>The Indian Army still uses old British-era names and recruits soldiers based on caste or region, which hurts national unity, argues Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd).
Forty per cent of population will have no access to drinking water by 2030 and 21 cities, including New Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, will run out of groundwater by 2020.
The summit participants in the final declaration agreed to allocate resources towards water and sanitation sectors, increase transfer of technology, improve irrigation systems and encourage appropriate consideration of water issues in the discussion of the UN development agenda.
'Till the BJP does not understand Kejriwal they cannot win Delhi.'
Among the cities that have fully implemented their projects are Agra, Varanasi, Madurai, Coimbatore, Udaipur, Pune, Surat, and Vadodara
Stepping in to defuse the crisis, the Centre on Monday invited senior officials from Tamil Nadu and Kerala for discussions on the Mullaperiyar Dam issue even as the Supreme Court-appointed empowered panel decided to send a two-member team to the site for an on-the-spot assessment.
The two-day summit, being attended by Heads of Governments, policy makers, researchers, scientists, NGOs and entrepreneurs among others has the theme 'Water security and Water-related Disasters Challenges: Leadership and Commitment'.
Ahead of next Union Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has hinted at a cut in grants from the Centre to states.
With 12 MPs, the JD-U is the second biggest Bharatiya Janata Party ally after the TDP's 16, and leaders of the saffron party are in touch with allies over ministerial berths and other issues.
Antony will take over as Defence minister from Pranab Mukherjee who has been appointed the next External Affairs minister.
While advancements in biotechnology hold immense promise for health and innovation, they also come with significant risks if misused.
Besides, the department has sought an explanation from officials concerned for the collapse of bridges in East Champaran on June 23 and in Madhubani on June 26.
Gujarat will host the next round of G20 meetings from March 27 to April 4, during which three conclaves will be held in the state on a range of issues, where delegates from different countries will converge for participation, an official said.
The opposition party's remarks come after Bihar ministers claimed that the latest report of NITI Aayog's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index 2023-24 vindicated the state's long-standing demand for greater central financial assistance.
Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Friday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a "messiah Indians had been waiting for to appear for a thousand years" who has solution to all their problems.
'The water crisis is so obvious that people see no point begging for it from politicians.'
'The ruling does not automatically mean that your house can be taken away, but suppose it blocks an expressway or a highway or such essential development, then it can be taken away as long as there is a law to support that action.'
Several stalled developmental projects and those waiting Centre's clearances are likely to come up for discussion at the meeting, during which the chief minister is likely to urge the Union ministers and MPs from the state to use their good offices for intervention of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Government of India on the Cauvery issue.
Yadav's brother Vijay Prakash was arrested by Jamui's superintendent of police Arvind Kumar on Tuesday.
Jaiprakash Narain Yadav has been booked for allegedly securing wrongful release of his brother, Vijay Prakash, from police custody.
The monthly Rs 2500 payment for poor women is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore while the pension scheme of Rs 2000 for every senior citizen will cost around Rs 4100 crore. The Yamuna clean up will cost over Rs 10,000 crore while a similar amount is required to upgrade Delhi's hospitals. Ultimately, the new BJP government will have no choice but to ask the centre for financial support, notes Rashme Sehgal.
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
The minister was eluding the police for a fortnight after a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against him for allegedly facilitating the illegal release of his brother from custody.
The Group of Ministers constituted for the creation of a separate state of Telangana on Wednesday discussed the sharing of river water and irrigation resources in Andhra Pradesh after the state's bifurcation, but failed to arrive at a resolution.
Taking Karnataka to task for its repeated "defiance" by flouting its orders for release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court on Friday asked it to discharge 6,000 cusecs water from tomorrow till October 6, warning no one would know when the "wrath of the law" would fall on it.
India should encourage the second coming of SAARC with climate change as an urgent agenda and keeping Indian security concerns in mind as the subtext, suggest Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
Prime Minister Manmohon Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrived in Imphal on Saturday on a day's visit to Manipur, official sources said.
Can the newly-minted Jal Shakti ministry bring water to some 19 crore Indian households that have never had taps or heard the sound of flowing water, wonders Vinayak Chatterjee.
Gadkari said the water of these 'Eastern rivers' will be diverted and supplied to Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
The Centre on Wednesday appealed to Tamil Nadu and Kerala to amicably settle the issue of Mullaperiyar Dam between them and expressed its willingness to play a role of "facilitator".
The Tamil Nadu government welcomed the decision, hailing it as a 'grand victory for the 'Amma (Jayalalithaa) government' and the state's farmers'.
The 86-year-old Congress leader had been suffering from various ailments, sources in Medanta Medicity said.
Water flowing into Pakistan from the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas can be stopped only if three dam projects on this side of the border are completed.
In changes ahead of crucial Assembly elections, the Congress on Wednesday made Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi its state unit chief in the Left-ruled West Bengal and appointed two other union ministers as party heads in Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
"When Amit Shah was in Goa (for campaigning for February Assembly polls), he asked for a Himalaya (brand) water bottle. It was then brought from Mapusa (located around 10km from Panaji)," Naik said, addressing an event in South Goa.
Patel insisted that the meeting with Shah and other BJP leaders was a "courtesy call" as he and Ajit Pawar had not met them formally since joining the ruling alliance in Maharashtra.
He wanted changes in certain criteria for the project.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari on Thursday found himself at the centre of yet another controversy over a letter he wrote to the Union water resources ministry seeking release of funds for an irrigation project in Maharashtra, in which an associate of his is said to be a contractor.
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