Residential electricity demand arises from the need for households to meet various end uses. This demand from residences has seen consistent growth over the last decade. In developing nations like India, this demand is also a significant contributor to greenhouse emissions, given that we are starting from a lower base compared to other countries. Our understanding in this space though is still limited.

Introduction : Concern for health inequalities is an important driver of health policy in India; however, much of the empirical evidence regarding health inequalities in the country is piecemeal focusing only on specific diseases or on access to particular treatments. This study estimates inequalities in health across the whole life course for the entire Indian population.

Inaccurate definitions of urban areas in developing countries could have detrimental consequences for public service provision and construction of development indicators. We explore the suitability of the officially used administrative definition of urban and rural in India through a study of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), a demand-driven scheme targeted to rural areas. Applying three alternative definitions we find that India is more urban than recognised by the administrative definition.

Often a single blood pressure (BP) measurement is used to diagnose and manage hypertension in busy clinics. However, repeated BP measurements have been shown to be more representative of the true BP status of the individual. Improper measurement of office BP can lead to inaccurate classification, overestimation of a patient’s true BP, unnecessary treatment, and misinterpretation of the true prevalence of hypertension. There is no consensus among major guidelines on the number of recommended measurements at a single visit or the method of arriving at final clinic BP reading.

Air pollution has large impacts on the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), affecting not just the health of people and ecosystems, but also climate, the cryosphere, monsoon patterns, water availability, agriculture, and incomes (established but incomplete). Although the available data are not comprehensive, they clearly show that the HKH receives significant amounts of air pollution from within and outside of the region, including the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), a region where many rural areas are severely polluted. In addition, the HKH receives trans-boundary pollution from other parts of Asia.

Using data from the nearly 6000 households in the Nepal Living Standards Survey of 2010–11 we find that the mean reduction in household firewood collection associated with use of a biogas plant for cooking is about 1100 kg/year from a mean of ∼∼2400 kg/year. This estimate is derived comparing only households with and without biogas in the same village, thus effectively removing the influence of many potential confounders.

The rapidly growing construction sector in India has a large resource foot print but can offer a vast potential to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Greening the building sector is feasible through various policy measures and incentives to deal with recycling and waste treatment, reduction in energy use, emissions and the use of other hazardous substances, which have several public and private benefits.