Over 100 villages in Marathwada, India, are now dependent on water tankers due to severe water shortages amid peak summer. A total of 194 tankers are supplying water to 119 villages and 55 settlements across six districts, with Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar facing the most acute shortages.
Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu likely to be India's most water-scarce states this summer
The Maharashtra government on Tuesay banned digging of borewell below 200 feet in view of the acute water crisis in the state.
Maharashtra today faces an acute water crisis. But all that Devendra Fadnavis is concerned about who is not chanting slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
A bench of Justices V M Kanande and M S Karnik, however, said on Thursday that it will not staying the match on April 9, but wanted to know from the state government and the municipal body whether the water supplied to the stadiums in tankers is potable or non-potable.
A class 5 girl student died of heat stroke on Tuesday after repeated trips to nearest hand pump in drought-hit Beed district of Maharashtra.
'Marathwada is the suicide capital of Maharashtra.' 'To stop such man-made disasters, the government should immediately come up with a rightful package, not this charitable approach to compensation.'
'There is no food to eat and water to drink and people are migrating in hordes.' 'Chief Minister Fadnavis must shift his base to Marathwada in such times.' 'If you do not help during a drought, then when will you help?'
The highest farmer suicides have been reported from Beed district
Local officials used 10,000 litres water for the helipad at Belkund village where the minister paid a visit to review the drought and water scarcity relief measures on Friday.
Latur district by trains in the next 15 days while prohibitory orders were clamped near water supply spots in Parbhani town to prevent any violence as authorities grapple with drought in the worst-hit Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
"Shreehari Aney has submitted his resignation to the governor. Whether to accept it or not, is his (governor's) prerogative," an official from the governor's office said.
'Over 50 crore Indians are currently suffering from a livelihood crisis, something to which the whole country had shut its eyes to for the past six months.' 'We woke up only after the IPL was affected.'
The Maharashtra government is pushing hard to get a Rs 4,500-crore financial package from Centre, reports Sanjay Jog
'If the government does not take any action soon, 21 cities of India will become like Cape Town, with no water.' 'Four cities -- Delhi, Gurgaon, Meerut and Faridabad -- will suffer the worst.'
Indian rower Dattu Bhokanal has battled adversity to secure Olympic qualification and his journey to Rio has been made even more remarkable following a childhood bout of aquaphobia and fears for his mother's health during his final preparations. Hailing from a drought-hit region in Maharashtra, the daily fight for the treasured commodity led him to develop a fear of water as a youth and it was not until he joined the army in 2012, that he learned to swim. His phobia conquered, the 25-year-old Bhokanal booked his ticket to Rio after winning a silver medal in the men's single sculls event at the Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta at Chung-ju in South Korea in April. Bhokanal gave up his studies to support his family after his father died of cancer in 2011 and his qualification can also be regarded as a reward for his ability to perform through another tragedy, which almost derailed his Olympic dreams. Shortly before he was due to depart for South Korea, his mother suffered brain damage in a fall resulting in almost total amnesia.
In the first of a two-part series, Business Standard examines the impact of the upcoming summer on agriculture and drinking water supply.
Of 650 billion cubic metres of water available for irrigation nationwide, 15 per cent, or 100 BCM of water, is used by sugarcane , which is planted on no more than 2.5 per cent of India's farmland
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said ideally the Indian Premier League matches should be shifted elsewhere, where there is no water crisis.
'What shame is there in the government accepting a drought situation and taking appropriate measures to help people live?' a Marathwada farmer asks Neeta Kolhatkar.
'Why is a commercial venture being held responsible for a situation caused by mismanagement of the state?' asks N Suresh.
Godavari Dange, a school dropout who was widowed at the age of 19 is now changing the lives of farmers in her village and beyond.
'The package is for the distressed farmers who are committing suicide due to the severe drought,' Nitin Gadkari tells Arup Roy Choudhury and Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
'Drought in the 1990s was essentially the drought of a poor India.' 'This 2016 drought is of a richer and more water-guzzling India.' 'The severity and intensity of the drought is not about lack of rainfall.' 'It is about the lack of planning and foresight, and criminal neglect.'
A free press is not necessarily an unbiased press. The media curates what it presents to the public, and that curation is driven by multiple considerations, argues Devangshu Datta.
Fadnavis rules out holding special session of legislature and instead assures of relief measures, says Sanjay Jog
'We are not promising prosperity to these villagers. Instead, the focus is on self-sufficiency.'
The total quantum of water supply has barely improved since Independence, while demand has exploded, points out T N Ninan.
'Four years ago, when Gadkari was BJP president, Fadnavis was president of the state BJP, I had gone on a fast unto death demanding separate statehood for Vidarbha.' 'They had come to meet me and promised that once the party comes to power at the Centre and in the state, we will get separate statehood.' 'Four years have passed, but no change is seen on the ground.'
'What is bank recapitalisation? When the rich take loans and do not return and the government returns that money to the banks.' 'What is restructuring 5:25 scheme? The government says don't return now, just tell us you will return after five years.' 'Why don't we apply these schemes to farmers?' 'I want to increase the power of farmers to blackmail the government as everyone in the country has the power to blackmail.'
'The Kopardi rape/murder was the immediate cause of the unrest.' 'However, there is a feeling of isolation and anger that has been simmering within the Maratha community.' 'The protests gave Marathas a sense of belonging.' 'They felt they have a stake in the protests and the issues being raised.' 'As for the future, let us see what happens.' 'All I can say is it will not stop here.'
'We are passing through a very historical moment. The UP election next year and the Lok Sabha election of 2019 will decide the course of India.' 'Maybe the unlettered will save India again because they have inherited a different India and a different idea of India,' says eminent social scientist Achyut Yagnik.
