• India will add a record level of solar power capacity in 2019
• India's Mahindra doubles down on electric vehicles with new factory
• India: Sundarbans women lead the way in making dairy farms organic

• Indian Medical University invites collaboration with Maharishi University of Management
• India: Maharishi University of Management faculty speak to 2,000 professors at conference
• Maharishi Effect featured in The Times of India

• India's capital chokes as pollution levels hit the worst this year
• India: As groundwater runs short, water battles grow in parched Chennai
• India on alert as zika virus hits tourism hotspot of Jaipur

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

India will add a record level of solar power capacity in 2019
10 January 2019 - India's solar capacity addition is set for a record in 2019. New installations this calendar year will reach nearly 14 gigawatts (GW), which is about 50 percent more than the capacity added last year ... The new capacity addition will take India's installed solar capacity to about 38 GW by the end of the year. Overall, the country is estimated to add nearly 16 GW of clean energy capacity in 2019, driven by large-scale solar projects. (more)

India's Mahindra doubles down on electric vehicles with new factory
10 December 2018 - Mahindra's Electric Mobility group is taking a leap into electric vehicles with the inauguration of its first Electric Technology Manufacturing Hub in Karnataka, India. The new facility is a tangible step forward in support of Mahindra's Future of Mobility vision of providing Clean, Connected and Convenient vehicles for customers. (more)

India: Sundarbans women lead the way in making dairy farms organic
5 December 2018 - An organic dairy co-operative has helped improve the financial and social lives of numerous women in Sundarban region. Women members of the dairy co-operative society want to increase reliance on organic farming, turning to traditional agricultural practices. (more)

India: West Bengal finds ways to increase organic farming
28 November 2018 - West Bengal state agriculture department is geared up to increase organic farming in the state. As part of its drive to increase organic farming, the state is focusing on increasing production of some of the aromatic rice varieties like Radhatilak, Dudhsar, Kalabhat, Kalonuniya. As of now, 17,807 hectares of land are used for organic farming. The department is planning to bring another 10,000 hectares under organic farming. (more)

Pakistan and India begin construction of 'corridor of peace'
28 November 2018 - India and Pakistan are set to inaugurate the construction of a corridor to facilitate hassle free cross-border travel for religious devotees -- a rare step to improve ties between the two South Asian foes even as deep-seated divisions continue to obstruct progress in long-stalled peace talks. (more)

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan clears debts of 1,398 farmers
21 November 2018 - Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has cleared more than $560,000 worth of debt owed by farmers, amid a wider agricultural crisis that has forced many rural workers into extreme poverty. In a blog post on Tuesday (20 November), he wrote he had 'taken care' of 1,398 farmers in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where Bachchan was born, by paying off their debt. (more)

Girl power! India's 'solar gal pals' light up rural homes
21 November 2018 - In sunny Rajasthan, women solar promoters fan out to persuade families of the benefits of renewable energy. The Solar Sahelis have collectively earned more than $2.5 million by lighting over 500,000 homes, according to Frontier Markets. (more)

India: Amitabh Bachchan pays off farmers' loans worth $500,000
21 November 2018 - Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan says he has cleared farmers' loans worth more than 40m rupees ($560,000; British Pounds 436,000). He wrote on his blog on Tuesday that he had 'taken care' of 1,398 farmers by paying off their debt, adding that he felt a 'sense of accomplishment'. All of the farmers are from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where Bachchan was born. (more)

India: Deputy Commissioner Pulwama felicitates organic farmers in Pulwama
19 November 2018 - Department of Agriculture today (19 November) organized a function to felicitate the farmers of Bangund hamlet which was declared first model Organic vegetable village in the State in 2017. Deputy Commissioner Pulwama, G M Dar was the chief guest. Speaking on the occasion, DDC said that Organic farming is evolving in all the countries around the world and the culture of organic farming would usher a movement towards sustainable development. He reiterated that organic farming would enhance the income of farmers and lead to a healthy lifestyle and better food habits amongst people. (more)

India: Farmers in Peren receive organic farming training
19 November 2018 - District Agriculture Officer (DAO) Peren and subordinate officers and staff successfully carried out training programs under Mission Organic Value Chain Development (MOVCD) ... in all four selected villages under Peren sadar administrative Circle ... from November 12 to 15. AO Mapeuheile Ndang spoke on the principles and practices of organic farming. She ... highlighted various health and environmental benefits of organic farming. She also reminded the farmers that to farm organic is cheaper because they do not have to pay for chemicals and in turn they earn higher profits for their produce. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Indian Medical University invites collaboration with Maharishi University of Management
18 August 2018 - India is increasingly showing an interest in Maharishi AyurVeda, including the country's Minister for Ayurveda and Yoga and the chancellor of a leading medical university, who is eager to collaborate with Maharishi University of Management (MUM) in the USA. Professor Robert Schneider, MD, FACC, Dean of the College of Integrative Medicine at MUM, was invited to give a keynote presentation at an international Ayurveda congress at D.Y. Patil University in Pune, India earlier this year. While there, in addition to university officials, he met with His Excellency Shripad Naik, India's Minister for traditional systems of health (AYUSH), who pledged his support for MUM's programme of Maharishi AyurVeda research and clinical practice. (more)

