-The Hindu   States advised to give preference to drinking water and irrigation and enhance groundwater use. An alarming depletion in the water levels (at 57 per cent of last year’s storage) of important reservoirs, owing to the delayed and weak southwest monsoon, has prompted the Central government to issue an advisory to the States on Monday to make “judicious and regulated” releases. The States have been advised to give preference to drinking water...

-The Telegraph Acquiring land for special economic zones may become tougher. The rural development ministry has redrafted the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Bill with a provision that says the proposed law would apply to land acquisition under the Special Economic Zone Act, 2005. This means if the redrafted bill is passed, landlosers will have to be consulted and their consent taken before their land can be acquired under the SEZ Act,...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: All is not lost for Majuli, although the island on the Brahmaputra in Jorhat district has lost enough already. Experts today said there was no danger of the island disappearing from the face of the earth completely, as new land masses were coming up. “It is true that the Brahmaputra has eroded a substantial portion of Majuli over the years, but historically, it is equally true that soil is getting...

-The Times of India The attack on three environment and RTI activists across the country in less than two weeks has brought to the fore how environmentalism is a dirty and sometimes violent game in the hinterland unlike the soft, candle-lighting tiger-loving green activism in big cities.  Akhil Gogoi in Assam, Bharat Jhunjhunwala in Uttarakhand and Ramesh Agrawal in Chhattisgarh - green activists who used RTI to their advantage - were attacked...

-PTI NASHIK (Maharashtra): Thousands of dead fish were found floating in the Godavari River here, a local Congress corporator said today, demanding an inquiry into the incident. Corporator Vikrant Mate said the fish were found floating in the River near Asaram Bapu Ashram on Gangapur Road here. "It should become clear whether the fish died due to chemicals and effluents, released into the Godavari River by industrial units or was there any other...