NEW DELHI — When the United Nations convened its summit meeting on climate change last month, China and the United States, the two most important countries at the negotiating table, hewed to mostly familiar scripts, making promises without making too many specific commitments. Less familiar was the script followed by the third most important country at the table, India. India’s public stance on climate change is usually predictable — predictably obstinate...

Erratic power supply, poverty bane of Marathwada region  About four lakh people migrate every year to work as sugarcane cutters Sugar factories contribute to Water scarcity DHAITANA (Beed district): The Assembly elections are not the reason for excitement in this village located in the backward Marathwada region of Maharashtra. It’s Water. In the afternoon heat, women and children are running towards the only source of Water located outside sarpanch Achyut Gangane’s house....

The number of people killed in flooding caused by heavy rains across southern India continues to rise, with more than 200 confirmed dead, officials say. Millions of people have been left homeless in the Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as entire villages have been swept away. Rainfall has eased in the worst affected state of Karnataka but many farms have been destroyed. Officials say billions of dollars are needed...

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh battled the fury of continued torrential rains and surging floodWaters Saturday, which claimed 194 lives and indundated vast swathes of land, rendering lakhs of people homeless. Rescue efforts were intensified, with troops backed by Indian Air Force helicopters shifting marooned people in both states to safer areas. While 161 people perished in the heavy rains that battered 15 districts of Karnataka, 33 people were killed in neighbouring Andhra...

The procurement of rice for distribution under the proposed Right to Food scheme has renewed the fears of irreversible depletion of Water table in India’s grain producing regions. It is feared that unless more scientific and progressive methods of rice cultivation are used, the otherwise welcome scheme would lead to more sowing of summer paddy leading to more injudicious Water use and further soil degradation. Many rural NGOs and agricultural...