-The Times of India NEW DELHI: With the recent murder of RTI activist Bhupendra Vira's, the death toll of those using the transparency law to target corruption and malpractices has gone up to 56. In fact, there has been more than 311 instances of harassment of citizens including murder, attacks and intimidation from the time the law came into force in 2005, according to an analysis by Delhi-based advocacy group CHRI. Reports...

-Hindustan Times Mumbai: The 2015-16 drought in Marathwada was caused not by climate change but poor management of water resources, a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology-Pune and the Indian Institute of Science-Bengaluru has revealed. The two institutions analysed 145 years of monsoon rainfall data to arrive at the conclusion. While admitting that the region is prone to droughts, the study states that the magnitude of the last drought could...

-The Hindu The next biggest cause of deaths was chronic respiratory diseases. Chennai: In 2015, India, like other developed countries, had more number of deaths caused by non-communicable diseases. In the case of males, deaths due to non-communicable diseases (3.6 million) were more than double that were caused by communicable diseases (1.5 million), while it was nearly double in females (2.7 million due to non-communicable diseases and nearly 1.4 million deaths due...

-The Hindu Pulls up AAP government for chikungunya deaths in capital. New Delhi: The AAP government on Friday blamed the spread of chikunguniya infection in the national capital on officers hesitant to work. In a hearing before a Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Madan B. Lokur, senior advocate Ajit Kumar Sinha, representing the Lieutenant-Governor’s office, pointed to a statement made by the Delhi government suggesting an atmosphere of confusion prevailing in the...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: A government advisory not to grow cotton this kharif crop season has landed state farmers in trouble with prices of alternative crops they were encouraged to grow falling. And rubbing salt into their wounds, the price of cotton has been witnessing a dramatic rise. Further, there has been no word from the government so far on initiating market intervention measures and procuring of produce at minimum support...