New analysis shows that the extreme heat event in Uttar Pradesh in June this year was made at least two times more likely by human-caused climate change While northwestern parts of the country were reeling under the effects of Cyclone Biparjoy last week, a heatwave in Uttar Pradesh claimed the lives of many. Beginning from June 14, the rising temperatures in UP and nearby state Bihar has led to hospitalisations of...

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...

S.V. Subramanian, Mayanka Ambade, Smriti Sharma, Akhil Kumar, Rockli Kim The extent of food deprivation and insecurity among infants and young children—a critical phase for children's current and future health and well-being—in India is unknown. We estimate the prevalence of food deprivation among infants and young children in India and describe its evolution over time at sub-national levels. Data from five National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) conducted in 1993, 1999, 2006, 2016...

Down to Earth Nirasiya Bai’s three sons are used to their mother fainting every other week. Small pieces of shakkar (brown sugar) are now kept handy and placed swiftly under her tongue every time she is on the verge of collapsing. In March alone, three such incidents have occurred. The 52-year-old resident of Shivtarai village in Chattisgarh’s Bilaspur district is a diabetes patient. Nearly every other family in the village houses...

The Hindu Businessline The average days of employment per household under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in FY23 are likely to be lower than in the last two fiscal years. This is according to the analysis of the data the Ministry of Rural Development put out. Data until March 6 show that the average days of employment under the Act was 45 in FY23. An extrapolation of the...