A picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words. What better way then to raise awareness about malnutrition than asking children to express their thoughts on the topic by wielding the brush or crayons. Students of schools from across the city were invited to send drawings and paintings on malnutrition as part of the Horlicks Aahar Abhiyan project launched by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, in association with NGO Child In Need Institute (CINI), The Telegraph and Anandabazar Patrika to provide adequate and better nutrition to children aged three to six.

The Celsius soared to a season high of 40.5 degrees on Wednesday, prompting the weather office to sound the summer’s first heat-wave warning for Calcutta. The hottest day of the year so far was also the second hottest May day of the decade after a 42.1-degree scorcher on May 9, 2009. Only thrice in the past 10 years have May temperatures hit 40-plus in the city.

KOLKATA, 16 MAY: It may sound unbelievable, but the third oldest underground sewer line in the world has been cleaned for the first time since its installation and re-commissioned today. The mayor, Mr Sovan Chatterjee, and other senior civic officials were present at a function held on Beadon Street to mark the re-commissioning. This will help reducing the duration of stagnant rain water in vast areas in north Kolkata. The underground sewer line has been thoroughly de-silted and strengthened by glass reinforced polymer (GRP) lining at an estimated cost of Rs 15.84 crore.

KOLKATA, 16 MAY: The future of Indian cities ~ and Kolkata ~ lies in urban densification in the form of high-rise buildings and “virtual land”, said Mr Debashish Sen, principal secretary of West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) today. “Let the developers come,” said Mr Sen in a reference to Harvard economist Edward Glaeser's book Triumph of the City, in which Glaeser outlines some of the environmental benefits of concentrated urban populations.

KOLKATA, 14 MAY: In an initiative to combat high rates of malnutrition in children of West Bengal, GlaxoSmithKline consumer healthcare have partnered with Horlicks and the Child In Need Institute (CINI) to launch ‘Aahar Abhiyan'. One rupee from every large pack of Horlicks sold in West Bengal will be contributed to the initiative, and the funds will be distributed by CINI to various CINI-administered nutrition centres in the state.

Labels on packaged foods may not always carry totally correct information, finds
Saheli Mitra

Do you know that a packet of instant noodles has over 60 per cent of your recommended daily salt intake or that a Happy Meal contains 90 per cent of your child's daily requirement of trans fats? Consumers are usually unaware of such facts since most companies in India don't bother to put such information on their labels. But a consumer has the right to know all these facts so that he or she can make an informed choice.

KOLKATA, 29 APRIL: In wanton destruction of trees along the VIP Road to facilitate the construction of a flyover between Teghoria and Lake Town by the state Public Works Department as many as 186 trees have so far been felled. And, needless to say, all this at a time when the chief minister, Miss Mamata Banerjee, has promised to usher in a cleaner and greener Kolkata.

KOLKATA, 26 APRIL: The compliance report of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) was conspicuous by its absence among similar reports of different state government departments concerning Victoria Memorial which were placed before the Division Bench of Mr Justice Pinaki Ghosh and Mr Justice Mrinalkanti Choudhuri of Calcutta High Court last week.

The UK’s University of Liverpool has tied up with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to identify areas in India that are at higher risk of malaria outbreaks, following changes in monsoon rainfall patterns. The UK-based university’s School of Environmental Sciences started working on the project in January with the CSIR's Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation (C-MMACS) in Bangalore.

KOLKATA, 24 APRIL: “Kolkata's Pride,” the Metro Railway, reported a loss of Rs 99.26 crore in the 2011-12 fiscal year. This is Rs 15.35 crore higher the operating loss the country's oldest tube railway reported in the previous year. In 2011-12, Metro Railway spent Rs 304.72 for every Rs 100 it earned.
Although the Metro's growing losses threaten the quality of services used by more than five lakh commuters every day, a fare hike to reduce the losses is unlikely this year, railway sources said.