-The Hindu Business Line New Delhi: As floods continue ravage large parts of the country, Uma Bharti, Union Minister for water resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, on Saturday reviewed the situation and the action being taken at the national level. After the meeting, Bharti announced that she would visit Uttar Pradesh and Bihar next week, according to an official release. “The Minister will visit Uttar Pradesh on 21st August and Bihar on...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Entire Vidarbha and parts of Marathwada region are reeling under acute shortage of water owing to poor monsoon. In fact, water stock was zero in some of the dams in the Vidarbha region on Monday. Further, a large number of tankers have been sent to several villages in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. Last year, 176 tankers were deployed across the state, while on August 7, 440 tankers...

-The Hindu This, despite early release of water to Godavari, Krishna deltas Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh): Deficit rainfall in July in August has impacted sowing in the State. The State government’s pro-active step to release water early to Godavari and Krishna deltas to hasten sowing too has not worked to the expected level. While the normal area sown till date (August 9 from June 1) is 24 lakh hectares, sowing has been completed only...

-The Hindu A new regulatory regime for groundwater, that provides for equitable use, is urgently needed The water crisis India faces is of such a magnitude that urgent measures are necessary to address it. Yet, while the crisis is often discussed, law and policy measures to address it remain insufficient. This is partly due to the fact that the primary source of domestic water and irrigation is groundwater but the media and...

-Scroll.in A draft notification on the Central Ground Water Authority’s website seems to relax the rules laid out in 2015. The Central Ground Water Authority has drafted new guidelines to regulate the use of groundwater across the country. If these get approved, water-guzzling industries such as packaged drinking water and paper manufacturers could be allowed to drill for water even in areas identified as facing a groundwater crisis. The draft does away...