-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Bihar has been battling floods despite receiving less than normal rains this year. Long at the receiving end due to release of water from Nepal, this time though the blame lies squarely on mismanagement of a dam and a barrage in neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The situation has become so bad in the past four days that state chief minister Nitish Kumar...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: More than two-thirds of the sewage generated in 118 towns, located in the Ganga river basin, get discharged into the country's national river untreated, making the task of its rejuvenation a long drawn process. Recent findings of a report, prepared by a team of experts from different government agencies, have noted that these towns collectively generate over 3,636 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage as...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: As part of its ambitious 'Namami Gange' programme, the government plans to free all villages along the banks of the river from open defecation by 2022 and extend incentives to states to expand sewerage infrastructure in all 118 urban habitations along the river. Both the schemes will cost the government around Rs 52,700 crore. While Rs 51,000 crore has been earmarked for expanding the sewerage infrastructure,...

**page** [inside]KEY TRENDS of the Union Budget 2023-24[/inside] Budget 2023-24 is the last full budget before the general election scheduled for 2024. An analysis of the budget allocations suggests that the union government has squeezed expenditure, particularly on food subsidy and the NREGA budget, while boosting Capital expenditure and giving the middle class tax benefits. Social sector activists working on Right to Food, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) came out with...