-Reuters Millions of people in Maharashtra are at serious risk of hunger after two years of low rainfall, coupled with poor management of water resources, have left dams empty, farmland parched and cattle emaciated, aid agencies warned on Thursday. Maharashtra -- one of the country's biggest producers of sugar, pulses, cotton and soybeans -- is reeling from the worst drought in more than four decades after receiving less than 50 percent of...

-The Hindu     The shortened lifespan of the quarry workers of Uttar Pradesh is spent breaking stones and residing among the pollution- laden boulders Mired with sandy roads and rocky terrain, the landscape in south-western Allahabad creates a remarkable mirage under the blue sky. Some of the larger rocks here have sizeable craters formed in them -- a sign of their depletion over time, by an activity that is hazardous yet critical to the...

-The Hindu   The water markets of Marathwada are booming. In the town of Jalna alone, tanker owners transact between Rs.6 million and Rs.7.5 million in water sales each day Thirst is Marathwada's greatest crop this season. Forget sugarcane. Thirst, human and industrial, eclipses anything else. Those harvesting it reap tens of millions of rupees each day across the region. The van loads of dried-out cane you see on the roads could end...

-The Economic Times Vegetable prices have dropped thanks to good supplies across the country. Onion, tomato and potato prices have fallen by almost 20%-25% in the last fortnight bringing relief to consumers. Traders say prices are likely to remain low till June. Indians consume nearly 15 million tonne onions a year. A drop in the prices of staple vegetables like onion and potato helps bring down food inflation, a major worry for...

-The Times of India Last year's unusually dry summer and this winter's unprecedented snowfall, the worst in nearly 50 years, in Ladakh's Changtang area has claimed over 18,000 "pashmina" goats, the source of one of the finest varieties of wool that has put the region on the world map. Changtang is a high altitude plateau in southeastern Ladakh, inhabited by Changpa (Champa) nomads, and known for its harsh and semi-arid weather with...