-The Indian Express At a time of extreme rural distress, the Centre is violating the basic provisions of the employment guarantee act We are currently in the midst of an unprecedented early drought that is already affecting at least 10 states. Even if the met department’s optimistic prediction of a better-than-normal monsoon comes to pass, it will be at least two months before there is much relief in most rural areas...

-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...

-Livemint.com/ AP Hundreds of millions of people in at least 13 states are reeling from severe drought, a situation that is expected to worsen in the coming months Shahapur: Shantabai Babulkar’s day begins before dawn with a 5 kilometer trek across barren fields and dusty scrubland to fetch water from a distant well for her family. The two metal pots of muddy water that Babulkar, 58, balances on her head and a...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: As many as 882 deaths in five years, nearly four-fifths of them in a single state. These statistics do not pertain to some inexorable natural calamities. These are figures of tribal children who lost their lives in state-run residential schools across the country between 2010 and 2015. These are numbers of innocent lives lost seemingly on account of sheer official apathy, manifest in the lack of basic...

-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...