-The Hindu It is the Supreme Court and not Parliament that has found time to pay attention to serious issues of drought relief and mitigation for hundreds of millions of Indians Irony. This one word captures our response to the ongoing nationwide drought in more ways than one. We have woken up to the reality of drought a full six months after the end of monsoon. After waking up, we focus on...

-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 IWMI supported them financially for purchase, installation of pumps and solar panels by funding Rs 40 lakh so far Ahmedabad: With the help of Colombo-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI), six Gujarat farmers have formed world’s first solar power cooperative society to sell surplus power generated from solar water pumps installed at their farms. After conducting a successful pilot project of connecting farmer with the grid at Anand district of Gujarat,...

-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...

-The Hindu India has a lasting infrastructure of public support that can, in principle, be expanded in drought years to provide relief. But business as usual seems to be the motto Droughts in India used to be times of frantic relief activity. Large-scale public works were organised, often employing more than 1,00,000 workers in a single district. Food distribution was arranged for destitute persons who were unable to work. Arrangements were also...