-The Indian Express With the overall rainfall deficiency this monsoon tracing the pattern of 2009, when the country witnessed widespread drought over 350 districts, the government Friday said while the situation was a matter of concern, the news “agriculturally” wasn’t as bad as three years ago in most parts. “As of yesterday, the overall rainfall deficiency stood at 21 per cent. Parts of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Western Rajasthan and Gujarat remain regions of...

-PTI The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on drought will meet on Tuesday to review the monsoon situation, with the sowing of kharif crops, particularly coarse cereals, affected by a deficiency in rains. “I have planned EGoM on drought on coming Tuesday,” Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who was recently made head of the EGoM on drought, told reporters. The EGoM is authorised to review the situation and take ”quick and timely decisions” on...

-NDTV The Indian government has had a documentary film on the 2002 Gujarat riots dropped from a private exhibition in Beijing. The Ministry of External Affairs says it intervened after it received complaints from the Indian community in China. The film had already screened at the exhibition for about a month before the ministry asked the organisers to remove it; they agreed to do so. The short film, by prominent filmmaker and...

-The Economic Times The labour ministry has set up a panel to look into discrepancies into its second annual employment and unemployment survey, which may have resulted in wide variation in performance of different states. "The committee will look at all aspects of the survey, including the methodology and the original field level data used. It will also look out for processing errors," a labour ministry official told ET. The findings of the...

-The Telegraph Jharkhand has earned the dubious distinction of being one of the worst performers in climate and environment protection, faring poorly in a survey carried out by the Planning Commission. The report card showing Jharkhand in 20th position on the Environment Performance Index (EPI) 2012 was sent by the Planning Commission to the forest secretary two days ago. “The report is yet to be released officially, but being ranked 20 among all...