-Livemint.com/ AP Hundreds of millions of people in at least 13 states are reeling from severe drought, a situation that is expected to worsen in the coming months Shahapur: Shantabai Babulkar’s day begins before dawn with a 5 kilometer trek across barren fields and dusty scrubland to fetch water from a distant well for her family. The two metal pots of muddy water that Babulkar, 58, balances on her head and a...

-Theweekendleader.com/ Women's Feature Service Purulia (west bengal): It was ironical that Purulia district often found itself on the west bengal government's 'drought-hit' list when the average rainfall here is 1100mm-1500mm. The failure to conserve water as well as poor agricultural practices meant that despite back-breaking labour in the fields, farmers could only achieve six months' food sufficiency. Today, however, all that is changing thanks to a water management revolution led by ordinary village...

-FirstPost.com India has had a long history with migration, especially across the eastern border. After India attained independence, immigration assumed a political dimension and reports of migrants posing a threat to national security have surfaced over the years. Usually a topic not acknowledged by most political parties, the BJP's top priority in this year's west bengal Assembly election is to drive infiltrators out of the country and seal off the border. Whether BJP...

-The Hindu Business Line One man with a backpack is determined to introduce the children of Kalagachia, west bengal, to the joys of reading The conductor calls out “Mallikpur brickfield!” as the bus grinds to a halt. Across the road a tall chimney is visible — part of the brick-making outfit that this place is named after. A narrow sand-and-gravel path snakes from the road, through paddy fields, towards a village. The...

-The Hindu Central Water Commission data on live storage show that only 23 per cent of capacity is available, and this is well below last year. Water levels in major reservoirs of the country are alarmingly low, weekly data released by Central Water Commission (CWC) shows. CWC, a technical organisation under the aegis of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, monitors live storage status of 91 major reservoirs in the...