-Business Standard Drop in wheat acreage evidence of stress in agriculture Chandigarh: Two consecutive drought years have led to rural distress in the food bowl states. At some places, this has become even worse due to the attack of the white pest. Sahiblal Shukla, a farmer in Chitrakut in Uttar Pradesh , who has spent his lifetime in ploughing fields says that, “farmers in Bundelkhand area of the state may soon pack their...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Concerned by the future projections of water availability in India, the government is mulling the legislation route to save the scarce resource from depleting any further. It plans to come out with a new draft National Water Framework Bill - on the lines of the one in effect in Europe - and improvising on the existing draft law of 2013. Since water is a state subject,...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Nearly 55% of Maharashtra's population lives in its rural belt compared to 45% in its urban areas. Yet its cities and metros get almost five times more drinking water as its villages from the state's dams, notified rivers and select lakes. The data which reveals the stark rural-urban divide in the allocation of drinking water has been compiled by the state's water resources department. In urban areas,...

-The Indian Express The reality of rural distress is sinking in only now for policymakers. There can be no better illustration of the vagaries of the weather than Chennai’s streets being inundated with water and the second India-South Africa cricket test in Bangalore suffering washout due to rains, even as drought stalks much of the country. That really is the case today, with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, southern and coastal Karnataka, Rayalaseema...

-The Hindu Cyclonic storms on Tamil Nadu’s 1,076-km coastline are not unusual, and at least once in two years there is some disaster or the other. The common thread running through every such instance is that all claims of preparedness are invariably exposed as either hollow or woefully inadequate. The focus, as well as any claim to administrative efficiency, is solely on rescue and relief operations. What the government is able...