India: Maharishi University of Management faculty speak to 2,000 professors at conference
8 April 2018 - College professors in India recently heard presentations by Maharishi University of Management (MUM) Professors Anil Maheshwari and Scott Herriott at the Second National Teachers' Congress, hosted by Maharashtra Institute of Technology-World Peace University (MIT-WPU) in Pune, India. The MUM faculty were invited to give plenary addresses, along with the Dalai Lama and about 30 other eminent educators and political leaders. Over 2,000 teachers took part in the Congress. (more)

Maharishi Effect featured in The Times of India
23 February 2018 - The practice of Transcendental Meditation brings coherence and harmony to create a healing effect, writes Aditi Shrivastava in The Times of India: Research by scientists across the world has shown that when a specific number of people in an area practise Transcendental Meditation (TM) and its advanced techniques together, the influence of coherence and positivity generated is so phenomenal, that it can improve the quality of life of the area, improving the collective consciousness of the people. This leads to an invincible state for society, that is, a state of progressive growth, of stability where no negative influences will disrupt societies and they will be able to rise to true sovereignty and harmony amongst themselves. This phenomenon of increased social coherence was termed the Maharishi Effect in honour of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Founder of the Transcendental Meditation programme, who predicted it in 1960. (more)

Building a business for peace: Maharishi University of Management alumnus
6 September 2017 - Amit Hooda is the co-founder and CEO of Heavenly Organics, an Iowa, USA-based business that imports raw honey made by wild bees in the remote forests of northern and central India. This unique business model helps sustain the economic and cultural survival of indigenous people. In 2005, while Amit was earning his MS in computer science at Maharishi University of Management, he and his father, a renowned agronomist in northern India, founded Heavenly Organics. 'I wanted to create an economic model that created ethical jobs in conflict areas,' said Amit. 'That is the only way to have long-term sustainable peace.' (more)

India: Widespread press coverage of Second International Ayurveda Congress in London
27 May 2017 - The recent Second International Ayurveda Congress, held last month in London, received widespread press coverage in India. Press Trust of India reported in the Financial Express: 'Researchers from across the world have vowed to work with India to promote Ayurveda globally, saying the ancient Indian system of natural and holistic medicine can help address major health problems.' The Congress was also featured in many British publications for the Asian and South Asian community. The International Maharishi AyurVeda Foundation, Netherlands, was one of the organizers of the Congress, whose theme was 'Ayurveda - the Pursuit of Health, Happiness and Long Life through Prevention-Oriented Health Care.' (more)

Maharishi University of Management: Dr. Robert Schneider gives keynote at India conference
15 March 2017 - India continues to show interest in Maharishi University of Management's science-based approach to traditional systems of prevention-oriented health-care. Most recently Dr Robert Schneider, dean of Maharishi College of Perfect Health, was invited to deliver the keynote address at an international conference of the World Association of Vedic Studies. He described how Maharishi AyurVeda programmes may slow or reverse ageing in Western and Indian populations. His audience included scholars, officials, and leaders who are integrating Vedic science and technologies into modern society. (more)

India: International Maharishi AyurVeda Foundation participates in 7th World Ayurveda Congress and Arogya Expo
31 January 2017 - The International Maharishi AyurVeda Foundation (IMAVF) participated with three presentations at the 7th World Ayurveda Congress, which was held last month in Kolkata, India. Over 3,500 delegates, mainly from various Asian countries, participated in the Congress. About 150,000 visitors came to the accompanying Arogya Expo, a trade show of many companies and institutions offering products and services in the field of Ayurveda. IMAVF was also present at the Arogya Expo, at the booth of Maharishi AyurVeda Products India, with an exhibition for the next International Ayurveda Congress, to be held in London, 1-2 April 2017. (more)

India: Alliance of Women Scientists and Scholars holds annual conference in Rishikesh
10 December 2016 - The Alliance of Women Scientists and Scholars for a Better World is holding its annual conference this year in India. The conference began yesterday and continues through 12 December at Mahila Dhyan Vidya Peeth, Tapovan, Rishikesh. The theme of the conference is Meeting Point of all Religions: Atma, the Self, the Source, Course, and Goal of Life. Speakers include eminent leaders representing the fields of physics, medicine, physiology and health, including the perspective of Ayurveda, the traditional Vedic science of health care; education; and music. The conference programme also features senior educators and administrators of institutions offering Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Vedic Science and Technology of Consciousness. (more)

Computer scientist changing lives of young people in rural India
19 September 2016 - Promila Bahadur has trained over 2000 individuals, including children, youth, women, and the elderly, to use computers in Uttar Pradesh, where she has been honored by the government for her work. Last year she joined the computer science faculty at Maharishi University of Management, while keeping daily contact with the organization she runs in India, the Guru Institute of Information Technology. Her next plan is to establish a computer education hub among a cluster of six Indian villages. The hub would also provide other services including banking, insurance, and pharmacy. 'If one day some of our students get the chance to study at MUM, this would be, in fact, a dream come true for me,' said Promila. (more)

