-The Economic Times For Latak in Assam's Dhemaji district, floods are a living reality. But this remote village of about 300 houses has found a novel cost-effective way to connect flood-affected areas — a bridge made out of neatly stacked bamboo. It may not sound like a big success story but, for the village panchayat, it is a cause for much celebration. The panchayat planned the project after deliberations with villagers...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: States will now be ranked on the basis of their performance in the social sector, including health and education. The move, initiated by Niti Aayog, is aimed at encouraging states to compete among themselves and improve social sector indicators as there is growing realisation that performance in health, nutrition and education has not kept pace with the country's economic growth. A senior official said as the states...

-The Hindu New Delhi: Next year, India’s annual summer monsoon forecast may be made by a supercomputer running a dynamical model. The Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Madhavan Rajeevan, said the dynamical model, being tested at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, (IITM) Pune for a decade was “ready for operational purposes next year.” A dynamical monsoon model works by simulating the weather on powerful computers and extrapolating it over particular timeframes. Though...

-The Financial Express The government’s move to roll out the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from the ongoing kharif season has got a boost with 18 agriculturally critical states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Maharashtra, having floated tenders to identify insurers who will offer the scheme to farmers. According to agriculture ministry data, Rajasthan has completed the bidding process for identifying insurance companies...

-The Hindu Data from Gujarat show such atrocities impossibly make up 163% of the total number of crimes. Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar lead the country in the number of cases registered of crimes against the Scheduled Castes, Official data pertaining to 2013, 2014 and 2015 show. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) counts these States among those deserving special attention. While U.P. has witnessed a political war of words over an expelled...