-CivilSocietyOnline.com For the past decade state governments have launched a series of Internet-based initiatives to deliver services more efficiently. Technology has been seen as the best way of bypassing red tape and corruption in the system to reach the poor directly with benefits. Beneficiaries are identified through biometrics and a series of tech solutions like smart cards, micro ATMs and so on. The result of these efforts is that India is...

Situation alarming: More than one-third population hit by drought   The country is facing severe drought for the second consecutive year. Conservative estimates from official sources show that over a quarter of rural habitations are facing drinking water scarcity. Although both India Meteorological Department and Skymet have predicted a more than normal rainfall during June-September, 2016, the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country has declined from 22 percent...

-Business Standard Private weather forecast agency revises estimate to 109% of LPA As the country awaits the arrival of the southwest monsoon after two years of drought, private weather forecasting agency Skymet on Tuesday revised upward its 2016 southwest monsoon forecast to 109 per cent of the long period average (LPA) from 105 predicted in April. The forecast, if accurate, would mean that India might have its highest southwest monsoon since 1994 and...

-Governance Now ... and of planning to counter it. Climate change and economic growth will worsen water shortage, says an MIT study. But there are solutions – even now One billion people will be facing severe water shortage in India and neighbouring areas by 2050 thanks to climate change and expansion of economic growth, according to a projection made by the researchers of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Their new study...

-The Indian Express Convert crisis into opportunity: Shift from supply side augmentation to demand side management. Scattered “mango rains” have brought a little respite from scorching heat in certain places. Earlier, IMD’s forecast of above normal monsoon rains had given some hope for forthcoming acche din. Yet, a sizeable part of India is still smouldering under the grip of a drought. Bundelkhand and Marathwada are just samples, but in reality more...