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...

Scroll.in Since making headlines in January, Joshimath town in Uttarakhand continues to sink while the massive development projects, which locals insist are causing the subsidence, also continue. New cracks are appearing in the houses and roads of Joshimath town, along with deep cavities in the fields. But people who are affected, wait for rehabilitation, with only a few having received meagre compensation, that too for their houses alone. The government has neither come...

The Niti Aayog recently released its National Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023, according to which the poverty headcount ratio declined from 24.85 percent in 2015-16 to 14.96 percent in 2019-21. In absolute numbers this translates to 135 million people exiting multidimensional poverty in this time period. In addition, a few days earlier, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released its own Multidimensional Poverty Index, which in a press note said that,...

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...

A new study suggests that climate change-induced heatwaves in India can hinder or reverse the country’s progress in fulfilling the sustainable development goals (SDGs) Recurrent heatwaves have greater socio-economic impact in India than previously known. A study published in PLOS Climate suggested that heatwaves made more likely by climate change may impede India’s progress toward its sustainable development goals.  India has committed to achieve 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including...