-The Hindu With the era of cheap, bountiful water having been replaced by increasing supply-and-quality constraints, many international investors are beginning to view water as the new oil There is a popular, tongue-in-cheek saying in America - attributed to the writer Mark Twain, who lived through the early phase of the California Water Wars - that "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." It highlights the consequences, even if...

-The Hindu Proposing a new "empowerment line" that aims to measure the minimum economic cost for a household to fulfil eight most basic needs, a global research organisation has estimated that 680 million Indians, or 56 per cent of the population, lacks the means to meet their essential needs. Health care, drinking water and sanitation between them account for nearly 40 per cent of the gap between their current status and the...

-The Hindustan Times Chandigarh: Agriculture in Punjab would witness an adverse effect due to the climate change in future. Predicting a steep rise in the average temperature during the coming decades, an agriculture expert said it would adversely affect the wheat and paddy crops. Prof PK Aggarwal from International Water Management Institute said the average rise in temperature during the past 100 years was 0.75 degree Celsius, which would be 1.5 to...

-The New Indian Express Bangalore: Agricultural technologies can help increase global crop yields by as much as 67 per cent and cut food prices by in half by 2050, according to a new book, ‘Food Security in a World of Natural Resource Scarcity: The Role of Agricultural Technologies.' The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, has released this book recently. The book cites an increased demand for food due to population and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Delhi government spent Rs 6.33 lakh on Arvind Kejriwal's oath-taking ceremony at Ramlila Maidan while his predecessor Sheila Dikshit's oath ceremony cost Rs 13.04 lakh. In response to a query by Mumbai-based RTI applicant Anil Galgali, the Delhi government's general administration department said it had spent Rs 6.33 lakh on the Ramlila Maidan ceremony. This, however, does not include expenses by other departments including power,...