Initial media reports suggest how timely interventions by various official agencies in Odisha prevented loss of human lives when Cyclone Fani hit that state on 3rd May. However, it is essential to also take into account recent official reports by different agencies, which indicate that the impact of the cyclone has been quite severe. A situation assessment report on the impact of Fani cyclone dated 15th May, 2019, which was released...

-DNA The unaddressed question is what happens when the VVPAT count doesn’t match the EVM count The general elections 2019 is moving towards closure, with six out of seven phases already over. All eyes are now on the counting. It is not surprising that the issue of counting of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) has become hot once again. The decision to introduce VVPATs as a measure to make electronic voting machines...

-The Telegraph Shelters that can function as a a school or a vegetable market Kharagpur: Two IIT Kharagpur Professors who have designed the shelters that saved thousands of lives after Cyclone Fani hit Odisha last Friday said the lessons of the 1999 supercyclone were the trigger behind their project. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya, professor of civil engineering department at the institute, and Gopal Chandra Mitra, a visiting professor at the department, took one-and-a-half years...

-Livemint.com * Only 13% surveyed chose cash if it came at the expense of spending to improve public health and nutrition * The number grew to 35% if the cash came at the expense of improving roads New Delhi: A timely survey conducted in rural Bihar by a World Bank economist and two Professors from the Georgetown University to gauge the response of poor people on the raging debate over a minimum income...

-The Indian Express Will the kisan take care of interests of landless peasants as well? In the aftermath of the demonstrations by farmers in the name of agricultural prices and loan waiving, it is important to remember that village India also comprises of landless peasants who have nothing to sell on the market and have never gone to a bank. Their condition has deteriorated, too, as a result not only of the...