-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Yet another report has criticized the government for tardy implementation of the right to education (RTE). While the three-year deadline for implementation passed in April, 11% schools are still without toilets, 20% don't have safe Drinking Water and 74% are without a library. The report by the organization Child Rights and You (CRY) also states that 61% schools demand proof of age, which is not...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: It's clear that the devastation caused by the flash floods and landslides in Uttarakhand was at least in part due to environmental degradation of fragile mountain slopes and reckless commercialization. Yet, weeks before the calamity state CM Vijay Bahuguna had railed against "environmentalists" and "Green Statutes" for hampering development work during a May 23 meeting in Delhi with Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Plan deputy chair, to finalize...

Groundwater, which irrigates half of Indian agriculture and provides 85% of rural drinking consumption, is an increasingly scarce resource. There is a growing understanding that it must be approached as a common property resource for collective benefit. It is best understood and managed by those who live near them and use them rather than agencies who visit sporadically - that is the central premise of efforts around participatory groundwater management....

-Outlook The oasis UPA is supposed to have brought Pakur is a mirage UPA Divertissement Ad claims refurbished pond in Hiranpur block has promoted communal amity through ‘social and religious events'. Locals say no such events have held. Locals dissatisfied with the siphon irrigation system praised in the ad have damaged it repeatedly In fact, local administration is worried about a law and order situation if it files...

-The Hindu Bangalore: The State government has directed the Chief Executive Officers of Raichur and Yadgir zilla panchayats to seal over 100 borewells in 63 villages where the arsenic level in groundwater is higher than the permissible limit, by June 30. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H.K. Patil told presspersons on Friday that water in 44 villages in Manvi, Lingsugur, Deodurga and Sindhanur taluks of Raichur district, and 19 villages in...