-The Hindu Except the Narmada, all other waterbodies and dams have negligible water: Chief Minister With rising mercury levels and severe heatwave, Gujarat is facing a massive water crisis. The scarcity is particularly acute in the SAUrashtra region, Kutch, North Gujarat and parts of tribal pockets in central and South Gujarat. More than 20 districts are severely affected as towns and villages hardly get water twice a week. In more than 500...

-IANS New Delhi: The ambitious PM-KISAN scheme that aims to provide Rs 6,000 annually to small and marginal farmers will reach only 38 per cent of the intended beneficiaries by the end of ongoing Lok sabha polls, thanks to tardy furnishing of information by the states, lack of digitised land records and the election Model Code of Conduct being in force, according to government officials involved in its implementation. The scheme, announced...

-Down to Earth In the 1990s, non-profits and farmers themselves built check dams; today, the government does it, without proper research or site selection Fifty-four-year old Dineshbhai Babariya has just harvested a 20 quintal cotton crop, his second harvest in the last one year in his four bigha (1.6 acre) farm in the Jasapar village of Gujarat’s SAUrashtra region. August 2018 was the last time the village in Rajkot district received around 228...

-The Indian Express Fall in emigration, and reverse migration from the Gulf, challenge Kerala’s welfare model. The state must find a way Migration trends indicate that the Gulf, which had long funded the Kerala development story, may soon turn out to be a headache if not a nightmare. Economic slowdown in the Gulf countries, state policies favouring replacement of migrants with local labour, influx of workers from Africa and countries such...

-The Indian Express On Wednesday evening, a meeting had taken place between Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, representatives of various banks and farmer union leaders. Ludhiana: ON THE fourth day of protests over banks taking action against farmers in cheque bounce cases, farmers’ groups sat on a dharna blocking the Ludhiana-Ferozpur state highway after talks with banks and government representatives failed. The farmers are protesting against banks’ practice of taking blank cheques...