-The Hindu Waste disposal from other toilets could turn into health and environmental nightmare New Delhi: Over the last year, a government advertisement featuring film actors Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar has been preaching the benefits of the “do gadde” or twin-pit latrines, which would create valuable farm manure from human excreta. “Shauchalaya ka ashirvad,” proclaims Mr. Kumar in the advertisement produced by the Centre’s flagship sanitation scheme Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. This month,...

-Down to Earth * Day-long Conclave organised by CSE in New Delhi; about 50 experts from across India participate * Experts recogniselinkages between India’s growing burden of diseases and the food produced intensively using chemicals as well as ‘bad food’ — ultra-processed foods high in fats, sugar or salt (HFSS), marketed rampantly * Strong pesticide management billneeded. Class I pesticides, extremely hazardous and toxic, must be phased out * Regulations needed to reduce misuse...

-The Hindu Internet penetration has increased in the last one decade: speakers at a seminar Fake news spreads fast and Internet has its dark side that everyone should be aware of, said speakers at a national conference organised by Gandhi School of Humanities and Social Sciences, a branch of GITAM University, in association with Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), Hyderabad, and Press Club-Hyderabad, here on Thursday. “Six players – Facebook, Amazon, Apple,...

-The Hindu Petitioners asked to file response New Delhi: The government on Tuesday handed over a status report to the Supreme Court on the progress in the process of appointment to the Central Information Commission (CIC) even as PIL petitioners alleged that the procedure followed was arbitrary. A three-judge Bench, led by Justice A.K. Sikri, took the status report on record and ordered that a copy be handed over to RTI activists-petitioners Anjali...

-Frontline.in Interview with Aruna Roy. ARUNA ROY is a well-known social and political activist. A former Indian Administrative Service officer, she resigned from the IAS in 1975 and has since worked with the most oppressed in society. Aruna Roy’s observation on government service is indicative of her future concerns: “Everyone calls it an elite service; I always felt the discourse should be a bit better than what it was. I was shocked...