-The Telegraph New Delhi: A month has gone by since the Supreme Court issued directions to tackle drought but it is "business as usual" for the Centre and the affected states, civil society organisations have said. Worse, government intervention is even less than what it used to be in colonial times, they said. A quarter of the country is drought-hit at present. On May 11, the apex court had pronounced the Centre guilty...

-The Hindu Jaipur: Rajasthan is the first State to create a separate Gaupalan Ministry for ensuring the protection of cows. The high-level team, headed by the Gaupalan Department’s Additional Director, has found that the deaths occurred due to consumption of polythene and other inedible substances as well as extreme weakness. “No symptoms of communicable or seasonal diseases were found in the cows,” Shailesh Sharma, Director of Gaupalan Department, said here on Friday. The government...

-The Hindu A better approach to man-wildlife conflict management requires an integration of scientific evidence, animal behaviour, and landscape and socio-economic context The difference of views on the killing of wild animals between a former and a sitting Environment Minister of the ruling party — one in favour, the other against — has hit the front pages. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recently permitted three States, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The steady decline in infant deaths in Indian states appears to be faltering in some while progressing well in others, according to fresh data for 2014 released by the Census office based on an annual sample survey. Some of the more backward states like Assam, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh did well in bringing down infant deaths, but Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand showed an alarming...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The road transport and highways ministry will install speed guns (equipment to record the speed of as well as film a moving vehicle) on national highways and deploy advanced ambulances with vehicle-cutting equipment on certain stretches for the immediate rescue of accident victims. Announcing the government's plans to crack down on speeding on highways, Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said errant drivers will...