Anushka Sharma, the Indian movie star who works hard and meditates twice a day
15 September 2015 - Anushka Sharma is living the dream of many young women in India. After a brief modeling career, she has firmly established herself as one of the top actresses in Bollywood. For an additional boost to her body and mind, Anushka also practises the Transcendental Meditation technique. 'Meditation works wonders for me when it comes to beating stress,' the actress says. 'I meditate twice a day . . . . It has a calming effect which translates into better health.' (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

India's capital chokes as pollution levels hit the worst this year
24 December 2018 - Pollution levels in New Delhi have hit their worst this year in the past two days -- earning a 'severe' to 'emergency' rating and indicating conditions that can spark a public health crisis. In some parts of Delhi, pollution levels hit 654 on Monday (24 December), among the worst recorded this year ... Anything above 100 is considered unhealthy. (more)

India: As groundwater runs short, water battles grow in parched Chennai
8 November 2018 - India is suffering 'the worst water crisis in its history', according to a June report by government policy think tank NITI Aayog. Worsening water shortages -- for farmers, households, and industry -- threaten the lives and incomes of hundreds of millions of Indians, and the economic growth of the country, the report said. ... But what Raghavan [Shekhar Raghavan, director of the charity Rain Centre, which encourages rainwater harvesting and water conservation in urban areas] called 'indiscriminate' -- and in many cases unauthorized -- extraction of groundwater is creating growing problems as supplies run short. (more)

India on alert as zika virus hits tourism hotspot of Jaipur
9 October 2018 - India has sent experts to try to contain an outbreak of the zika virus in the popular tourist destination of Jaipur, capital of the northern state of Rajasthan, with a close watch on pregnant women. There is no vaccine to the virus which can cause severe birth defects in unborn children. (more)

India's flood-hit Kerala faces huge clean-up, fear of disease
20 August 2018 - Indian health authorities prepared defences against the spread of disease in flood-hit Kerala state on Monday as water receded and a huge clean-up gathered pace after the worst floods in a century killed more than 200 people. Incessant rain since August 8 in the southern state has swelled rivers and triggered landslides. Dozens of people are missing and nearly a million are sheltering in thousands of relief camps, state officials said. (more)

Heavy monsoon rains kill 67 in southern India, closes airport
15 August 2018 - Torrential monsoon rains have disrupted air and train services in the southern Indian state of Kerala, where flooding, landslides, and bridge collapses have killed at least 67 people in the past week, officials said Wednesday (15 August). The international airport at Kochi, a major port city, suspended flight operations until Saturday after rains flooded the runway. Authorities asked tourists to stay away from the popular hill station of Munnar in Idukki district because of flooding. Kerala is a popular tourist destination with scenic landscapes, waterfalls, and beautiful beaches. (more)

Worst flood in a century kills 43 in India's Kerala, more rain due
15 August 2018 - The death toll from the worst floods in nearly a century in the Indian tourist state of Kerala rose to 43 on Wednesday (15 August) as rising water stranded tens of thousands of people and forced the closure of one of its main airports. The five latest fatalities from the rain that began a week ago came when authorities in the southern state were forced to release water from 35 dangerously full dams, sending a surge into its main river. (more)

In India's parched Bundelkhand, drought brings a tide of migration
5 July 2018 - As ever-lengthening drought becomes the new normal, Bundelkhand, a parched region split between India's Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh states, is clearing out. The central Indian region of nearly 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles) once received about 800 to 900 mm (31-31 inches) of rain a year, according to India's Meteorological Department. But over the last six to seven years, in particular, that total has nearly halved, with the number of monsoon rain days falling from 52 to 24 over the June to October monsoon period, according to D.K. Dubey, a scientist with the agency. That has caused repeated and widespread crop failures -- and a growing tide of farmers abandoning their land to try to find work in nearby cities. (more)

India's 'worst water crisis in history' leaves millions thirsty
5 July 2018 - From the northern Himalayas to the sandy, palm-fringed beaches in the south, 600 million people -- nearly half India's population -- face acute water shortage, with close to 200,000 dying each year from polluted water. ... Water pollution is a major challenge, the report said, with nearly 70 percent of India's water contaminated, impacting three in four Indians and contributing to 20 percent of the country's disease burden. (more)

Dust storms drag New Delhi air quality back to dangerous levels
14 June 2018 - Air quality in New Delhi plummeted to a dangerous level on Wednesday (13 June), putting residents at risk, mainly due to dust storms from western India, a senior official at the pollution control board said. Air quality has worsened in New Delhi in recent years, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office to directly monitor measures to clean up the capital's air. (more)

India steps up hunt for origin of mysterious brain-damaging virus
28 May 2018 - India began a fresh round of tests to trace the origin of a rare brain-damaging virus that has killed 13 people, a health official said on Monday (28 May), as initial tests on animals suspected of carrying the Nipah virus showed no sign of the disease. (more)