-The Indian Express Farmers have so far sown only 38.91 lakh hectares (lh) under pulses in the current rabi season from October. Dry weather extending to the post-monsoon period has led to reduced plantings of most rabi crops, raising the prospect of a fourth consecutive harvest failure for farmers and also making it more difficult for the RBI to slash interest rates. Farmers have so far sown only 38.91 lakh hectares (lh)...

-The Economic Times Blog Two apparently unrelated events — a sharp fall in factory output growth and a spike in consumer price inflation —point to deep problems underlying the economy. September industry growth fell to 3.6%, the lowest in four months. Meanwhile, the consumer price index (CPI) went up to 5% in October, higher than the consensus estimate of 4.8%, headed north for the third successive month. The rise in prices is driven...

-Financial Express The country must double its support to farmers, from the current levels of about 6-8% of the value of agri-output It was in the mid-1980s that the ‘India-Bharat’ phraseology was fist pushed into political jargon, by farmers’ leader Sharad Joshi, with ‘India’ representing the urban elite of the country and ‘Bharat’ synonymous with its neglected rural folk. Joshi, at the time, was leading lakhs of farmers protesting against anti-farmer policies,...

-Livemint.com As many as 23 out of 38 districts have received deficit rain ranging 20-60% of the normal; overall, the 2015 Jun-Sep monsoon recorded a 28% deficit Nitish Kumar, who will take oath as chief minister of Bihar for the third consecutive time, will face a daunting task as he tries to tackle rural distress in the state that has been hit by a drought. The issue had found little mention in the...

-Livemint.com Raman Singh govt requests Centre for nearly Rs4,000 crore in assistance to carryout relief operations New Delhi: Chhattisgarh has become the sixth state to declare a drought and the fourth so far to seek central aid. The state government said that 25 of its 27 districts have been drought-hit. Earlier, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh declared a drought in 110 of their districts. “Based on a prima facie evaluation, the cabinet...