-Down to Earth Blog MGNREGA has been successful in Madhya Pradesh. Can the scheme also provide solutions for the current drought in the region? Sevanti Bai (45) lives alone in a village in Madhya Pradesh. Her husband died fifteen years ago, owing to health complications. With no land or children to depend on, she fends for herself by engaging in ‘rojgaar guarantee, as the locals call the scheme. MGNREGA, she says, has...

-Hindustan Times "Most of the movement in the World Press Freedom Index… is indicative of a climate of fear and tension combined with increasing control over newsrooms by governments and private-sector interests." - the RSF website India has ranked abysmally low at 133 among 180 countries in the latest annual World Press Freedom Index which says Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems “indifferent” to the threats against journalists. The rankings, which are released annually, are...

-The Indian Express In Maharashtra, where the sugar industry and politics are twined, drought is a manmade disaster Rains fall from the sky, but drought is “made” on the ground, at least in Maharashtra. The prevailing water crisis in the state is not about the unavailability of water resources. It’s all about criminal mismanagement of available resources. For the record: Yes, rains were deficient last year. In regions like Marathwada, which is facing...

-Theweekendleader.com/ Women's Feature Service Purulia (West Bengal): It was ironical that Purulia district often found itself on the West Bengal government's 'drought-hit' list when the average rainfall here is 1100mm-1500mm. The failure to conserve water as well as poor agricultural practices meant that despite back-breaking labour in the fields, farmers could only achieve six months' food sufficiency. Today, however, all that is changing thanks to a water management revolution led by ordinary village...

-The Indian Express The villagers’ ire is rooted in being isolated from the rest of the district for seven years. Tindharay: Fifty kilometres from Darjeeling town, roads snaking through tea-laden hills lead to Tindharay. It’s a nondescript village like many in the Darjeeling hills. But Sunday, as North Bengal voted, Tindharay did not do so — or at least not for any political party. The single polling booth in the village, located in...