-PTI Chhapra/ Patna: Violent protests erupted in Chhapra in Bihar on Wednesday where 20 children died after consuming mid day meal in their school. According to television reports, people armed with sticks and rods set blaze a bus and damaged public property. Nine more school students died today due to food poisoning after consuming mid-day meal at a government primary school in Bihar's Saran district taking the death toll to 20, official...

-The Hindu Uttarakhand reiterates that our rulers have contemptuous disregard for the advice of the best scientists and would rather listen to contractors and builders to whom they are beholden for funds In the early 1980s, while doing research on the environmental history of Uttarakhand, I sometimes visited the library of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology in Dehradun. Most of the journals in the library dealt with geology and earth sciences,...

-Live Mint Fast clearance of river projects and the lack of disaster preparedness have wreaked havoc in Uttarakhand Relief operations in disaster-ravaged Uttarakhand have ended and the time seems ripe to take account of the institutional frailties that have contributed to the ongoing human disaster in the state. Chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has been blamed for inaction when the disaster first struck and has also admitted that the state did not...

-IANS Guwahati: Flooded rivers have submerged 80 more villages in Assam, taking the number of such villages to 300, and damaged roads and embankment in the state, officials said Monday. The 80 villages are located in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur and Chirang districts. As many as 11 districts are in the flood fury, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) told IANS. Officials said over 40,000 people have been affected. There has not been no...

-DNA Ordinance promulgated by UPA rules out aid during calamities - natural or man-made. Even as the food security ordinance became part of the statute book after presidential assent on Friday, the Congress and government allayed fears of the law having any effect on the financial management of the country. Armed with figures, Congress chief spokesman Ajay Maken along with food minister KV Thomas explained that the scheme, which entailed merging of...