-The Business Standard The Uttarakhand floods have put the spotlight on the competence of the national body which was created with a vision 'to build a safer and disaster-resilient India' When thousands got swept away by floods in Uttarakhand on the night of June 16, little help reached the mountains till at least a day had passed. Though the weather department had issued a warning, the magnitude of the disaster shows that...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Onion prices jumped to two and a half year high of Rs 24 per kg due to tight supply and strong Ramzan demand. Wholesale rates at Maharashtra's Lasalgoan, the Asia's biggest wholesale market for onion, soared almost five times higher than levels at the same time last year, stoking fears of retail prices rocketing across the country. Retail prices of onion in Delhi ranged between Rs 30 and 35 per...

-The Hindustan Times Chandigarh: Ecological issues have delayed the start of river-bed mining, an idea propagated by Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal with the aim of extracting enough sand not only to meet the growing demand but also to control its skyrocketing rates in the market. The plan may not be implemented immediately as the proposed quarries would require clearance from the state environment impact assessment authority. Also, environmentalists fear...

-The Economic Times The monsoon made a dream start this year. Bountiful rainfall in June has prepared the ground for bumper harvest and lower food inflation. But don't celebrate. Look beyond the immediate future and good monsoon this year may not really be good news. It has merely delayed an agricultural crisis, which our complacent policymakers perhaps need to jolt them into action. With food demand rising in step with the growing...

-IANS LUCKNOW: The flood situation in Uttar Pradesh has worsened following heavy rains, and officials said on Wednesday that 116 people have died in the disaster in the past fortnight. Ten districts have been severely hit by flooding. Sharda, Ghaghra and Saryu rivers are flowing above the danger mark in several districts. heavy rains continued on Wednesday in many places. People and livestock are being evacuated from the flooded areas and several companies...