Situation alarming: More than one-third population hit by drought   The country is facing severe drought for the second consecutive year. Conservative estimates from official sources show that over a quarter of rural habitations are facing drinking water scarcity. Although both India Meteorological Department and Skymet have predicted a more than normal rainfall during June-September, 2016, the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country has declined from 22 percent...

-Business Standard The first two years of the Narendra Modi government were marked by big announcements that will take their time to materialise. The one sector that is unfazed by slogans is agriculture. The sector is crippled by back-to-back droughts coupled with a record fall in farm prices. A slump in global markets meant that agriculture exports, which could provide farmers alternative revenue, dried up. Agriculture and processed food exports from India...

-The Hindu An analysis of 812 MLAs across the five states where elections were recently conducted. A third of all the MLAs elected through the recent elections have criminal charges filed against them, says an analysis done by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR). The firm collected and analysed data for all the 812 MLAs elected in the recently-concluded polls in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry. State-wise...

-Down to Earth A recent report shows how energy requirement of women differ in various states and in different occupations and how limiting the current scenarios are SEWA Bharat and SELCO Foundation together formed a “Stree Shakti Consortium” to promote the inclusion of women in energy access supply chain. The consortium, yesterday, conducted a workshop to present a report called “Energy Access and Women's Livelihood” that articulates on-ground stories of 300...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday virtually rejected Chief Justice of India TS Thakur's claim that 40,000 more judges were needed to obliterate over three crore pending cases by saying that his estimates were not backed by any scientific research or data. Referring to 1987 Law Commission report suggesting increase in judges' strength, the CJI had on May 8 said the judiciary needed an additional 40,000 Judges to...