-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A national disaster risk index mapping hazards and vulnerabilities across 640 districts puts Maharashtra at the top of the chart followed by West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, while Delhi is most at risk among Union territories (UTs). At first glance, the lower hazard ranking to states like those in the north-east and others like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, which are prone to earthquakes or...

-Livemint.com According to the National Family Health Survey data, the average age at death for Dalit women was 39.5 years against 54.1 years for higher-caste women New Delhi: Dalit women in India die younger than upper caste women, face discrimination in accessing healthcare and lag behind on almost all health indicators. While violence against Dalits may be the main form of discrimination visible to the outside world, there are many other ways in...

-The Hindu The social activist whose new book on the RTI is just out, worries about the doublespeak in politics today, where rhetoric and substance never match The past couple of months have been hectic for Aruna Roy. The social activist and Magsaysay Award winner has been travelling across the country to promote her book, The RTI Story: Power to the People, which came out in April. After waiting more than a...

-Financial Express Loan waivers adversely affect marginal farmers due to a reduction of formal credit channels given to them On the eve of the Karnataka election, waivers of farm loans were one of the major election promises. Now, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy wants to fulfill his pre-poll promise and even threatened to resign if he cannot fulfill his promise. As has been seen time and time again, “farmers first” provides political mileage....

-The Indian Express International treaties hold lessons for the Cauvery dispute. More than 80 per cent of Indian rivers are inter-state rivers. According to the Central Water Commission, there are 125 inter-state water agreements in India. Many of these agreements are more than 100 years old and had been executed without seriously considering socio-economic, political and geographical factors. These treaties have now become permanent sources of problems for many states. Continuous redrawing...