-DNA Even as the Modi government promises to increase the green cover, here are the challenges it is facing. Meet Ashish Arora, resort owner in Uttarakhand who lives next to a forest. It is not just the chirping birds, clean air and wild animals that surround him. He also has to grapple with forest fires every year. For the people in Uttarakhand like any other forest-rich state, forest fires are a way...

-The Indian Express First-of-its-kind report provides 360-degree view of the administration of capital punishment — who gets it, and what it is to live in death’s shadow. Reason and scope of Study The National Law University’s Death Penalty Research Project has prepared a socio-economic profile of prisoners sentenced to death in India, using statistics and case studies, to help create a resource for an in-depth understanding of the administration of the death penalty...

-The Hindu Rain on Tuesday brought partial relief to Uttarakhand, where operations to put out forest fires continue on a war footing. Nainital: Showers were experienced in the higher reaches of Rudraprayag, including Kedarnath and Gaurikund. Parts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts also received light rain. “Light to moderate rain will be experienced throughout the State by Wednesday morning. This will continue for 72 hours,” Director of the Dehradun Meteorological Centre...

-The Times of India Bhubaneswar: At a time when the state government is under attack for listing ineligible beneficiaries for ration cards under the National Food Security Act, it informed the assembly on Saturday that it has included a number of destitute and homeless families to counter the criticism. Food supplies and consumer welfare minister Sanjay Das Burma said the state government has included 14,830 destitute families (54,892 persons) under the food...

-The Times of India Bhopal: Despite an aggressive government campaign to save lives of infants in Madhya Pradesh, there has been a considerable increase in the number of their deaths in the state. According to National Health Mission, the number of deaths of infants has gone up to 19,672 till January 2016. State capital Bhopal is the worst performer where maximum 1,060 infants died from April 2015 to January 2016. The state already...