-The Indian Express The latest National Family Health Survey data shows that in several parts of India, children born between 2014 and 2019 are more malnourished than the previous generation Dear Readers, Consider some of the biggest challenges facing the world — armed conflict, chronic disease, education, infectious disease, population growth, biodiversity, climate change, hunger & malnutrition, natural disasters, water and sanitation. What would be your response if you were given billions of dollars...

-Down to Earth Government hasn’t learnt any lessons about a river known to change course itself, say environmentalists The Bihar government will try to divert the course of the mighty Kosi river in Bhagalpur district to save an archaeological site discovered recently, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said December 20, 2020. He made the announcement at Guwaradih village in Naugachhia sub-division of Bhagalpur district. Several priceless artefacts have been found at the site during...

-The Telegraph The government has not institutionalized SAUs which are at times intimidated when it comes to accessing data on various programmes The auditing agility of government programmes seems to have gained strength. After the recent floods in Assam, the state planned to carry out a social audit of relief measures to look into corruption and bribery. This is the first time that any government is trying to reinforce a social audit...

-Down to Earth Sharad Chandra, director, flood forecast monitoring division, Central Water Commission, spoke to DTE on increasing instances of urban flooding   Urban flooding is increasingly becoming a common occurrence in India, the latest victim being Hyderabad. The city received unusually heavy rainfall October 13-14, 2020, due to a deep depression that developed in the Bay of Bengal. Heavy damage to property, roads and human lives were reported. Experts have argued that...

-Scroll.in/ IndiaSpend.com Twelve per cent of India’s land is prone to landslides, and the country accounted for 18% of worldwide deaths in such cases from 2004 to 2016. Six days of relentless rain had saturated the soil on the rolling slopes of Rajamala hamlet in Anamalai hills – which support tea and coffee plantations – in Idukki district of Kerala. On August 6, the downpour became especially torrential, forcing a portion of...