-The Telegraph New Delhi: An NGO has questioned a move to have national security adviser Ajit Doval address a conclave of Supreme Court judges today without a counterbalancing presence of human rights activists to present an alternative view. In a letter to Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms has argued that the THRee-day judges' retreat in Bhopal that ends tomorrow should also invite rights activists...

-Economic and Political Weekly Budget 2016-17 recognises that the rural economy is in crisis; however, it fails to address this with sufficient targeted rural spending. A perusal of budget documents reveals exaggerated expenditure claims, achieved THRough reclassification of budget heads. There has been an enduring neglect of agriculture, which is further exacerbated by this year's reduced subsidies for fertiliser and food. This will induce further vulnerabilities in the rural economy. Please...

-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: Vijay Rupani, state water resources minister has stated that eight districts and around 1,000 villages in the state are facing an acute water crisis. Rupani said, "Due to insufficient rains for the last two years, eight districts — Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Dahod, Panchmahal and Amreli — are facing a drinking water shortage. Around 1,000 villages are in crisis due to drying up of local...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: The splotch of red ink on bank balance sheets is set to become bigger as a new scandal in the form of disappearing food stocks in Punjab godowns THReatens to burn a Rs 12,000-crore hole in their books and embarrass the Parkash Singh Badal administration. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has ordered all banks with exposure to the Punjab government's food borrowing programme to provide for potential...

-The Hindu Central Water Commission data on live storage show that only 23 per cent of capacity is available, and this is well below last year. Water levels in major reservoirs of the country are alarmingly low, weekly data released by Central Water Commission (CWC) shows. CWC, a technical organisation under the aegis of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, monitors live storage status of 91 major reservoirs in the...