-The Hindu The way forward may be to not rely only on dams, interlinked rivers, and borewell drilling — but to supplant these with effective water conservation, storage and groundwater recharge For the past one week, The Hindu has explored the multi-faceted crisis of water scarcity that has gripped India this summer, through a daily series titled ‘Last Drop’. The series sought to give our readers a comprehensive understanding of six critical...

-The Times of India Hyderabad: Acute shortage of fodder triggered by prolonged heat wave across Telangana is driving thousands of farmers to sell off their cattle. The Telangana Goshala Federation, which works for the rescue and protection of cattle in the state through its network of 120 'goshalas' spread over all the 10 districts, including 41 in Hyderabad, said 2.15 lakh cattle were sold away by farmers in the last one month...

-Livemint.com Ministries handling drinking water and sanitation, rural development, land resources, and urban development asked to take up an integrated action plan New Delhi: Streamlining measures to tackle the drought in the country, the centre directed on Monday different ministries to release additional funds to states. Cabinet secretary P.K. Sinha directed the ministries—drinking water and sanitation, rural development, land resources and urban development—to take up an integrated action plan for optimally using...

-Business Standard Green revolution pioneer now marked by rising rural despair, with high costs and low incomes pushing a mass of small cultivators into a debt trap Chandigarh: Fifty eight and counting…the number of farmers' suicides in Punjab in the past three months due to agrarian distress is alarming. Maharashtra, Punjab and Telangana top this grim list, the Union government informed Parliament last week. Rainfed states are in a crisis due to two...

-The Financial Express West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu — states that are currently in assembly elections mode — have registered huge spurt in job numbers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Act (MGNREGA). West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee is fighting to retain power, saw a record 28.66 crore person-days of employment being generated under MGNREGA during the year ended March 31, 2016. This represented a...