-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India, with the highest malaria burden outside Africa, will need an investment of $18 billion to achieve its 2030 deadline to eliminate the disease, says a latest estimate by the health ministry and malaria advocacy groups. Severe malaria outbreaks in India, aggravated by poor sanitation and Drainage, underline an urgent and growing need for financial commitment to deal with a menace estimated to inflict nearly $2...

Expanding irrigation network in the country is considered as essential to raise agricultural production in the face of increased frequency of droughts. However, a newly released report from the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare shows that there has actually been a fall in the growth rate of net irrigated area during the recent two decades. The report entitled State of Indian Agriculture 2015-16 reveals that the growth rate in...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: A first of its kind study on the state of India’s small towns – those with a population of less than one lakh – has come up with a grim picture of these mushrooming urban settlements. Though the numbers of such towns have grown by 157 % -- from 2223 in 1961 to 5705 in 2011, they have “enormous backlogs” when it comes to basic infrastructure and socio-economic...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: "We cannot tolerate this year after year." This was the sharp reaction of the Delhi High Court on Wednesday on the waterlogging on major roads and crippling of traffic movement in large parts of the national capital. "There is no justification for clogged drains. We cannot tolerate this year after year," the court said when it took up a matter relating to water logging of South Extension...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Bihar has been battling floods despite receiving less than normal rains this year. Long at the receiving end due to release of water from Nepal, this time though the blame lies squarely on mismanagement of a dam and a barrage in neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The situation has become so bad in the past four days that state chief minister Nitish Kumar...