With the world waking up to climate emergency, most countries are looking at controlling emissions, including a reduction in Greenhouse Gases (GHG). Most mitigation measures take the command and control approach that relies on use of standards to achieve a change in emissions. These measures often take the form of environmental standards (such as National Standards for Effluents and Emission), and performance standards (such as Standards & Labeling Programme).

To a layperson, the concept of 'design' is mostly limited to the visual and functional aspects of a product, with the former often taking precedence over the latter. When talking about the design of a product, we generally refer to how it looks, and sometimes, to how it functions. Naturally then, we understand 'design thinking' to be associated with the thinking that goes into the designing of a product. While this is true, it does not bring out the complete meaning of design thinking or its application potential.

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.