-The Hindu   An improvement in sanitation and cleanliness will eliminate much of the difference in malnutrition between India and the rest of the world, and across Indian States Historically the greatest advances in longevity and mortality reduction have come not from treatment of individual disease but from public health. This includes modern Drainage and sewerage systems (sewage treatment plants), drinking water systems that produce and deliver disease-free water and solid waste disposal...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has punched holes in the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government's claim of having provided basic services in 895 unauthorized colonies in the capital, touted as a major achievement of Dikshit's tenure, for which it spent more than Rs 3,000 crore between 2007 and 2013. Providing these basic services - sewer lines, water connections, roads and Drainage - was mandatory before legalizing...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Stuck on a waterlogged road, many of you would blame the monsoon for your misery. This report should dispel that notion. In its audit of Delhi's Drainage, desilting and flood control measures, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has unearthed systematic fraud and neglect, showing how taxpayers' money is virtually going down the drain. The report, which could be tabled in Parliament soon, reveals a...

-Down to Earth   It was early June. Jaspal Ram of Lehra Turkot in district Bathinda of Punjab was busy in his field putting gunny bags filled with mud on a plank of wood trailing his tractor. After sometime, he adds another row of gunny bags to add weight. On being asked what he was doing, Jaspal replies, "I'm levelling my field. A lot of water is lost if the paddy fields...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Sustained and focused efforts have to be made by the Tamil Nadu state government to provide relief and rehabilitation to the drought affected people of the state. S Rajendran (myrajendran@gmail.com) is with the Department of Economics, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Due to the failure of the north-east monsoon in December 2013, Tamil Nadu is witnessing drought like conditions this year, leading to poor agricultural productivity, rural distress,...