-The Telegraph   Supaul: A college graduate hailing from a farmers' family, Anil Kumar Yadav (32) roamed around in Delhi and Mumbai in search of a job only to return empty-handed, about three years ago. The very idea of getting engaged in the family's traditional vocation was "nightmarish" to him. Anil, a resident of Samda Chowk village under Basantpur block of Supaul district, around 350km northeast of Patna, today owns a spanking motorcycle,...

-The Times of India   "Ma Ganga aur Benares se mera rishta purana hai," BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said, pledging his intent to restore the Ganga to its original glory while campaigning in Varanasi. Plans to clean up the 2,500 km holy river too date back to older times -the first Ganga Action Plan was announced in 1986 - but activists claim the stretch flowing through Varanasi is in worse...

-The Times of India DEHRADUN: Apparently taking a cue from the Aam Admi Party (AAP) government's recently launched helpline in Delhi for complaints against corrupt officials; the Uttarakhand government has come up with a similar helpline for dealing with illegal mining in the hill state. With this, Uttarakhand has become the only state in the country to have a dedicated helpline for complaints against illegal mining. The Uttarakhand Special Mining Vigilance Force...

-Down to Earth Revival of small river in Fatehpur district shows the way Buoyed by the success of revival of a dry rivulet in Fatehpur district, the Uttar Pradesh government is planning to revive all dried up streams of the state under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The Uttar Pradesh government has directed the state's Department of Rural Development to prepare plans for recharging dried Tributaries,...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The environment ministry has set up an expert group, as mandated by the Supreme Court, to determine whether hydropower projects along Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers and their Tributaries contributed to environmental degradation, an effort to ensure there is no repeat of the Uttarakhand disaster witnessed earlier this year. Headed by Ravi Chopra, member of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) and director of People's Science Institute,...