-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The steady decline in infant deaths in Indian states appears to be faltering in some while progressing well in others, according to fresh data for 2014 released by the Census office based on an annual sample survey. Some of the more backward states like Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh did well in bringing down infant deaths, but Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand showed an alarming...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: The Telangana government on Tuesday sounded a "global emergency" after an active strain of wild polio virus (P2 strain) was detected in a water sample collected from a drain, prompting it to airlift two lakh vaccines from Geneva to innoculate more than three lakh children in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district as a "preventive measure" from Wednesday. Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (VDPV) strain has not been seen...

-International Rivers With an enduring drought ravaging many parts of the country, last month the Prime Minister waxed eloquent on the need to safeguard water during his monthly radio monologue. He raised some valid points on cropping patterns, frugal water use, collection and storage traditions etc., but he was conspicuously silent on the need to protect wetlands. Perhaps it’s no coincidence then that the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change recently...

-Business Standard Large green patches, apart from recorded forests, to get protection. Clarity to help industry In a move that is expected to have far-reaching consequences for protection of forests while ensuring ease of doing business for mining sector, realty sector and industry, the Union environment ministry has defined what constitutes a forest under the Forest Conservation Act 1980 (FCA). The legal definition, pending since 2006, will help in identifying areas where development...

Although public goods are meant for everyone to enable living life with human dignity, certain groups are systematically deprived to access them, says a new report from the Centre for Equity Studies -- a NGO based in Delhi. Put differently, not all sections of the society are able to access or enjoy public goods and services on an equal footing, despite social justice being one of the key provisions of...