-The Telegraph Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech linked the decision to have small families to patriotism New Delhi: Narendra Modi's mention of "reckless population explosion" in his Independence Day address has led to speculation that the government may now want to bring a law on population regulation. “Population explosion has been occurring at an unrestrained pace. This population explosion is creating innumerable challenges for us and the coming...

-The Telegraph Below-normal and drought are the new normal. Since 2012 there has only been one normal monsoon. Monsoons follow their own patterns, unpredictable as they may be. In the past, certain periods, spanning a decade or sometimes two, have had higher frequencies of droughts and at the moment, we seem to be stuck in such a cycle. Between 1900 and the year 2000, there was one drought per decade. But...

-The Economic Times Private hospitals have been accused of siphoning almost Rs 1.20 crore in just a few months. About a year after introduction of the Ayushman Bharat scheme — the Union government’s programme for providing health protection cover to around 10 crore vulnerable families — truant doctors and hospitals in the tiny Himalayan state of Uttarakhand have come up with some of the most innovative ways of scamming the ambitious plan...

-Livemint.com * An analysis of indicators that make up India's GDP reveals the extent to which the economy has slowed down * How does one explain the fact that home loans are growing and so is the number of unsold homes? It may be that people are buying homes from investors, not builders The rain has stopped. You step out of home to run a few errands. On the way, you find ?500...

-The Hindu Business Line But it could be helping to boost rainfall in the Horn of Africa Is irrigation adversely affecting the monsoon in India and delaying its onset? Maybe, according to a report on climate change and land brought out by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last week. “Irrigation in India occurs prior to the start of the monsoon season and the resulting land cooling decreases the land-sea...