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...

-The Indian Express “Incomes” not rising, due to low crop prices and stagnating wages, has more than offset any “asset” gains in the recent period, which also probably explains the party’s heavy losses in the three states it ruled, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. New Delhi: The big rural economy takeaway for the BJP from the just-concluded assembly elections is that mere asset creation — building roads, houses and toilets or...

-The Times of India DEHRADUN: Officials involved in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) are facing a unique problem as many Muslim women beneficiaries of the scheme are insisting on having their pictures clicked only in a burqa. Beneficiaries, all of whom are women, are allotted an amount of Rs 1.60 lakh to construct a pucca house under the scheme. However, before releasing the payment, the beneficiary's picture has to be taken...

-Down to Earth Eighteen months and Rs 4,275.31 crores later, not even 0.1 per cent of the project could be completed "By the time the nation completes 75 years of its Independence (2022), every family will have a pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24x7 electricity supply and access." It was May 2014 and the Modi-led government had just come to power. A year later, during the presentation of Annual...

-The Times of India Junagadh: At a time when population of Asiatic lions is spreading outside of the Gir wildlife sanctuary into fringe areas leading to rise in man-animal conflict, hundreds of Maldharis (traditional inhabitants of Gir forest), who had moved out of the protected forest after taking benefit of government's resettlement scheme in 1980s have returned to the forest over the past two decades. The state forest department has ordered a...