During India’s National Nutrition Month in September, the Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai organized two notable workshops that were designed to deliberate on the country’s most pressing nutrition concerns.  Today, India is clearly in the midst of a “nutrition transition,” from a situation in which undernutrition was the only concern for the country to one in which over-nutrition, obesity, and other nutrition-related non-communicable diseases are becoming equally prominent.

With a view to providing senior government stakeholders new perspectives on managing river basins in India, Columbia Global Centers | Mumbai organized a series of lectures and trainings from April–May, 2018. The sessions were led by Dr. Anthony Acciavatti, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, who spent over a decade mapping the Ganga River Basin.

Arsenic contamination of groundwater has been recorded in more than 150 districts across 21 states in India and includes rural areas, where piped water supply is limited. Exposure to arsenic can inhibit intellectual development in children, cause severe skin lesions and even lead to fatal cardiovascular disease and cancers. Much of this risk, however, can be mitigated. According to Alexander Van Geen, Lamont Research Professor and member of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, “Arsenic contamination is highly localized.