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...

On 6 February, 2023 Southern Turkey and the adjoining areas in Syria were hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake followed by several aftershocks. The tremors have flattened buildings and destroyed roads and other infrastructure. At least 35,000 casualties (UPDATE) have occurred across Turkey and Syria, with the vast majority being in the former nation. A news report cited the Turkish environment minister saying that 24,921 buildings across the region had collapsed. What...

-The Hindu In an effort to restore the unique ecosystem of the Sundarbans, the SAIME initiative has shrimp cultivators tending to mangroves around their farms as well A new initiative of sustainable shrimp cultivation provides hope for mangrove restoration in Sundarbans. For several years, environmentalists and experts have expressed concerns over unsustainable aquaculture, particularly shrimp collection, after cleaning large tracts of mangrove forests in Sunderbans. Under the initiative, Sustainable Aquaculture In Mangrove Ecosystem...

-The Telegraph The Telegraph brings you the story of how — and why — Calcutta is putting meat on the World Cup table Ahead of the World Cup this year, 1.2 metric tonnes (one tonne equals 1,000 kilos) of mutton made its way to Qatar from the Haringhata meat plant in Nadia district of Bengal. The plant and the brand take their name from a small town in Nadia. To get back to...

-India Today A major landslide in Sikkim, after incessant rain, caused traffic jams in the area on Sunday. The landslide blocked National Highway-10 and snapped the road link with neighbouring West Bengal. Normal life was disturbed in Sikkim on Sunday as torrential rain caused a landslide at 20th Mile near Singtam in Gangtok, blocking National Highway-10 and snapping the road link with neighbouring West Bengal. The massive landslide in Singtam caused a...