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The Bombay High Court, on July 16, 2019, quashed the coastal regulation zone clearances granted to Mumbai’s civic body and ordered construction on the proposed $1.7 billion (about Rs 12,000 crore) Mumbai Coastal Road project to stop. The project is one of the most expensive infrastructure development projects, stretching 35.6 kilometres and connecting the entire western coast...

Walking is one of the most important means of moving from one place to another. However, as India’s car ownership capacity increases, the lives of these pedestrians and cyclists are more at risk. In the absence of pedestrian-specific infrastructure in the country, the walkability of the Indian cities is getting worse as the number of...

Human trafficking, defined as the illegal trade of humans most commonly for the purposes of sexual slavery and forced labour, currently claims an estimated 24.9 million victims worldwide. Of them, 8 million trafficking victims live within India’s borders according to the Global Slavery Index. In 2017, an IPS officer, Raj Tilak Roushan was transferred from...

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has highlighted several concerns regarding the country’s preparedness to achieve the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The CAG prepared activities in 17 central ministries, including NITI Aayog. The report for them was tabled in Parliament on July 8, 2019. It also reviewed activities in seven states:...

The 5G network is all set to make an entry in India. The trials for the same are expected to be conducted by 2020 and the centre is planning a 6 crore spectrum auction to make the introduction of 5G affordable in the country. While the excitement to welcome the new technology is tremendous,...

India has one of the highest female foeticide incidents in the world. The female child population in the age group of 0-6 years declined from 78.83 million in 2001 to 75.84 million in 2011. During the period 1991-2011, the child sex ratio (0-6 years) declined from 945 to 914. According to a study on...

India is tagged as one of the fastest growing economies in recent years. Despite this, the country is lagging way behind in literacy rate. According to a report by the Digital Empowerment Foundation released in 2018, about 30 per cent of the population lags in basic literacy in the country. And about three times...

Companies are under great pressure to make sustainability a part of their core purpose because of climate change. According to the UN IPCC report, decisive bold steps are required to be taken in the coming decade in order to avoid the catastrophic consequences of runaway climate change. In fact, the World Economic Forum’s report has highlighted that...

While the countries of the world are progressing well at achieving the SDG targets, but the questions arise whether the efforts are enough after the Joint Monitoring Report on water, sanitation and hygiene, produced jointly by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO), that was released recently. According to the report,...

The mid-day meal program has been one of the most celebrated initiatives by the government in India. The program that provides mid-day meals to schoolchildren has been widely hailed for their multiple benefits such as an increase in enrolment and attendance particularly of children from vulnerable groups, contribution in reducing classroom hunger and improving...

In a tribal district in Madhya Pradesh, toddlers are branded with hot iron rods to treat malnutrition. The tradition has been going on for generations. 42 per cent of Umaria’s land is under forest cover, and over 80 per cent of its population is rural. The district has been under influence of treatments by quacks...

Agriculture has been blamed for one of the major contributors to climate change. Considering the fact that it is responsible for around third of the greenhouse emissions, and for soil erosion in several parts of the world, it demands a major change. Sustainable agriculture is no more an option, but a necessity. An initiative known...