-IANS Kolkata: Lack of policy directions for ensuring quality implementation of programmes makes the Union Budget 2017-18 allocations to ailing core social sectors like education and health inadequate in delivering the benefits, experts say. Schemes like Swachh Bharat-Urban and the National Social Assistance Programme saw no increase, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan got a mere 4.4 per cent rise in allocation, while the Integrated Child Development Services got an enhancement of about five per...

-The Hindu Business Line Rising input costs have shrunk profits, making cultivation unviable. Easy access to credit and better MSPs can help The unremitting wave of farmer suicides has resurfaced, now haunting the farming heartlands of Tamil Nadu. Troubled by a severely deficit monsoon which triggered the worst drought in 140 years, over 100 farmers, mostly in the Cauvery delta, have reportedly committed suicide during a period of one month, and the...

Against the backdrop of drought that affected most states in the past 2 years, it is essential to take a look at a report on improving water governance in the country, which was submitted to the Ministry of Water Resources in July, 2016. That report, which was prepared by the Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission (CWC) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under the chairpersonship of Dr. Mihir...

-Bangalore Mirror ICAR researchers say subsidised electricity benefitting only medium and large farmers Stating that the policy decision to provide free or subsidised electricity has been a key driver for widespread groundwater exploitation, estimates by ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Ballari, reveal that in Karnataka, groundwater depletion has forced farmers to drill up to depths of 200 to 300 metres, costing about Rs 2.5-3 lakh for a successful...

-Current Science India is facing a major water crisis which threatens the basic right to drinking water of the citizens; it also puts the livelihoods of millions at risk. The demands of a rapidly industrializing economy and urbanizing society come at a time when the potential for augmenting supply is limited, water tables are falling and water quality issues have increasingly come to the fore. If the current pattern of demand...