-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The central and state governments have opened their purses for rescue and relief operations as floods continue to cause immense damage and loss of lives in several states. Till Friday, the Centre and states together released over Rs 6,900 crore in eight states to safeguard human lives even as estimation of economic loss is yet to begin. Poll-bound Maharashtra has seen the highest release of Rs...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: After cities like Bhopal and Nagpur, it’s Delhi’s turn to go green by at least partially replacing firewood used in cremation with gobar kashth — wood-like dry blocks made from cattle dung. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which inspected the Goyla dairy in south Delhi last week, has asked South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to utilise cattle dung from dairy colonies to manufacture these dry...

-The Hindu Rice cultivation in Punjab, which THRived in the past due to the easy availability of water resources and free supply of electricity to farmers, is under considerable strain now. Vikas Vasudeva examines how overexploitation has made groundwater not only scarce but also increasingly alkaline. Gurmeet Singh, 60, a tall land-owning farmer in Bhattiwal Khurd village, which is located in Punjab’s Sangrur district, has yet again planted the water-guzzling paddy crop...

-The Telegraph Its only usefulness could be to determine how Assam might be recompensed for coping with the magnitude of immigration Boris Johnson is no vaishnavite saint; nor is he a leftist internationalist. According to Donald Trump people see him as the “British Trump” and, judging by the cabinet he has picked as prime minister, with a hard-Right home secretary, and the company he kept during the Brexit referendum which included Nigel...

-The Telegraph Below-normal and drought are the new normal. Since 2012 there has only been one normal monsoon. Monsoons follow their own patterns, unpredictable as they may be. In the past, certain periods, spanning a decade or sometimes two, have had higher frequencies of droughts and at the moment, we seem to be stuck in such a cycle. Between 1900 and the year 2000, there was one drought per decade. But...