As devotees struggle with low water levels and high pollution at Sangam in Allahabad, what may come as a surprise to many is the fact that the Prime Minister-headed National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGBRA), whose main role is to resolve issues related to the Ganga, has not met for many months, let alone strategise for the mega religious festival that could have been a case study for both government and pollution control agencies.

Rajendra Singh, a member of the NGRBA - the financing, planning, implementing, monitoring and coordinating authority for the Ganga - said the last time the high-level body met was in April 2012.

The weather has turned around for the better with temperatures returning to normal levels in the northwest, which has been struggling under prolonged and intense cold wave this winter.

The extended and intense cold and dry weather, not so good for agricultural point of view, has been because of feeble and fewer western disturbances (WDs) and their changed pattern this season.

For the first time in its modern history, river activists are trying to utilise the occasion of Kumbh for what it was originally meant for a ‘manthan’ to differentiate the good from the evil, ‘devtas’ from ‘asuras’, the ‘amrit’ from the ‘vish’.

The plan is to use the occasion of Maha Kumbh, the biggest religious congregation on earth which begins in Allahabad on the occasion of Makar Sakranti next week, to help people differentiate between well wishers of rivers and their enemies and spread awareness about India’s gasping lifelines.

Top planners of the country have asserted that pricing and rationing are the most important tools to make optimal use of the most precious natural resource - water - and achieve sustainable development even though states, bound by political compulsions and fiercely protective of control over water management, may never agree to it.

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia says pricing of water and rationing by regulation are the most effective tools to stop the gross misuse of water resources, even though they are very difficult decisions.

A Parliamentary Panel has pointed out serious lapses (some dating as far back as the Gujarat earthquake of 1991) in monetary help for undertaking rehabilitation work and providing relief to people

Cotton production in the country has more than doubled due to the use of Bt cotton seeds, said Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today, batting in favour of the contentious genetically modified cro

Having achieved full sanitation coverage, Himachal Pradesh is on the verge of acquiring the status of a “Nirmal Pradesh”- the second state after Sikkim to get the distinction.

Action must enhance prospects for development, says Principal Correspondent Vibha Sharma

CLIMATE change is the hottest topic of debate today. Expressing concern over global warming, scientists fear that any further increase in temperature will lead to a rise in surface and sea temperatures, causing dramatic shifts in climate cycles and reduction in agricultural output and water supply.