-Livemint.com New Delhi: Back from a walk through drought-affected parts of the country, Yogendra Yadav, political scientist and co-founder of non-profit Swaraj Abhiyan, speaks on state compliance of Supreme Court orders, a booming private water market in Marathwada, and why farmer movements are weakest at a time when agrarian distress is at its peak. Edited excerpts from an interview: * You just came back from a trip to Bundelkhand and Marathwada. What...

-The Times of India New Delhi: The health ministry will soon revamp its flagship immunisation programme 'Mission Indradhanush' to include four new vaccines. The mission, currently providing coverage against seven life-threatening diseases, will soon also include vaccines for rotavirus, measles rubella, inactivated polio vaccine biavalent and Japanese Encephalitis for adults, health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said. Mission Indradhanush — depicting the seven colours of the rainbow — will also be rechristened...

-The Hindu No action taken against hospitals or blood banks, says RTI activist. In the last 17 months alone, 2,234 persons across India have been infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) while getting blood transfusions. The maximum number of such cases — 361 — was reported from Uttar Pradesh due to unsafe blood transfusion practices in hospitals. Just last week, a three-year-old boy from Assam’s Kamrup district, admitted to the Gauhati Medical College...

-The Hindu Business Line The Narendra Modi government has shown intent in pushing for rural electrification, but the devil lies in the detail, write Richa Mishra and Debabrata Das Soon after taking over at the helm of the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at a function in Solapur, Maharashtra. Sharing one of his visions, Modi said, “Many elections have been fought in our country on this issue and the issue is...

Situation alarming: More than one-third population hit by drought   The country is facing severe drought for the second consecutive year. Conservative estimates from official sources show that over a quarter of rural habitations are facing drinking water scarcity. Although both India Meteorological Department and Skymet have predicted a more than normal rainfall during June-September, 2016, the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country has declined from 22 percent...