Bandipora—In occupied Kashmir, the level of water contamination in various blocks of Bandipora district has increased three-fold making it unfit for human consumption.

NewDelhi:The country will enjoy another bumper harvest in 2011-12, with an estimated 102 million tonnes of rice and 88 million tonnes of wheat projected as per the revised estimates of the Union government. But this could also create a problem of plenty for the government with the National Food Security Bill pending in Parliament, and the government unable to offload existing stocks to the states.

NewDelhi:India may, in a few weeks, officially acknowledge that malaria kills 40 times the current estimate of 1,023 people a year.
A 16-member committee set up by the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme to gauge India’s actual malaria death burden has arrived at 40,297 as the average deaths per year due to the disease carried by mosquitoes.

India, Russia and China may consider imposing over-flight charges on European airlines, if the European Union (EU) continues with its plans of imposing a carbon tax on international airlines operating to the EU. The tax came into force from January 1.

A clearer picture is likely to emerge after an international conference in Moscow scheduled to begin on February 21. An inter-ministerial delegation drawn from the Ministries of External Affairs and Civil Aviation will attend the meet.

The Minister for Environment and Forests, Ms Jayanthi Natarajan, made it clear on Friday that India would put pressure on richer nations to shoulder a larger burden of the climate change responsibility at the Rio meet in June.

She said the principle of “equity” for cutting greenhouse gas emissions should be the “bottomline” of negotiations on climate change. She was addressing a session in the ongoing Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.

World leaders are meeting in Rio de Janeiro in June for the United Nations Conference on sustainable development, known as Rio+20.

NEW DELHI, 3 FEB: As Air India promised to pay Rs 28 crore dues by this evening, state-owned oil companies have resumed jet fuel supplies to the national carrier today. All the three oil companies ~ Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum ~ had jointly stopped aviation turbine fuel (ATF) supplies to Air India in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Trivandrum and Kochi from 4 p m on Thursday.

JAIPUR: Jay Naidoo, chair of the GAIN Board, South Africa said 60 million children in India are malnourished, which is higher than the total population of South Africa.

Naidoo was in the city at the launch of fortified wheat flour and fortified edible oil for sale in open market. He said, "Around 60% of India's total population is living below poverty line. These people are dependant on the government. So, government plays important role in the fight against malnutrition as it passes laws, regulations and policies. These people need high quality food rich in folic acid, iron and Vitamin A."

Non-Congress states have performed better in the MGNREGA corruption index. The Supreme Court has “officially” declared corruption in the 2G case. All licences stand cancelled. The 2G scam has been the most talked about corruption case in India. Land grabs and mining are the other two areas of widespread corporate and public (bureaucrat and politician) corruption.

The second advance estimates of agricultural output released by the government on Friday projected another bumper harvest with foodgrain output pegged at a new record of 250.42 million tonnes during 2011-12 crop year as against the record 244.78 million tonnes the previous year. While the increased rice output in eastern regions has helped the country achieve this, the output of both the major crops — wheat (88.31 million tonnes) and rice (102.75 million tonnes) — is all set for a new record this year.

An annual GDP growth rate of 9-10 per cent is unlikely in the current policy environment in India, says Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, and one of the world’s most influential journalists and public policy intellectuals. To enter the league of the world’s developed nations, India needs to develop basic infrastructure and a create a world class manufacturing sector, Wolf told a distinguished audience at Express Adda in Mumbai on Thursday.