Urgent action needed to curb deadly air pollution in South Asia A new report by the World Bank states that Nine out of the world’s 10 cities with the worst air pollution are in South Asia. Ambient air pollution is a public health crisis for South Asia, not only imposing high economic costs but also causing an estimated 2 million premature deaths each year. The health impacts of air pollution range...

-The Hindu  A steady stream of investments in rural locations over the last two decades has ensured that 42% of factories and 62% of fixed capital is in the rural side There is growing evidence to suggest that the most conspicuous trend in the manufacturing sector in India has been a shift of manufacturing activity and employment from bigger cities to smaller towns and rural areas. This ‘urban-rural manufacturing shift’ has often...

-The Telegraph After decades, Bengal’s jute mills are witnessing a steady influx of women workers, The Telegraph on the troubles woven into the trend When an industry opens its doors to women workers, it can expose how regressive its factory floor is. The face of the jute industry in Bengal has changed over the last 50 years; now more than ever because of the large presence of women.  Once these mills were known...

-TheWire.in Promises made are hardly kept and the responsibility to maintain basic public amenities such as toilets, sewage and clean water facilities falls on the slum-dwellers themselves. This article comes from a study undertaken as part of a Centre for New Economic Studies (CNES) Visual Storyboard Initiative. The three-part photo essay on this storyboard can be accessed through the following links (Part I; Part II; Part III) and all video essays uploaded...

-The Hindu The Government must make haste to prevent a killer disease that claims thousands of workers’ lives each year Long before COVID-19 hit, countless workers engaged in mines, construction and factories in India were silently dying of exposure to dust, utmost exploitation and apathy. They continue to do so. Rajasthan’s pioneering model One State — Rajasthan — with the top-most share of over 17% in value of mineral production in the country and...