-The Hindu Even if the rate of global warming is lower than earlier believed, there is no room for complacency The forthcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Summary for Policymakers, it has been reported, states that the rate of global warming has slowed over the last 15 years. It also argues that estimates of eventual warming from a doubling of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are lower than was earlier...

-The Indian Express In Gorakhpur, small successes in understanding - and conquering - the killer disease of children are undercut by a wily virus and administrative bottlenecks Gorakhpur: On August 18, five-year-old Vishal spent the evening playing with friends in Vanjhai village in Gorakhpur district's Bhathat block. He came home irritable, with a slight fever. His mother and grandmother gave him a little milk and sent him to bed. They were not...

-The Economic Times Like his predecessor, RBI governor Raghuram Rajan too remains worried about inflation. And despite repeated attempts, the RBI has had mixed success in taming prices. Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan has clearly decided to play spoilsport to the markets. By making it clear that he, like his predecessor, remains worried about inflation, he has also effectively signalled that with consumer prices at 9.5%, markets shouldn't expect those...

Bihar Government's programme of distributing bicycles to school girls may be a modest intervention but is leading to big changes. A new research-based paper, brought out in August 2013, corroborates the success of the programme and testifies that it is leading to improved school enrollment of girls and arresting their dropout rates (See links below to read full paper and earlier studies on the subject).   Based on econometric and statistical models,...

-The Times of India LONDON: India is recording a whopping 5.2 million injuries each year due to medical errors and adverse events. Of these, the biggest sources are mishaps from medications, hospital-acquired infections and blood clots that develop in legs from being immobilized in the hospital. Similarly, approximately 3 million years of healthy life are lost in India each year due to these injuries. A landmark report by an Indian doctor from Harvard School...