-The Telegraph New Delhi: Government scientists have called for nationwide surveillance to look for a caterpillar native to South America that has slipped into at least four Indian states and could threaten the country's tomato growers and the ketchup-and-puree industries. The scientists at the National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR), Bangalore, worried about the pest's spread, have also initiated efforts to get wasps and predatory bugs to serve as its natural...

-The Indian Express A study in the National Capital Region shows why the search for a house is longer and more arduous for a Muslim tenant. Earlier this month, this newspaper reported that a Muslim IAS aspirant in Pune resorted to a “Hindu” pseudonym to overcome the difficulty of obtaining paying-guest accommodation. Keen followers of the news from India, like us, recognise this as an example of periodic reports from cities...

-The Hindu Figuring out key parameters on which to measure a State’s performance provides a playbook of best practices for others to follow. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 (MGNREGA) aims at “enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.” In the financial year...

-PTI New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) will start giving State-specific monsoon forecast from next year. “IMD will start making State-wise monsoon forecast from 2017 apart from zone-wise predictions,” Union Minister for Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan said. The Secretary in the Ministry of Earth Sciences M Rajeevan said from 2018-19 it will be extended to include other seasons. The IMD currently gives zone-specific daily monsoon forecast during the season for north-west, central India,...

-The Indian Express At present, Delhi has four landfill sites and three of them operate beyond capacity. New Delhi: In a city where population increases at about 3.5 per cent per annum and the per capita waste generated rises by 1.3 per cent in the same period, devoting additional land to efficiently treat and dispose of the garbage generated is posing a problem. Delhi needs more than 1,500 acres for the purpose,...