-The Business Standard   How a law to conserve groundwater led to a better paid and better organised migrant workforce Ludhiana: For some years now, Punjab's fields have lain fallow through the searing dry heat of May; but come June's steamy humidity, small bands of lithe, slender men from Bihar fan out across the waterlogged paddy fields, transplanting rice saplings with fluid efficiency. Bihar's paddy planters have frequented Punjab since the 1960s when rice...

-The Hindu   On the first anniversary of the Uttarakhand disaster, here's a look at issues plaguing the fledgling state. On June 16, it will be a year since Uttarakhand experienced its worst natural disaster. It was also a year of loss, of grief, of recovery and of resilience. While those affected continue to cope and rise, we need to look beyond the disaster in order to unravel the contradictions and challenges that...

-Down to Earth   Study by National Institute of Disaster Management shows authorities neglected to break the cycle of droughts when rains were plentiful Drought in Bundelkhand region of central India has been a matter of concern for decades. A new study by National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) now gives a composite map of the drought which explains the reason for the region witnessing drought year on year. The study shows that droughts...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: Delhi appears to be more environment conscious than Mumbai and Pune as Delhiites largely would like the government to prioritize environmental protection over its development objectives. An environment survey, conducted by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) across eight cities, on Tuesday revealed that over 50 per cent of respondents in the national Capital favour prioritizing environment over development as against 44 per cent of...

-The Hindu     The acute shortage of toilets across the country has come to the fore again with the gang-rape and murder of two teenage Dalit girls in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh who went missing on the night of May 27th after they went to relieve themselves in the open because they did not have access to a toilet at home. The lack of toilets impacts the safety of women and this had been...