-IANS   The flood SITuation in Bihar remained grim Tuesday with the Lakhandei river breaching its embankment at three places, affecting thousands, officials said. Lakhandei, swelled by the flood waters of turbulent Bagmati, breached the embankment in over 50 metres near Basantpur and Aurai in Muzaffarpur district. The flood waters then submerged over 100 villages, affecting nearly one lakh people. Road and rail communications were disrupted at several places as flood waters submerged roads and...

Media Reports The UID Aadhaar project planning and system design shortcomings and security risks at the national (or macro) level have been discussed elsewhere.1 The present article views the Aadhaar project at the system operational level, with practical considerations based on observed and probable functioning at the service delivery end. Consider the following report in a local daily, The Mysore Bugle: Food riots: PDS outlet vandalised Mysore: August 2, 2015—The PDS outlet in Ashokpuram...

A rural scientist, Mangal Singh, has received a patent for an innovation (Mangal Turbine) which can save billions of rupees worth diesel and electricity currently used up for irrigation. Despite the recognition of his work by eminent experts and officials, this scientist has been subjected to relentless harassment by a handful of bureaucrats. A recent evaluation of his work ordered by the Department of Rural Department has indicted these bureaucrats...

-The Telegraph   The outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in and around Ranchi has assumed pandemic proportions, with authorities at Ranchi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) reporting 12 child deaths since August 16 till date. Moreover, 36 among the 81 children admitted to the state-run hospital have been confirmed to be suffering from the mosquito-borne viral disease. All 36 are children, between the age group of five and 11 years. Japanese encephalitis, marked by high...

-The Economic Times   While attention has been riveted on illegal mining in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, thanks to the Supreme Court-ordered probe into the activities of key players, environmental activists and political parties have now turned their gaze to Congresscontrolled Goa. The western coastal state, which has rich depoSITs of iron ore, has now turned alive with charges of a Rs 8,000-crore mining scam. Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat's role, which has...