-The Times of India NEW DELHI: At a time when 'Udta Punjab' has put the spotlight on the state's crippling drug problem, not much is being done to rehabilitate addicts, according to RTI queries. At least 30 rehab centres run by the Punjab government or linked to it have not received a single addict sent on court orders, Punjab's health department admitted in its response to RTI questions. Sections 27, 39 and...

-The Indian Express The investigation suggests the irregularities began in 2013. Mumbai: In Maharashtra’s Nandurbar district, Central funds to be received by tribal families under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) for construction of dug-wells on farmlands were allegedly siphoned off before any benefit could be passed on to the beneficiaries, an investigation by the state’s tribal development department has found. It has also been found that officials involved in the racket had submitted...

At the Labour Line office of Aajeevika Bureau situated at Syphon Chouraha on Bedla Road in Udaipur, Santosh Poonia said that 12,926 calls were received by his office between August 2011 and March 2016, out of which almost 37 percent were payment-related grievance calls. During the same time-span, 2,008 payment-related cases (as received by the Labour Line office) could be settled. Poonia, who is Programme Manager (Legal Education and Aid...

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...

-Livemint.com A look at the past three budgets shows that the government took note of the crisis only in 2016 On 24 April 2014, about a month before Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed a new government at the centre, the India Meteorological Department made an ominous forecast. The four-month-long southwest monsoon which irrigates more than half of India’s farmlands was likely to be deficient. Over the next few months the...