-Down to Earth Twice as many villages as in 2012 affected this time More areas in Maharashtra are to be officially declared drought-affected. Another 5,700 villages are to be added to the list of drought-hit areas, taking the total number of villages which lost more than 50 per cent crops to around 24,000. This figure is twice the number of villages affected by the 2012 drought in the state. The findings have come...

-Down to Earth CM Fadnavis said his government is considering Madhya Pradesh pattern of drought-proofing that follows small-scale water conservation measures Will Maharashtra finally do away with big-dam centric water management and focus on decentralised water conservation? If Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is to be believed, the new government is thinking in that direction. Speaking informally to the media during the winter session of the state Legislative Assembly at Nagpur, Fadnavis said that...

-Down to Earth National Human Rights Commission has sought report from the state The K Chandrasekhar Rao government in Telangana seems to have failed to deliver on its promise of reforming the crisis-ridden farm sector in the state. Unofficial figures suggest that more than 400 farmers have committed suicide in the past six months. Telangana, the youngest state in the country, came into existence on June 2 this year. Rao and other leaders...

-The Indian Express The aftermath of the terrible deaths of women who underwent sterilisation surgeries in Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh has been full of stories about what actually happened. Spurious drugs and an overenthusiastic doctor who cut corners on ensuring quality vie for immediate blame. Beyond these, many have spoken about pervasive biases of gender and caste that wreak havoc on the lives of poor women, and also of family planning policies...

-Economic and Political Weekly The current regime seeks to reform labour laws with the understanding that these reforms will improve industrial growth and expand the possibilities of enterprise. However, there is already ample evidence from within India that this obsession with reforming labour law, particularly in the way the government has done it till now, will not take us any closer in creating more jobs or a healthy industrial sector. These...