Budget 2023-24: Food security in just name as Centre slashes funds by 32%
Allocation of about Rs 2 lakh crore for National Food Security Act compared to Rs 2.8 lakh crore last year
Declining food imports by most vulnerable countries a cause for concern: FAO
World food import bill to touch record high, but cost-of-living pressures may persist in 2023
Crop of debt
Surplus sugar production in the country has brought down sugar rates. As mills stop purchasing sugarcane, farmers are driven to suicide
Chance of revival for Bengaluru’s dying lakes
Karnataka pollution control board initiates project to divert sewage that fall into city lakes
Use technology to make PDS transparent, efficient: Wadhwa committee
Supreme Court-appointed panel recommends phasing out private dealers from supply chain and doing away with above poverty line list
Gurgaon expansion halted
High court bars authorities from sanctioning new real estate projects to curb rampant groundwater exploitation
Air India admonished for sale, promotion of e-cigarettes aboard flights
Airline has flouted COTPA law, which prohibits all direct and indirect advertisement of cigarettes and tobacco products
COVID-19: Bracing for agrarian crisis and food insecurity
Distress among marginal farmers and unavailability of food to migrant labourers has been largely ignored in Union government’s economic …
Public Deprived System
The country’s 76 million poor have been denied the right to claim subsidised foodgrain under public distribution system
Kerala's answer to drought: PPP model for water management
Activists say the move will end up privatising water sources and wetlands; increase water cost manifold
Delhi's water supply skewed and mismanaged
Is the Haryana government really to be blamed for Delhi's water shortage? The answer perhaps lies in understanding the disparity in water supply …
Persistent in folly
Rice and wheat fetch a secure price and subsidies on farm inputs. Coarse grains have no place in the public distribution system, although their …
Rice: the real cost
It is said the future wars would be fought over the issue of water, not land. Yet Indian government promotes rice, which consumes water, over …
Cereal killer
By promotong rice over coarse grains, the government is promoting food scarcity and defeciency of micronutrients among India's most malnourished …
Bolsanaro’s environmental crimes come under EU scanner
Europe’s resolve to act against the Bolsonaro government’s environmental crimes appears to be strengthening
Model in a fix
Chhattisgarh's much appreciated public distribution scheme is falling apart due to corruption and mismanagement
Grain of truth
India's public distribution system promotes rice and wheat. These water-intensive crops require more inputs and are less nutritious as compared …
Eye on accuracy
Realisation to make meters error-free may have come late to India, but technology is making rapid strides
SC upbraids Centre for 'conniving with tobacco industry'
Directs it to effectively implement rules that severely restrict advertisement, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products
Why better sewage management in Chennai will help fight floods
Down To Earth Editor Sunita Narain explains how the city's three rivers and 320 tanks and lakes that worked as flood barriers are used mostly for …
India, south Asian neighbours must act against trans-fat now: WHO
The countries are among the 15 that account for two-thirds of the deaths linked to the substance
Rural water and sanitation needs to prioritise sustainability
Prioritising drinking water source sustainability, mix-up of nutrient cycle and reuse of treated biosolids & wastewater …
Emergency
Chennai, crippled by water crisis, is also a metaphor for what Indian cities are experiencing in sourcing and managing the most precious natural …
Energy access goals need greater effort in post-COVID-19 world: Report
Report calls SDG 7 progress of last few years regarding access to electricity insufficient; says pandemic will make things worse
Rivers, up close and personal
Over centuries people have learnt to live with rivers. They are part of our lives but over the past 150 years this association has weakened. A …