-The Times of India If you are worried about trees facing a hostile environment in the city, here is some more grim news. Many old trees across the city are struggling to survive as their roots are being choked by concrete. One such stretch is on Press Enclave Road where a number of Alstonia or Saptaparni trees are getting choked with concrete and cement tiles as part of Delhi government's pavement...

-The Indian Express Fifteen-year-old Altaf Hussain crouches effortlessly and heads into what looks like a black hole. Dragging a large wooden cart behind him, he disappears into the gaping darkness within seconds. After what seems like an endless wait but lasts just half an hour, he emerges from the hole with a cart laden with dark, glittering coal. The head of this group of 30 is Abu Kalam Mia. The 27-year-old ‘sardar’,...

-The Indian Express Punjab has not missed the monsoon. Despite rainfall being nearly 60 per cent deficient — there has been some this week — the paddy fields have remained lush green all through the season. But below, the water table in over 80 per cent of Punjab is depleting. Of 138 hydrogeological blocks, over 100 are listed as dark or grey zones due to over-exploitation of underground water, with the average...

-PTI Two hundred miners trapped in West Bengal coal mines have been evacuated, while efforts are going on to rescue 65 others stuck in Jharkhand mines.  265 miners were trapped in various coal mines of state- owned Eastern Coalfields and Bharat Coking Coal in the two states following massive power failure across the country due to grids collapse by 1300 hrs.  "All the 200 stuck inside Sodepur and Satgram mines in Burdwan (West...

-The Times of India Groundwater, a precious natural resource, is for all practical purposes a private property in India. Anyone can bore and extract water from the land he owns with few rules to restrict over-exploitation. But all this could soon change. Plans are afoot to alter laws and regulations to make groundwater a common property resource to ensure better regulation by government as a public trustee with the involvement of communities...