-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Rajnath Singh, who assumed charge as home minister on Thursday, has hinted at the possibility of looking at the merger of the National Population Register (NPR) exercise and Aadhar scheme. During his first interaction with ministry officials, Singh is said to have asked for suggestions on how the two schemes could be made "complementary" so as to eliminate any duplicity between them. Incidentally, the UPA's flagship Aadhar...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: The 2G scam-tainted A Raja, DMK candidate from Nilgiris constituency in Tamil Nadu, had to taste humiliation not only at the hands of his AIADMK rival C Gopalakrishnan but also had to put up with a spoiler called NOTA. NOTA, short for none-of-the-above option introduced for the first time in this Lok Sabha election, polled the highest votes in Nilgiris, 46,559 to be precise, beating...

-The Indian Express   A new study on the Dal Lake could point the way in dealing with ecological challenges   A multi-dimensional group of experts from the Bangalore-based biodiversity and environment think tank, ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment), embarked on a wide-ranging study to save Srinagar's Dal Lake. The ATREE team of experts includes a water quality scientist, a hydrologist, a sociologist, an institutional management and governance expert and...

-The Hindu     Aberrations in monsoon behaviour are not uncommon. What is new is the difficulty in forecasting caused by factors coming under the generic title, ‘Climate change.' Forecasts by the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum and the India Meteorological Department indicate that the south-west monsoon rainfall may be deficient. Also, there is a possibility of the evolution of an El Niño event during June to September. There is a 45 per cent...

-ANI   Aurangabad: Absence of proper rainfall has risked the farmlands of Aurangabad district in Maharashtra and lack of subsequent effective government intervention is leaving farmers with no option but suicide. According to climate report of researchers there are high chances of climatic conditions similar to El Nino effect to occur in 14 districts in Maharashtra. Farmers of Marathwada region in Aurangabad have been experiencing difficult times for the last three years. The...