-The Hindu No agency provided any prior warning about the massive floods in Jammu and Kashmir "What suddenly caused Jammu and Kashmir to be ravaged by floods?" is now the raging question. As families of victims struggle to come to terms with the large-scale impact of the tragedy and as people all over the country attempt to understand the reasons for it, it remains to be seen how deep this concern really...

-The Hindu The Odisha government has made the right announcements to improve the plight of migrant workers, but a lot more needs to be done In December 2013, a labourer chopped off the palms of two migrant workers from western Odisha. He had paid them an advance for working in the brick kilns of Hyderabad and did not take kindly to their arguing with him about the payment and place of work....

-The Hindu Business Line To address the water crisis, recycling plants can work as PPPs and industry should switch to using such water Some stark facts: India has 18 per cent of world's population with only 4 per cent of total usable water resources. Annual per capita availability of water has declined by 15 per cent in the past 10 years and is estimated to fall to as low as 1140 m3/year...

-The Business Standard Forest Rights Act being reinterpreted to avoid amendment Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is discussing possible ways to do away with the mandatory requirement of securing consent from tribal gram sabhas (village councils) before cutting down their forests for industrial purposes. The deliberations, on among various ministries, are for zeroing in on such a way that the requirement is removed without...

Six journalists from Hindi and English media from Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam and Punjab have been selected for the prestigious Inclusive Media-UNDP Fellowships 2014. The fellows will take time off from routine journalism to spend time with rural/ marginalized communities to highlight their anxieties and concerns that require wider coverage and public attention. The fellowships cover costs of news gathering, logistics and incidental expenses up to Rs 150,000. The fellowship Jury...