June 26 is the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987,
Today, there is an alarming new drug problem; demand has soared for substances not under international control. Therefore, the 2013 UNODC global awareness campaign "Make health your 'new high' in life, not drugs" aims to inform the public, and particularly young people, about the harmful effects of new psychoactive substances (NPS). Sold openly, including through the internet, these substances, which have not been tested for safety in humans, can be far more dangerous than traditional drugs.
Source: http://www.un.org/en/events/drugabuseday/2013/highinlife.shtml

A relevant article on drug abuse in India--
Drug Trafficking and Narco-terrorism as Security Threats: A Study of India's North-east

Ningthoujam Koiremba Singh
and William Nunes

From India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs
(Volume 69 Issue 1, March 2013)

In India, especially the North-east Region is encountering serious threats emanating from drug trafficking, consumption and its counter-effects. Drug transit, drug use and drug addiction, subsequently, led to an increased amount of HIV/AIDS infections in Manipur. By looking at the alarming condition of drug abuse, the state government has banned drugs under the Prevention of Narcotic and Psychotropic Drug Abuse Act of 1985. Some of the reasons why drug use is so rampant are as follows: a large youth population, a lot of them with Westernised values, traditionally liberal attitudes to relationships and free lifestyle, widespread unemployment and lack of future prospects in an insurgency-ridden region, among others.

 Security issues in international relations, particularly during the era of the Cold War, were and had been dominated by the realist paradigm which saw the preservation of the state from external threat. Such a conception of security provided a very myopic and narrow understanding of the security problem of states, particularly smaller states. During the past decade, attempts are being made to broaden the security agenda to include not only military but also other sectors: political, economic, societal and ecological. Furthermore, with globalisation and the opening up of the economy has provided scope for cross-border migration and also illicit trade, especially narcotics, terrorism and a dangerous mix of both: narco-terrorism. This article will throw a light on the non-traditional security threats problem and issues of illicit drug trafficking and narco-terrorism in North-east India particularly in the case of Manipur.

Source: Sage Publication

Narcotics Control Bureau of India is involved in combating abuse of and illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances to make India a drug free society

Fierce battle of rain, landslide took off peoples' life in Kedarnath

Earlier heat stoke took of lives and now the worst rains at Uttrakhand.

Standing at a height of 11,760 feet and surrounded by majestic snow-capped peaks, the holy town of Badri Kedarnath was a picture of devastation after torrential rains in the eastern Himalayas breached a glacier, flooded mountain rivers and triggered scores of landslides on June 16, 2013. Many local residents, tourists to this very picturesque region, and Hindu pilgrims to Kedarnath and Badrinath – are dead or missing. A massive rescue operation is under way to reach survivors in the flood-hit Indian state of Uttarakhand, where at least 150 people have died. More than 50,000 people are stranded after the floods swept away buildings.
The horrific disaster, described by some as a ‘Himalayan tsunami’, was triggered by excessively heavy rainfall of more than 220mm in a region home to the headwaters of the river Ganges. The major cause of the devastation of Kedarnath town was the breaking of the Kedar Dome, a glacier-like body that caused a rupture of the Charbari lake reservoir less than 6km from the shrine. Locals said a huge rock as high as the temple broke away from the Kedar Dome and got stuck some distance behind the shrine.
Source: http://www.oshonews.com/2013/06/badri-kedarnath/

Was it a manmade disaster?  “It was a temple. Now it is not even a home.”

Intense Heat Wave

Heat wave conditions have claimed the lives of over 500 people in India since April. India’s Department of Disaster Management reported that 524 people have died of sunstroke since April 1. The Indian Meteorological Department said tomorrow’s forecast called for clear skies and continued heat, warning that “the heatwave will continue.”

The Times of India reported that the state of Hyderabad’s 500 sunstroke deaths in just three days is the highest such death toll in recent history.

New Delhi saw 43 degrees C (or over 109 degrees Fahrenheit) today, western states such as Gujarat saw highs between 116-118 degrees Fahrenheit, and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh hit 45 C (113 F). This state is one of the nation’s poorest, with 190 million people. Its energy infrastructure is inadequate to the demand of so many residents trying to cool themselves. Since pumps are often required to provide water, this also means that a power outage comes with a water outage. Angry residents attacked power company officials and even set fire to a power station. For the rest of the population, power outages combined with humidity caused most people to stay indoors.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/ ( May 29, 2013)

One of the article that you may be interested  in reading about is 'From bibliometrics to altmetrics :
A changing scholarly landscape

Excerpts;

When future Science Citation Index founder Eugene Garfield first came up with the idea of journal impact factor in 1955, it never occurred to him “that it would one day become the subject of widespread controversy.”

Today, techniques for measuring scholarly impact—traditionally known as bibliometrics —are well known for generating conflict and concern, particularly as tenure-track scholars reach beyond previously set boundaries of discipline, media, audience, and format. From the development of more nuanced academic specialties to the influence of blogs and social media, questions about the scope of scholarly impact abound, even as the pressure to measure such impact continues unabated or increases. 

Read complete article at: http://crln.acrl.org/content/73/10/596.full