A team of central officials and experts will visit Jharkhand to assess the drought situation, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said in the Lok Sabha today, a day after Raj Bhavan added four names to the existing list of 12 parched districts. Tomorrow, the central team will go to Bihar, which has also recorded deficit rainfall this monsoon, on a similar mission. Pawar’s assurance came in response to a question raised by...

After death and destruction following mudslides, comes the fear of waterborne diseases in Leh. Doctors have reported a steady rise in the cases of gastroenteritis due to contaminated drinking water. They have also found symptoms of cholera and typhoid. Central Relief agencies, including DRDO, have sent biochemical water filters, portable testing kits and chlorine tablets to the inhabitants. "There is no proper drainage system in Leh. Potable water has been...

About 85,000 people in three south-western districts of Odisha have been affected by flash floods as rivers submerged vast areas following heavy rains, state Revenue and Disaster Management minister S N Patro said here today. In 151 villages of the affected blocks, Relief camps have been set up and food served to the affected people through community kitchen, Patro told reporters after a visit to the flood-hit districts of Nabarangpur,...

During my fieldwork in Tonk district of Rajasthan, a Dalit family once narrated a ‘miracle’ to me. In 2002, they faced a drought as bad as the chhappani akaal of 1900-02. But at the end of 2002, the Dalit family was pleasantly surprised: they still had some foodgrain left. This, the family members said, was a result of the good Relief work done by the Ashok Gehlot government. Similar proactive State...

Four months after the Right to Education (RTE) Act came into force, guaranteeing every child up to 14 years of age free and compulsory education, the Delhi High Court on Thursday delivered its first landmark ruling by according the Relief to 874 children, 350 of them differently abled. Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw allowed the petition of advocate Ashok Aggarwal of NGO Social Jurist and directed the Delhi government and its schools...