-Down to Earth Change is taking place in the way the Centre and state governments look at pastoralism; the belief that livestock management is done better in stable conditions is changing The opening up of India’s first camel dairy at Nakhatrana taluka in Gujarat’s Kutch district in 2018 helped Mura Mangal resume pastoralism. “In 2006, we had some Goats, but it was getting difficult to earn enough money. So I took up a...

-India.mongabay.com * Particulate matter (PM) pollution is a risk factor for anaemia. * Securing cleaner air and large-scale cuts in greenhouse gas emissions could help reduce the anaemia burden among the women of reproductive age in India, finds study. * While the Indian government maintains that no conclusive data is available to establish direct correlation of death/disease exclusively due to air pollution, global evidence links exposure to PM2.5 and other pollutants to severe...

-The Hindu The employment scheme will work in tandem with the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana to help take up treatment of about 30% more land than feasible with the current scheme size With limited funds to deal with the gargantuan task of restoring degraded land and reversing desertification in the country, the government is now planning to bring convergence between the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the...

-The Hindu However, the report found, ‘most of the anganwadi centres and schools, had higher than the permissible range of residual chlorine and indicated inappropriate local dosing’ Around 62% of rural households in India had fully functional tap water connections within their premises, according to a survey commissioned by the Union Ministry of Water Resources to assess the functioning of the government’s marquee Jal Jeevan Mission. In June, the Centre had reported...

-The Telegraph Number of girls born per 1,000 boys improves by three points from an average 904 in 2017-19 to 907 in (the partly overlapping period of) 2018-20 India’s latest population sample registration survey has shown improvements in child mortality and the average sex ratio at birth. But that ratio — a possible indicator of pre-natal sex determination and sex-selective abortions — has declined in 10 states, including Bengal. The Union health ministry, releasing...