-The Indian Express As the government begins the second phase of rollout of Direct Benefits Transfer in 78 districts from July 1, it would do well to look back at the rather shaky experience of the scheme's implementation in the past six months, and whether it is in fact prepared to bring in more areas under the scheme's ambit. The ambitious plan, that aims at eliminating middlemen and ensuring money reaches beneficiaries...

-PTI HYDERABAD: An advanced facility to help speed up development and selection of crop varieties, which are tolerant to drought, flood and heat in a more precise way, is being set up at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) here. The facility -- Phenomics platform -- is being set up at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore under the National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) to study climate...

-The Hindu While the focus is on pilgrims, nobody is talking about the fate of boys and men who came from their villages in the Mandakini valley to earn during the yatri season It is one week since Uttarakhand's worst disaster in living memory. Flash floods resulting from extremely intense rainfall swept away mountainsides, villages and towns, thousands of people, animals, agricultural fields, irrigation canals, domestic water sources, dams, roads, bridges, and...

-IANS NEW DELHI: While thousands have suffered the fury of floods in Uttarakhand, experts say worse tragedies may strike the region unless the rampant violation of the Himalayan state's sensitive ecology is checked. Environmentalists blamed the volume of the disaster on the dams, indiscriminate construction, uncontrolled tourism and ignorance about the fragile ecology of the area. Experts have called for an immediate halt to unchecked tourism, especially religious tourism, and haphazard construction. "The...

-The Hindu The order may give rise to property and employment benefit claims relating to unmarried people. Parents could find sexual partners of their children making demands for a share of their assets. The discussion on the Madras High Court verdict on the implications of sexual relationships between unmarried couples has been wide-ranging - from mirthful responses to the suggestion that such liaisons could attain marital status under certain circumstances, to sympathetic...