-The Times of India VIJAYAWADA: The agriculture sector in Andhra Pradesh is in the throes of a major crisis. Notwithstanding the claims of chief minister Chandrababu Naidu that his government has won the war on drought by deploying rain guns and taking up drought-mitigation measures, the kharif season -- which has just ended -- has been a big dampener for the farming community. What is shocking is that crop acreage in the...

-The Telegraph The death of more than 50 dengue patients in eight city hospitals this year offers a peek into the severity of the menace but the extent of the crisis remains unknown in the absence of figures from the government. To put things in perspective, the disease caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito had claimed less than 20 lives across the state last year. The Mamata Banerjee government's decision to prefer secrecy...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Almost 80% of government-run hospitals in Delhi, which together have a daily footfall of about 50,000, do not have basic fire safety measures in place. Overcrowding, lack of trained manpower and poor maintenance are other problems that put the city’s hospitals at risk. At least 20 people were killed and scores injured in a fire that broke out at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, on Monday night. “In government...

-The Times of India KOLKATA: The blaze at a Bhubaneshwar hospital on Monday, in which 20 people were killed, has revived the tragic memory of the 2011 devastating fire at AMRI hospital that killed 91 patients but hundreds of Kolkata health facilities are apparently yet to learn a lesson. In spite of heightened vigilance and stricter implementation of prevention norms by fire services, especially after the AMRI disaster, government facilities and scores...

-The Hindu ‘When there are no signs of war why uproot poor farmers when crops are ready for harvest?’ The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have severely criticised the Union and Punjab government for evacuating the border villages in the State without proper arrangements. They accuse the government of spreading panic among people. Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh said on Sunday that the Union government was creating war hysteria and tension along...