-The Times of India NEW delhi: Pedal a stationary cycle for one hour and run two lights and a fan all day without grid electricity. American billionaire Manoj Bhargava claims he has the answer to India's rural electrification challenge, and he showed it at an event in delhi on Friday. Lucknow-born Bhargava, founder of 5 Hour Energy, a popular energy drink in the US, styles himself as "entrepreneur and philanthropist" on Twitter....

-Economic and Political Weekly Chennai floods show the vulnerabilities that arise from the neglect of urban planning. In the second week of November, flood-marooned people in Chennai had an unlikely Good Samaritan. The cab service provider, Ola. As the city struggled to come to terms with its highest rainfall in 10 years, the cab company pressed in boats from an aquatic adventure outfit and secured the services of professional rowers and fishworkers...

-The Times of India NEW delhi: With back to back drought years putting farmers under tremendous stress, the Centre believes it's effort to bolster irrigation infrastructure and disburse relief to farmers after extreme weather events are falling short thanks to some states dragging their feet. Union agriculture ministry in its periodic review of these schemes found many states not up to the mark with minister Radha Mohan Singh asking them to pull...

-The Times of India NEW delhi: A recent sample survey carried out by the government on the usage of toilets seeks to disprove the notion that access to toilets may not automatically change attitudes of people who prefer defecating in the open. According to NSSO findings, at least 95% of family members in rural areas and around 99% household members in urban areas used toilets, which had access to toilets. The sample...

-Livemint.com   The main focus of the survey was to find out if the drought and adverse weather over the past few years is turning into a famine    New delhi: Even as half of India is reeling under a second consecutive drought year, a survey of the chronically drought-striken Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh has unearthed grim details of crop loss, disputes over water, starvation, and deaths due to hunger and malnutrition. The...