Govt rejects EPI ’22 over methodology

The Union environment ministry on Wednesday rebutted the Environmental Performance Index 2022, which ranked India at the bottom of a list of 180 countries, saying some of the indicators it used are “extrapolated and based on surmises and unscientific methods”. The index published recently by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University, used 40 performance indicators across 11 categories to judge countries on climate change performance, environmental health and ecosystem vitality. “The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2022...has many indicators based on unfounded assumptions. Some of these indicators...are extrapolated and based on surmises and unscientific methods,” the ministry said.

“You are playing with the future of doctors,” the Supreme Court told the Centre on Wednesday and expressed concern over 1,456 post-graduate medical seats going vacant this year despite the country facing a dearth of medical professionals. The court asked the Centre and the Medical Counselling Committee to file an affidavit by Wednesday-end, explaining why these seats were not filled by conducting an additional mop-up counselling round. “Even if a single seat is vacant, it should be filled and not allowed to be wasted… If students are not given admission, we will pass compensation orders against you for playing with the lives and future of doctors,” the SC told the Centre. The court was hearing a petition filed by seven doctors seeking a special stray round of counselling for the vacant PG seats that remained unfilled after the last mop-up counselling round for the NEET-PG 2021-22 ended on May 7.