-The Hindu The projects, including mining and a highway, were brought up during virtual conferences; but site inspections are ‘a crucial component’ of project evaluation, say scientists Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh has a decidedly other-worldly feel. “Yeh kaunsi duniya hai,” my colleague exclaimed as we climbed the towering mountains — home to the endemic goat-antelope Mishmi takin, the ‘bright-eyed’ butterfly Callerebia dibangensis, and the Mishmi wren-babbler. I had read about the...

-The Hindu * What is the push behind the strategic disinvestment move? What are the gains? The story so far: On November 20, the government announced that it would sell stakes in several public sector undertakings (PSUs) and even give up management control in some. The Central government will cede full management control to buyers in the case of oil marketing company Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI)...

-Business Standard Till the time you don’t give water to a farmer’s fields, you can’t save him from suicide. Intervening in a debate in the state Assembly on July 21, 2015, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra remarked that the state has 40 per cent of the country’s large dams, “but 82 per cent area of the state is rainfed. Till the time you don’t give water to a farmer’s fields, you can’t...

-The Hindu Say policymakers induce farmers to adopt incongruent crop pattern, causing water crisis Pune: The water crisis in Maharashtra is a “policy-induced failure”, according to economists and water academics who have specifically warned of the ‘desertification’ of the parched Marathwada region in the near future. “It is the ecological illiteracy of policy-makers and the selfishness of the power elite in inducing farmers across Marathwada to adopt a crop pattern that is not...

-The Hindu Business Line The North-East monsoon could reactivate ‘aborted landslides’ in hilly areas Thiruvananthapuram: While managing dams and reservoirs, Kerala should opt for an approach that maximises power generation by suitably incorporating weather prediction needs. This is one of the major highlights of a survey of the damage from the August floods by a team headed by Thomas Oommen, geoscientist and Associate Professor at the Michigan Technological University. Shutter opening The survey was carried...