New Delhi: A part revival of the agricultural sector and the gamble to invest in the sofar ignored eastern states paying off has not brought the kind of gains UPA would have hoped for while entering the fourth year of its second term. Divergence within the government on how to deal with food and agriculture-related issues saw the UPA frittering away the gains of three consecutive good agricultural years which now portend a record harvest of 75 million tonnes.

Sohra, May 18: Nimbus may be liberal while showering blessings on Meghalaya, which is deemed to be the “home of the storm cloud.” But when it comes to Sohra (Cherrapunjee), the generosity gets lavish. But the lavishness, which can be converted into “wealth” by way of attracting tourists, can also turn out to be a “bane” especially for struggling farmers as agricultural production has been severely hit in the past several years.

New agriculture and industrial policies are on the anvil for giving a renewed thrust to the development process in Uttar Pradesh. Formulation of new policies formed an integral part of the ambitious 100-point development agenda which has been finalised by the Akhilesh Yadav Government.

The agenda, released by the Government on Thursday, aims at integrated development of the State and includes the farm, industrial, medical and health, education, power, social welfare and infrastructure development sectors. In addition, e-governance will be expanded in the State.

It will be a while before Karnataka can expect any grant from the Centre for drought relief.

The Central drought assessment team headed by Parvesh Sharma on Wednesday directed the State government to furnish detailed statistics within a week’s time. The officials, at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, expressed dissatisfaction over the information provided by the Gowda-led all-party delegation in its memorandum.

New Delhi: The first woman chief executive officer that Delhi Jal Board has ever had, Debashree Mukherjee has taken over the reins of the organization just before it enters its critical summer period. This is also a time when several projects have just been flagged off and are expected to take a concrete shape in the coming months. The 1991-batch IAS officer, who has a degree in water and environment management, aims to bring about massive improvements in consumer services.

Bangalore: Power struggle, politicking and blame game are keeping state BJP leaders busy. And there is no one to pay attention to the problems faced by drought-hit people in the districts. The chief minister, his colleagues and party legislators should have been helping out people of 123 drought-affected taluks. Instead, they have camped in New Delhi and Bangalore and are happily engaged in mudslinging and power-grabbing.

MUMBAI: Two days after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi assured assistance to villagers of drought-hit Satara, the Centre on Monday 'favourably' recommended a Rs 1,110 crore relief package for Maharashtra, thereby confirming that 15 districts in the state are indeed hit by serious drought. This is a shift from the earlier stand that there is 'drought-like' situation and not 'drought-hit'. "This is no more a drought-like situation, it is actually drought," Pravin Pardeshi, principal secretary, relief and rehabilitation, said.

When Dr N H Ravindranath, a senior scientist from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, addressed Himachal Pradesh’s top bureaucrats and policy makers here a couple of years ago, his warnings about the adverse impact of climate change in the hills, especially the farming sectors, had left many stunned. Himachal is witnessing his predictions coming almost true at least for its apple crop — an economy of Rs 2,200 crore, almost 87 per cent of the state’s total fruit production.