Cyclone Vardah makes landfall in TN, causes massive damage

Very severe cyclone has hit the north coastal districts of Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu causing heavy rains in the state. There are reports of two people getting killed in the cyclone. As a precautionary measure, the power supply has been suspended in many parts of the affected regions and 8,000 people from low-lying areas have been evacuated to relief shelters. As per the Met department, there will be rainfall over south coastal Andhra Pradesh, north coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry over the next 36 hours.    

Indo-Pak water war intensifies

India is unhappy with the World bank for delaying India’s request to appoint neutral experts for solving the dispute over the Indus Water Treaty. Moreover, the latter has accepted Pakistan’s demand to initiate a court of arbitration (CoA) process to resolve a dispute involving two hydroelectric projects that India had planned on Jhelum and Indus rivers. Along with this, both the neighbours are fast-tracking projects on Indus basin so as to get their maximum share of the river water. 

Uma Bharti announces Dr Ambedkar’s birthday to be Water Day

During a national seminar on ‘Marching ahead on Dr. Ambedkar’s path of water resources management for inclusive growth’, the union water minister, Uma Bharti has announced that Dr B. R. Ambedkar's birthday that falls on April 14 will be celebrated as ‘Water Day’. During the event, she also mentioned the need to find out how treated and non-treated water can be put to better use. She also referred to several other issues like water reforms in the country, irrigation programme and flood management. 

Narmada Sewa Yatra flags off in Madhya Pradesh

The 144-day long yatra from Amarkantak in Annuppur district to save the Narmada river has been launched in Madhya Pradesh. While flagging off the yatra, the state chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has apologised for defiling the Narmada river and pledged to safeguard the river by planting trees along its banks and encouraging organic farming in its catchment areas. Over the next five months, the yatra will move through 16 districts in the state and will finally conclude at the same point on May 5, 2017.

Flipside of demonetisation: Bundelkhand farmers sink into debt

Demonetisation has further intensified woes of Bundelkhand which is already reeling under the impact of three consecutive droughts and then a flood in the last monsoon. The worst affected are the farmers. Owing to demonetisation, they are neither able to sell their kharif produce easily nor do they have enough resources to sow wheat on time. Demonetisation has also worsened the vicious cycle of debt that these farmers have been caught in due to the long-drawn agrarian crisis in the region.

This is a roundup of important news from December 4 - 12, 2016. Also, read the policy matters this week. 

Lead image source: NASA WorldView via Wikipedia.