-The Indian Express Mumbai: Residents of Mumbra, a suburb northeast of Mumbai and known to many as the place where Ishrat Jahan lived, suffer from a feeling of insecurity and a perception of discrimination, according to a study commissioned by the Maharashtra government's minority development department. The preliminary findings of the 2011 study, conducted by Dr Ranu Jain of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, were presented to the government Friday. The study,...

-IANS NEW DELHI: While thousands have suffered the fury of floods in Uttarakhand, experts say worse tragedies may strike the region unless the rampant violation of the Himalayan state's sensitive ecology is checked. Environmentalists blamed the volume of the disaster on the dams, indiscriminate construction, uncontrolled tourism and ignorance about the fragile ecology of the area. Experts have called for an immediate halt to unchecked tourism, especially religious tourism, and haphazard construction. "The...

-The United Nations The United Nations Disaster Management Team in India is closely monitoring the situation in the north, where torrential rains have triggered floods and landslides that have reportedly killed at least 70 people and left thousands stranded. In the state of Uttarakhand, rising river levels have resulted in the collapse of buildings and bridges. Some 45 people were reportedly killed and 50 people are missing, UN spokesperson Eduardo del Buey...

-The Hindustan Times If there is one defining collage of the ongoing monsoon mayhem in Uttarakhand, it's this: multi-storied concrete houses collapsing like a pack of cards into an angry, wild river and cars and lorries being tossed around in the swirling muddy waters, as if they were plastic toys. As I watched the unfolding drama on TV, I remembered what a green campaigner told me some years ago in Uttarkashi:...

-Al Jazeera   Floods triggered by rains in north of country have left 120 dead, besides stranding thousands of Hindu pilgrims. Monsoon flooding in northern India has claimed more than 120 lives, stranding thousands of people due to high water levels and landslides, officials say. Torrential rain and landslides since Sunday have stranded pilgrims at four revered Hindu shrines, washed away bridges and roads and caused other damage in Uttrakhand province. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...