Shashikant Warishe was mowed down allegedly by the subject of his last report on a controversial refinery - Newslaundry “He was the only journalist who covered the refinery protests…From the time the protests began until now, he covered everything…other newspapers barely gave coverage to the issue. People here liked him a lot because he was the sole journalist who cared about their issues.” That’s how Dipak Joshi remembers his friend Shashikant Warishe,...

-The Hindu Business Line Pesticide residues in India’s agri exports calls for a multi-pronged policy response As reported recently by this newspaper, India’s cumin exports have suffered a setback in recent months, with China claiming that pesticide residues exceeded the maximum residue limits (MRLs) spelt out by it about six months back. Chinese authorities have said that consignments must be accompanied by a pesticide residue report. India has been through all this...

-Hindustan Times The atlas, the first of its kind, will aid in disaster preparedness as extreme weather events rise in the wake of the climate crisis, scientists said. The Sunderbans in West Bengal, neighbouring districts of Odisha, and Ramanathapuram, Pudukkottai and Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu are the most vulnerable to high storm surges of as much as 8.5 to 13.7 metres that are induced by cyclones, according to the Climate Hazards and...

-The Hindu The multiple could go up to 4 if full CRS data is made available The number of “excess deaths” registered by the Civil Registration System (CRS) in Maharashtra ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit (from April 2020 to May 2021), was an estimated 2,12,589 which is 2.8 times the official reported figure of 75,877 deaths for the same period. The figures were arrived at from data on deaths registered month-wise in...

-Livemint Lounge Climate change is making the monsoon more erratic and violent. Lounge speaks to experts to understand the forces shaping India's season of rains When we talk about climate change impacts, the word that’s often used is “unprecedented”, that which can’t be measured by any given yardstick. Something unprecedented happened over the Western Ghats between 19-25 July. For about a week, a large section of the range, especially in Maharashtra, was...