-The Hindu Water storage in major Indian reservoirs has dipped to 19% of their total capacity, according to a weekly update by the Central Water Commission on Thursday. On the back of consecutive droughts in 2014 and 2015, several parts of India have faced searing droughts. This has contributed to water in these 91 dams steadily falling to touch decadal lows since April but a top official said water levels had not...

-The Financial Express In a drought period, its job-insurance function critical Never perhaps in its decade of existence has the rural employment guarantee programme —MGNREGA—been more relevant than it is now. After two weak monsoons, the critically low water levels in reservoirs have resulted in drought-like conditions in large parts of the country. Critics of the scheme would argue that even in its best days, the programme hasn’t accounted for more than...

-The Indian Express The suffering of millions does not create public outrage, much less government accountability. The people of India’s villages carry collective memories of centuries of calamitous losses of sometimes millions of lives in famines. Famines have been pushed into history, unarguably one of free India’s greatest accomplishments. But the same can’t be said about droughts, which continue to extract an enormous toll on human suffering. At least a third of the...

-Business Standard India suffers an almost 36% shortfall in green fodder and over 11% shortage in dry fodder in normal times After water, the central government is now planning to enlist the help of Indian Railways to transport fodder from surplus states to deficient ones to save millions of livestock which have been facing a crisis due to severe drought and drinking water crisis in many parts of the country. Officials said that...

-The Times of India Bhopal: Despite an aggressive government campaign to save lives of infants in Madhya Pradesh, there has been a considerable increase in the number of their deaths in the state. According to National Health Mission, the number of deaths of infants has gone up to 19,672 till January 2016. State capital Bhopal is the worst performer where maximum 1,060 infants died from April 2015 to January 2016. The state already...