Down to Earth Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla city has been battered following three days of heavy rainfall — there have been three major landslides in the last four days and the bodies of over 22 people have been recovered so far. Over two dozen people are missing and suspected to be buried under the debris. According to experts, the city has long crossed its carrying capacity, which is leading to regular landslides...

KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

-Hindustan Times The umbrella body of Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) in Delhi have issued a charter of demands seeking a more ‘liveable, breathable and commutable’ city. The umbrella body of Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) in Delhi have come up with a ‘People’s Manifesto’ for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, issuing a charter of demands seeking a more “liveable, breathable and commutable” city. The manifesto issued by United RWAs Joint Action...

-Livemint.com By 2036, 600 million people will be living in urban cities in India, representing 40% of the population and this is likely to put additional pressure on the already stretched urban infrastructure and services of Indian cities, New Delhi: Indian cities will require an investment of $840 billion in the areas of infrastructure and municipal services till 2036 to meet the needs of its fast-growing urban population, said a report by...

-The Hindu Everybody has a favourite villain to blame, yet the herd of restive elephants in the room is led by a particularly malevolent matriarch — corruption The floods have abated in Bengaluru. As individuals struggle to clean their houses, the silt on the roads left behind by the receding water — now a fine dust that flies in the air choking us — is a reminder of those difficult times. Various analyses...