-The Times of India PATNA: The flood situation in 20 of the 38 Bihar districts remained grim on Wednesday with the toll rising to 176, including five persons - three in Munger and two in Bhagalpur district - drowning in the floodwaters during the last 24 hours. The flood fury is unlikely to relent over the next couple of days as the water level of the 13 rivers in spate is either...
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Sand mining causes Yamuna to shift 500m east, threaten Noida -Vandana Keelor
-The Times of India NOIDA: The sand mafia, against which suspended IAS officer Durga Nagpal had started a campaign, has been responsible for the Yamuna shifting course about 500 metres east, posing a threat to sectors 150, 151, 153, 135, 167 and 168 of Noida. Irrigation department officials here say they have repeatedly warned the district administration about this and also filed several FIRs with the police, the last one in March...
More »Kerala tackles prejudice and prices -C Maya
-The Hindu The State population stands at a little over three crore, but average consumption of drugs is three times the national average In Kerala, where people have a marked preference for branded drugs, where the most expensive brand is considered the best, and only those brands pushed by doctors sell, the new Drug (Prices Control) Order, which is expected to cut prices by 20-25 per cent, may not have much of...
More »CAG had warned last year about Uttarakhand crisis in making-Himanshu Upadhyaya
-Governance Now A CAG report dated March 15, 2013 had found Uttarakhand sitting on a time bomb, with nearly zero disaster preparedness back in Sept 2012 when the nationwide performance audit was done. Will other states, marked equally poorly in the audit, sit up and smell the coffee? The massive disaster in Uttarakhand has brought to the fore not only the old debate of ecology versus development but also thrown up...
More »Nature avenges its exploitation-Maharaj K Pandit
-The Hindu The catastrophe in the Himalaya is the result of deforestation, unchecked construction of dwellings and large-scale building of big dams A week is a long time in the Himalaya. In the late 1980s, I visited Arunachal Pradesh as a young researcher, with a keen interest in photography. I walked into the middle of the Dibang river, hop skipping over boulders, until my local tribal guide ordered me to return immediately....
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