-The Times of India PUNE: Pollution is causing 'life-giving' rain to become increasingly acidic in many parts of the country, particularly in the last decade, research by India Meteorological Department and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology has revealed. Analysis of rainwater samples from Nagpur, MoHAnbari (in Assam), Allahabad, Visakhapatnam and Kodaikanal in the decade 2001-2012 showed a pH level varying from 4.77 to 5.32, indicating that these places have actually been...

-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Punjab has been exporting its underground water (to the rest of India) in the form of rice. This strong statement has come from one of Punjab's respected economists R S Ghuman in his study titled 'Water Use Scenario in Punjab beyond the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal'. The study was published in 'Economic & Political Weekly' journal in its January edition and some of its observations are crucial at...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has voiced shock that a scholarship for underprivileged meritorious students had not been revised since the scheme was launched in 2008, leaving it at less than half of what households now spend on average on a higher secondary student. According to a survey on social consumption, households spend Rs 12,619 a year on a plus-2 student's schooling, while the yearly amount under the National Means-cum-Merit...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: A revamped central housing scheme promising shelter for all rural families by 2022 has no room for the landless. Dalits, Adivasis and nomadic tribes who have no land will be forced live without dignity as the Centre has discontinued assistance to landless people for purchasing land under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), activists say. It has also dropped plans for a law to give plots to the...

After facing intense criticisms from various sections of the society following its policy of demonetisation during November-December, 2016, the NDA government has finally something solid to cheer about. Riding on the back of a normal monsoon, gross foodgrain production is likely to reach a record level of about 272.0 million tonnes in the crop year 2016-17. As per the second advance estimates of foodgrain production, which has been released by...