The Orissa government finds itself in the midst of an embarrassing controversy following allegations of official relief being distributed in bags emblazoned with conch, the election symbol of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD). Miffed at the ruling party’s bid to make political capital out of the relief operation, flood-affected people in Nadiabarei village of Kendrapara district refused to accept dry food packets containing flattened rice (chudda) as they bore 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...

-IANS   Floods triggered by heavy rains over the past week and huge discharge of water from Hirakud dam have killed at least 16 people in Orissa and displaced thousands, an official said Sunday. There were reports of six people being swept away in Nayagarh and Bargarh districts but their dead bodies were yet to be found. The situation continued to be grim in several places of the affected 19 of the state's 30...

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...