-The Indian Express Recent announcements on possible changes to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and restrictions on its coverage are baffling and worrisome. The passing of the MGNREGA and the Right to Information Act heralded a new vision of citizenship and state responsibility. The former created a safety net for the rural poor. The latter gave taxpayers and voters an opportunity to bridge the gap between state...
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When all the boards did shrink -Himanshu Upadhya
-Hard News Floods in Kashmir could have been managed better if there was a reliable early warning system The first fortnight of September saw Jammu and Kashmir being ravaged by severe flash floods. But, according to the snatches of news we got, the monsoon was below average in the state until the last week of August. Thereafter, four days of incessant rain in the Valley and in Jammu made almost all the...
More »Andhra Pradesh launches portal to collate data on cyclone Hudhud damages
-CNN-IBN Hyderabad: Aiming to leverage the power of technology, the Andhra Pradesh government has launched a web portal to collate and analyse data on the damages caused by the devastating cyclone Hudhud in coastal Andhra. The portal www.hudhud.ap.gov.in will facilitate collation and analysis of damages and it will be used by all government departments, government officials said in Hyderabad on Wednesday. The portal connects to the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) website...
More »Flood forecasting fails in J&K?
It is said that the Central Water Commission (CWC) has failed miserably in September 2014 to furnish information on river flow and raise alarm to people of Jammu and Kashmir living in the downstream areas in the midst of heavy rainfall. The CWC is responsible for making forecasts of floods in all flood-prone areas and provides advisory to the states for tackling floods. The NGO South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers...
More »Chronicle of a tragedy foretold -Himanshu Thakkar
-The Hindu No agency provided any prior warning about the massive floods in Jammu and Kashmir "What suddenly caused Jammu and Kashmir to be ravaged by floods?" is now the raging question. As families of victims struggle to come to terms with the large-scale impact of the tragedy and as people all over the country attempt to understand the reasons for it, it remains to be seen how deep this concern really...
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