-The Hindu New Delhi: Even as countries negotiate to arrive at a new global accord to counter the climate change crisis in Paris, an audit report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday showed that the government had failed to meet its targets for scaling up the use of renewable energy sources under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The NAPCC had envisaged raising renewable energy sources to 8 per cent...

-The Hindu Business Line Agriculture Ministry reviews soil health card scheme New Delhi: Central teams will be sent to Uttar Pradesh and Odisha to assess drought situation, the Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday. The Ministry said it had received representations from the two States and teams were being dispatched immediately. Karnataka was recently sanctioned ₹1,540 crore. For Chhattisgarh, the Ministry has recommended ₹1,387 crore. At present, Central teams are visiting Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, a...

-Hindustan Times A ban on slaughter doesn’t automatically lead to a flourishing cow population, an HT analysis of government data has found, with states like Madhya Pradesh — where cow killing is outlawed — reporting a more than 40% decline in their numbers in rural areas over a decade. Between 2003 and 2013, at least nine states registered a significant decline in the ownership of cows by the rural households, according to...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Public health activists have asked the Union health ministry to reject a demand from an association of Indian doctors to exempt hospitals and clinics with accreditation from proposed rules to regulate the costs of services charged to patients. The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA, or People's Health Movement) has opposed a demand from the Indian Medical Association to the health ministry seeking exemption for accredited hospitals from the Clinical...

-The Times of India GUWAHATI: Mizoram and Meghalaya are the two states in the country with the least gender gap, according to McKinsey Global Institute's (MGI) "The Power of Parity: Advancing Women Equality in India" report. The gender parity in the two northeastern states, along with that of Kerala, Goa, and Sikkim, are roughly in line with that of Argentina, China, or Indonesia, the report says. In contrast, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand,...