With several irrigation projects in the state falling in the moderate seismic zone, the state government will conduct tests to ascertain their structural safety. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, has already taken a decision on the issue, following the recent earthquake in China, which the scientists attributed to the Three Gorges project.

CROSSING OVER: A little girl in Rajasthan goes to a state school supported by Mahindra & Mahindra

GOING HYBRID: The Mahindra group will launch a mild hybrid version of the Scorpio later this year. The full hybrid will come later

It's a simple strategy of protest with no pretensions of winning. The aim of the Polepally protesters: "That we get our land back, our lives back. Our one and only demand.' COMMON APPEAL: "Voting for the Jadcherla 13 means saluting with love our Mother Earth.'

Suicide by over 17,000 farmers in 2006, the latest year for which systematic official data are available, is a huge national tragedy. In fact, the trends revealed by the National Crime Records Buresu (NCRB) on farmers' suicides are appalling. While there have been ups and downs in the annual figure, there has been no let up in the trend since 2001. The figure for 1997, in itself disturbing, was approximately 14,000. From 2002, there has been no year in which fewer than 17,000 farmers' suicides have been recorded. The 2006 figure confirms the trend.

The East Godavari district rural water supply department, as part of summer contingency plan, took several steps for continuous drinking water supply in the rural areas. With irrigation canal closure for two months from April 20 as part of the modernisation programme taken up in the district, the department has taken extra precautions for the supply of uninterrupted drinking water to remote areas and habitations. With canal reopening slated for June 20, almost a month from now, the department has initiated several measures in addition to existing water supply facilities.

As many as two lakh people of the town are severely hit with the scarcity of drinking water in the scorching summer. The two summer storage tanks of the town have failed to meet the demand for drinking water though officials state that they will resolve the issue soon.

Drinking water in Dosaludiki, Sayala and Kasapuram villages in Guntakal mandal has been contaminated for quite some years with authorities doing nothing so far. A summer storage tank was constructed at Kasapuram village which is filled by pumping water from the Gooty sub branch canal. Water to this canal is released at the regulatory pipeline located in G. Kottala from the Guntakal branch canal. The Gooty branch canal which passes through Guntakal has been converted into a drainage canal by residents living on either side of it.