-The Indian Express The Corruption Perception Index generates short-lived hype/hysteria but rarely prompts a Pygmalion effect. Measurement of corruption has remained a perennial problem. Transparency International’s (TI) first Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released in 1995 was a bold initiative. Until then, corruption was a taboo topic. International financial institutions regarded corruption as an internal policy matter of the respective countries. Does the CPI nudge governments to initiate anti-corruption reforms, referred to as...

-Down to Earth The back of the Indian farmour is against the wall amid rising costs of inputs, climate change-induced risks and faulty market mechanisms More than 28 farmers and farm labourers die by suicide in India every day, according to the 2021 State of India’s environment (SoE) report — an annual brought out by Down To Earth in association with Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and environment (CSE). The SoE report highlighted...

-Hindustan Times The move has reignited a three-decade old worry among environmentalists who have been flagging the project as a potential risk for the national capital. The Chamoli flash floods of February 7 have brought the spotlight back on the first high dam on the Yamuna scheduled to come up at Lakhwar in Dehradun and Tehri in Uttarakhand after the Union environment ministry’s expert appraisal committee recommended the 300MW Lakhwar Multipurpose Project...

-TheWire.in (Science) Never underestimate the power of human stupidity, says Yuval Noah Harari in his book, 21 Lessons For The 21st Century. If anyone doubts this truism she has only to see what we have been doing to the Himalaya for the last three decades, particularly in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, in the name of development. This stupidity also involves ignoring the pleas of local residents/villagers, the advice of experts, and...

-The Hindu Researchers noted that the changes in the Indian Ocean temperature have a huge effect on the rainfall in the region The quiet, sleepy, yet mesmerising village of Mawsynram trounced Cherrapunji to become the wettest place in the world. Mawsynram receives over 10,000 millimetres of rain in a year. Decreasing trend A recent study that looked at the rainfall pattern in the past 119 years found a decreasing trend at Cherrapunji and nearby...