Rather than worry about what picture of India is being painted in the foreign media, the focus must be on marshalling all our energies to provide relief and solace to our deeply wounded and dispirited citizens, says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Stung by the "pesticides report" on colas by CSE, Pepsi on Friday filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain the NGO from publishing the report, while asking for an independent evaluation of the "damaging" report.
Close on the heels of a major health scare on finding pesticides in bottled drinking water, CSE claimed that the bottled soft drinks owned by PepsiCo and Coke also failed the same health standards testing positive for pesticides.
Coca-Cola India said on Monday it complies with all "relevant EU norms" while manufacturing its bottled water brand Kinley.\n\n\n\n
The pollution board said that the situation will improve further by Sunday if favourable conditions prevail.
India lost around 38.5 thousand hectares of tropical forest in the last decade. Nearly 14 per cent of the country's tree cover! It is one thing for Modi to announce that India will reach a net-zero level of emissions in 2070. But if it is serious, it needs to start today, points out Ramesh Menon.
'We have often heard the mythical argument that patents block access to life-saving drugs, but only 5% of medicines from multinational companies are under patent protection in India.' 'Where these patented products are beyond the reach of Indian patients, the companies have programmes to facilitate access to their drugs, for free or for a fraction of the price,' points out Ranjana Smetacek, former director general, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India.
Free speech is the soul of a great university. By compromising on it, the founders have bartered away its soul, said Rajan.
A number of cities, including Chennai, are water-scarce.
'Unless some serious steps like complete closedown are taken, it will have disastrous consequences.'
As people get rich, they end up losing the health advantage of food availability.
The government on Monday banned use of potassium bromate as a food additive following a CSE study that found its presence in bread as causing cancer.
Protests at this time when efforts are underway to strengthen the PLA and keep morale high would be worrying for the military leadership, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
Even as the Uttarakhand floods are being referred to as man-made disasters, experts say such disasters are waiting to happen at places like Ooty and Munnar.
To justify that farmers must burn if they are not paid cash incentive is doing injustice to them and to the lungs of the children of the country, notes Sunita Narain.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
'You can still acquire the COVID-19 virus even if you are vaccinated.' 'But if you develop the disease, (after being vaccinated) the likelihood is that it will be mild.' 'It just makes sense to continue to take precautions, because you may be around a lot of unvaccinated people.'
Butterflies aren't just easy on the eyes. Their presence in a place indicates the relative health of the environment.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Environment Minister Gopal Rai visited the Eidgah in Mustafabad and interacted with locals besides taking stock of facilities being provided by the government at relief camps.
The ancient Nalanda University re-started its academic session on Monday in a low-key manner at its newly-established campus at Rajgir.
'The BJP will get the lion's share of the Opposition vote. I would give the Congress-Left around 15 per cent.'
This time food regulators found excess presence of ash content in Maggi
Nearly 84 per cent of the commonly available bread forms contain cancer-causing chemicals.
The move comes as the intra-party feud reached climax in the ruling NCP which has been witnessing months long tussle between two factions, one led by 68-year-old Oli and Party's chairman and another led by 66-year-old 'Prachanda', also the executive chair of the party and former premier.
Some experts opine that green crackers are yet not practical and question government's move to promote them.
Swarms of immature pink locusts and adult yellow locusts are currrently active. Not only are fresh locusts swarms expected to arrive in the coming weeks, but even those already present in India have mated and are breeding new offspring.
Doughty frontline workers say this is what they signed up for and that is what they do.
'And for the developing lungs of our children, this should not be tolerated. Not at all,' says Sunita Narain.
'When there is a change in the wind speed or the stress exerted on the surface, it will change the ocean currents.'
Indian farmers practise an agro-silvo-pastoral system and that livestock is a crucial part of their economy. Taking away the meat would demonetise their assets. It would kill their income, says Sunita Narain.
It is believed that the crop residue burning in the nearby states of Punjab and Haryana are contributing to polluting the air.
IIT-Delhi saw international training offers from Hong Kong, South Korea and the US.
'If not, we can become frighteningly chaotic, more chaotic than what we are today.' 'In today's environment in the country, we still have a window of opportunity.'
