-The Business Standard The Uttarakhand floods have put the spotlight on the competence of the national body which was created with a vision 'to build a safer and disaster-resilient India' When thousands got swept away by floods in Uttarakhand on the night of June 16, little help reached the mountains till at least a day had passed. Though the weather department had issued a warning, the magnitude of the disaster shows that...

-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...

-The Telegraph Imphal: Environmentalists and NGOs in Manipur have urged the Union ministry of environment and forests not to give clearance to the Tipaimukh dam project, saying it would destroy the environment and impact lives of the people in and around the dam. The opposition to the project has been renewed following reports that the Centre would take a decision on giving clearance to the project in the next few days. Sources said...

-PTI Till September 2011, only eight States have prepared EAP for 192 large Dams Even as the Uttarakhand floods bring to the fore the debate over strength of Dams, there are over 4,500 such structures in the country which are operating without an "emergency action plan" (EAP) rendering huge area and property vulnerable to cascading effects of dam failure. The Central Water Commission (CWC), which works under the Water Resources Ministry, had issued...