-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India's bread basket states of Punjab and Haryana received just around half the normal rainfall this monsoon season. But more worryingly, this year's rain deficit is not an isolated event. The two key agricultural states have been getting below par rainfall for the past 16 years. Met department figures reveal Punjab has seen above normal monsoon rainfall in just two years since 1999. The last time...

It is said that the Central Water Commission (CWC) has failed miserably in September 2014 to furnish information on river flow and raise alarm to people of Jammu and Kashmir living in the downstream areas in the midst of heavy rainfall. The CWC is responsible for making forecasts of floods in all flood-prone areas and provides advisory to the states for tackling floods. The NGO South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers...

-The Hindustan Times Not budging from its position, the US remains at the forefront of nudging India to give up its stand on farm subsidies for food stockpiling in order to clinch a trade facilitation pact at the World Trade Organisation. According to sources, US will yet again take up the issue as part of a "larger plan" to get India to drop its position during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to...

-The Business Standard Every year, like clockwork, India is caught between the spectre of months of crippling water shortages and drought and months of devastating floods. In 2014, there has been no respite from this annual cycle. But something new and strange is indeed afoot. Each year, the floods are growing in intensity. Each year, the rain events get more variable and more extreme. Each year, economic damages increase -...

-PTI Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said Friday the government will take all measures to ensure that onion prices do not go up to the Rs 80-100 per kg level again, seeking to quell fears of a spike in the festive season ahead. The monsoon was late, so the kharif or summer onion crop would be delayed by a month in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the main growing areas. This could...