-The Hindu Hard-working rig-operators are providing a real response to a very real demand from farmers, but with grave consequences for groundwater supplies No other town can boast as deep a connection with the rest of the country as this little one in Tamil Nadu. Machines from here have struck great depths in most Indian States (and in many African countries as well). Tiruchengode is the nation's borewell rig capital and thousands...

-The Telegraph Tezpur (Assam): Rains in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and a rise in the water level of Solengi river has inundated at least 20 villages in Assam's Sonitpur district today. An embankment of the Solengi river at Borghuli village was breached, affecting the neighbouring villages. Road communication between Gohpur and Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, was also hit due to floodwaters. Ramen Bora, a resident of Kokila village, said the breach near...

-PTI DEHRADUN: Fresh incidents of cloud burst, landslides and house collapses were reported in Uttarakahnd after moderate to heavy rains lashed the state. Cloud burst incident was reported from Sunali village of Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, while moderate to heavy rains continued to lash the state. However, there was no report of any human loss or injury, said the officials at National disaster Management and Mitigation centre. Several houses were hit by mud and slush...

-The Hindu Kathmandu: Greater cooperation is necessary to protect the fragile ecology of the Himalayas, the world's youngest mountains facing unprecedented human encroachment, concluded the team of Nepali and Indian journalists and researchers that gathered in Kathmandu on Monday to assess the disaster brought by the floods last month. The programme, titled "Ganga-Mahakali catchment disaster" was organised by the Nainital-based People's Association for Himalaya Area Research (Pahar) and the Kathmandu-based Himal Southasian...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Chhapra tragedy must ask us how we can improve public services, not scrap them altogether. In the aftermath of the ghastly tragedy in Chhapra, Bihar, where 22 children lost their lives after they consumed a government-provided school meal containing organophosphate pesticides, we must demand of the State a far greater commitment to administering large-scale welfare programmes that are meant to improve, not destroy the life of citizens....