-The Hindu Natural recharge during monsoon may not help much if groundwater depletion becomes acute, as rainfall of past years controls current storage With 230 billion metre cube of groundwater drawn out each year for irrigating agriculture lands in India, many parts of the country are experiencing rapid depletion of groundwater. The total estimated groundwater depletion in India is in the range of 122–199 billion metre cube. The Indo-Gangetic Plain, northwestern, central and...

-The Indian Express Growth can alleviate poverty but its definition needs to expand to make any tangible difference on the ground. Amidst the din caused by the story of rising billionaires, the message on India’s poverty decline in the recent report of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative has been lost. UNDP and Oxford University released the report on Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2018. This report covers 105 countries. The...

-The Hindu93% of world's 1.8 bn children in this age could suffer neuro-development deficitsEvery day about 93% of the world?s children under the age of 15 (1.8 billion children) breathe polluted air that puts their health and development at serious risk, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a new report that puts into numbers the devastating impact that air pollution is having on the global population?s health.Tragically, many of...

-United Nations The world’s population is set to grow by 2.2 billion between now and 2050, the UN said on Wednesday, and more than half of that growth - 1.3 billion - is likely to be in sub-Saharan Africa, where women’s rights are hampered by limited access to healthcare and education, along with “entrenched gender discrimination”. Monica Ferro, Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Geneva, said the trend globally is...

-Livemint.com/ Bloomberg Foreign exchange reserves dropped by $5.14 billion in the seven days ended October 12, the biggest weekly decline since November 2011, as the RBI stepped up action to prop up the rupee Mumbai: India made the biggest dent in its foreign exchange reserves in seven years as the central bank stepped up action to prop up Asia’s worst-performing currency. Reserves dropped by $5.14 billion in the seven days ended October 12,...