-Tehelka Last year’s Red Fort rhetoric has not been matched by action on the ground, with separate toilets for students remaining elusive as ever One part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Independence Day this year can safely be predicted: the reeling out of statistics to prove that the Swachh Bharat campaign is sweeping the nation. The cleanliness drive launched on 2 October, 2014, was announced from the ramparts of the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In probably a first-of-its-kind initiative, over 15,000 people, including the country's top industrialists have launched a signature campaign, urging lawmakers to allow Parliament to function, debate and legislate. Since its launch on Saturday, the petition on change.org has been signed by leading industry captains such as Rahul Bajaj, Infosys founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp, Adi Godrej, Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, GVK's GV Sanjaya Reddy, GE...

-India Infoline News Service   Mumbai: Efforts at the central and state government level to improve rural infrastructure, food distribution and non-agricultural employment opportunities are credit positive because, if sustained, they are likely to lower the credit challenges that India's vulnerability to drought poses. Moody's Investor's Service says that although India (Baa3 positive) may avoid drought this year, its economy remains vulnerable to future droughts or fluctuations in rainfall, and its sovereign credit...

-Odisha Sun Times Bhubaneswar: The depleting groundwater level in the Odisha capital has become a major cause of concern for planners. In the past five years, the groundwater level has shrunk by as much as  in major areas of the capital city, according to a survey. With monsoon playing truant, deficit rainfall and excessive drawing of ground water through bore wells in the absence of pipe water supply has contributed to groundwater depletion. Chandrasekharpur...

-The Times of India PUNE: Tiger deaths persisted in the country despite the Union and state governments' efforts towards conservation. The country lost close to 41 tigers from January until August 9 this year, similar to the count in the same period in 2014, reveals fresh data from National Tiger Conservation Authority and TRAFFIC-India, the wildlife trade monitoring network. The data further revealed that tigers are dying not just from natural causes, but...