To fight drought, the Madhya Pradesh government embarked on a water conservation drive in February this year with its Pani Roko Abhiyan (Stop Water Campaign). The state administration geared up

The term cyclone includes all tropical storms. They start as swirls of cloud and rain that eventually intensify into storms.The Indian sub-continent is the worst affected part in the world. Although

Drought-proofing is a far cry. The drought of 2001 in 11 states of India is likely to go down as one of the worst in the past century. Government drought relief schemes fail due to bad planning and corruption. It can"t even provide short-term relief to th

The government’s drought relief programmes are bound to fail in the long run. Even the Planning Commission acknowledges that funds for the drought relief is becoming illegal income for officials, politicians and contractors

Employment Guarantee Scheme, first of its kind drought relief scheme has had no impact on the drought-prone areas of Maharashtra in almost 30 years because it has failed to involve people in managing rural assets

Revisits by Down To Earth reporters to villages that undertook water harvesting offer some valuable lessons in drought management

The need of the hour is to decentralise drought management and think long term

At present in India more than thirty mines are in operation. It produces 2800 tones of asbestos per month (mainly chrysotile and tremolite) and in recent years substantial quantity (-70%) is imported from Canada. The quality of asbestos produced in India is very poor. The mining and milling and other related processes expose the people to cancer and related diseases. Women are more affected by their exposure in processing unit compared to male who are generally working in mines.

Despite the shortcomings of the Neeru Meeru (water and you) programme reflected during its first and second phase, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, Chandra

About 80 tropical cyclones (with wind speeds equal to or greater than 35 knots) form in the world’s waters every year. Of these about 6.5% develop in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. Since the frequency of cyclones in the Bay of Bengal is about 5 to 6 times the frequency of those in the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal's share comes out to be about 5.5%. The tropical cyclones forming in the Bay of Bengal hit the coast of India (particularly the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal) every year, causing heavy loss of life and property.

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