Every epidemic leaves a distinct mark on our cities. Compact cities — with high-rise, high-density settlements — have been urban planners' solution of choice to accommodate the constant influx of population. The current contact-spread pandemic, however, has challenged the status quo. Our cities are at a great risk, despite their proclaimed resilience. India's densely populated cities do not allow proper physical distancing.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which proposes strategies to reduce air pollution. The NCAP identifies 122 non-attainment Indian cities [cities that violate the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)]. Muzaffarpur is one of the 20 most polluted cities in the world (WHO, 2019) in terms of particulate matters (PM) and has also been identified as one of the non-attainment cities under NCAP.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which proposes strategies to reduce air pollution. The NCAP identifies 122 non-attainment Indian cities [cities that violate the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)]. Gaya—one of the five most polluted cities in the world, in terms of particulate matter (PM) (WHO, 2018) — has also been identified as one of the non-attainment cities under NCAP.

Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY)—a flagship scheme of the Government of India that ran from November 2015 to March 2019—was aimed at reducing the aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of state-owned distribution companies (DISCOMs) by 6%, from 21% in FY15 to 15% in FY19. However, only 50% of the target (18.2%) was achieved by the end of FY19, and there is still a long way to go to achieve the target.

The use of energy from a rooftop photovoltaic (RTPV) system for charging electric vehicles (EV) is environmentally advantageous and forms a true approach towards green mobility. Further, if solar energy is generated in close proximity to the EV charging points, it results in lower transmission losses and helps mitigate detrimental effects of sudden rise in EV demand on the grid.

In India, low birth weight (LBW) is still a largely unmapped territory. This was one of the concerns raised by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in a report recently. While the World Health Organization (WHO) has set a target of reducing LBW globally by 30% by 2025, the absence of data at a granular level threatens to derail India's efforts at salvaging the situation.

Application of pressure is known to be an effective tool for tuning structural and electronic properties of transition metal dichalcogenides. In this work we present evolution of PdPS with pressure using Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron x-ray diffraction up to 26 GPa, complemented with first-principles theoretical analysis of PdPS under pressure up to 36 GPa.

Overachieving solar targets is resulting in new challenges for Karnataka. It is not only making the state power surplus but also impeding the development of new solar projects in Karnataka. Karnataka has emerged as one of the top-performing states with a solar capacity of 7,295 MW (as of Dec 2019) against the MNRE's (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) state target of 5,697 MW by 2022, and state government's own target of 6000 MW by 2021.