-The Telegraph   Chief minister Nitish Kumar today conducted an aerial survey and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams rushed to the central Bihar districts for rescue operations after over 8.39 lakh cusecs of water was suddenly released from the Vansagar dam in Madhya Pradesh. The water released from the MP-based dam has put enormous pressure on the Indrapuri barrage in Rohtas and several places on the embankment along the River Sone. The...

-BBC   More than a million people have been displaced and at least 16 killed as floods in India's Orissa state submerged entire villages, officials say. Heavy monsoon rains submerged about 2,600 villages across 19 districts. Several Rivers, including the Mahanadi, are overflowing and flood waters have severed a number of key road links. In Pakistan, the UN has begun relief operations after weeks of rain affected millions in the south. At least 199 people have...

-The Telegraph   The Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and the All Assam Students Union today launched statewide protests against the movement of turbines meant for lower Subansiri hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh. Two Bangladeshi vessels, carrying the NHPC turbines, which had remained stranded for months at Bongshichar in Dhubri district following anti-dam protests, had yesterday set sail for Jogighopa in Bongaigaon district to offload the consignment. In Guwahati, about 200 KMSS members, led by...

The next 72 hours will be crucial for the state as it battles to keep its head above rising floodwaters in the Mahanadi basin. Authorities kept an anxious watch on the situation today as Hirakud town was cut off from Sambalpur and the Pipli-Konark road was closed with several Rivers still in spate. The government directed collectors of the 19 flood-hit districts to close down schools and colleges in the marooned...

Do agencies like the Ford Foundation push their own agenda through the NGOs they support? It’s often said, tongue in cheek, that India’s “shadow” government works out of the nondescript, low-slung buildings abutting the Lodhi Garden in Delhi. That’s partly hubris, but it also stems from being close to the centre of power. This rarefied zone houses powerful “cultural” institutions like the India International Centre, as well as a host...