Express There is evidence to suggest that with a few modifications, MGNREGA can dent poverty. There are few government programmes that excite as much passion as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). For advocates, it is a lifeline for the rural poor. For critics, it is a programme that distorts labour markets and does far more harm than good. In this partisan quicksand, it is hard to...

-Hindustan Times What happens when the tyre of a speeding car bursts or blows up? The obvious answer is an accident along with casualties as the vehicle goes out of control with the driver hardly getting a chance to react. There have been technologies for limiting the impacts of punctures, but there hasn’t been a solution to decrease the chances of a tyre bursting due to overheating. However, a latest innovation has...

-BBC Pollution soared to hazardous levels in Delhi on the night of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, reaching 40 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organisation, reports say. Massive quantities of fireworks go up in smoke during the festival. On Wednesday night, the levels of PM10 particulates, which are very hazardous to health, rose to 2,000 micrograms per cubic metre, reports said. The WHO recommends a maximum of 50 micrograms per...

-Down to Earth From providing agricultural information for specific countries to identifying trends in the sector, censuses serve a variety of purpose In the backdrop of a round of country-driven agricultural censuses which will begin in 2016 to gather information and statistics on the global agriculture sector, senior FAO statiscian Jairo Castano discusses with Down To Earth the importance of the exercise. * How helpful are agricultural censuses in gathering information and statistics...