-The Statesman It's the same story every year. Heavy rains, huge volume of water spilling over the water channels and mismanagement of rivers in spate, leading to heavy floods inundating large parts of India. This year too the story is no different. Even as this article goes to print, Assam, West Bengal, Manipur, Odisha, Gujarat and Rajasthan almost a third of India is either facing floods or coping with a trail...
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Census 2011 religious data: Why it’s tough to use these numbers for identity politics -Seema Chishti
-The Indian Express The politics of what these figures could mean or what they could be 'spun' to mean is something to ponder. As far as demographers go, Census 2011 brings good news on the population stabilisation front. And now we know that even across religions, across all communities, there is a decline in population growth rates. Alok Vajpeyi, of the Population Foundation of India who has studied the data in...
More »The spectre of suicide -V Sridhar
-Frontline As rural Karnataka reels under an unprecedented wave of suicides by farmers, the State administration looks on, unwilling to address the reasons that have rendered rural livelihoods fragile. DEATH stalks rural Karnataka. In the 41 days between July 1 and August 10, as many as 245 farmers committed suicide, an average of six a day; since April 1, 284 farmers have taken their lives. As a bewildered State government gropes...
More »Skymet or IMD: Who will get the monsoon forecast right? -Nikita Mehta
-Livemint.com The two weather agencies have had different forecasts for this year’s monsoon since April For once, the state-run forecaster India Meteorological Department (IMD) and private weather forecaster Skymet Weather Services Pvt. Ltd are on the same page: Rainfall in August will be below normal. The two weather agencies have had different forecasts for this year’s monsoon since April. Recently in August, while IMD reiterated that monsoon this year will be deficient,...
More »Farmers committing suicide due to failed crop, not love affairs: Will 'Skill India' provide Relief? -Valay Singh
-The Economic Times Premshankar Meena, 20, didn't kill himself for his love. He didn't because he was addicted to drugs, either, whether agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh believes that or not. In July, when asked if the "lack of support to poor and small farmers by way of greater inputs and better support price for their produce" was the main reason for rising suicides, Singh said: "According to NCRB [National Crime...
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