-Down to Earth As June ends, the monsoon, it turns out, is deficient by 40 per cent. Despite the forecast of its revival in July, it is a concern for India's rainfed areas that account for significant foodgrain production and also host the largest number of farmers in the country. More than 100 districts are officially "chronic drought-affected" areas. Why have we not been able to drought-proof them? On June 28 Prime...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: If the post election period had provided some respite to consumers with prices of food grains going down amid fears of a crackdown on hoarders in the Modi regime, low rainfall has led to a rebound in the last one week. After the new government took over, prices of several food items had eased from the level during the election time. Traders say news of poor monsoon has...

-The Hindustan Times Jaipur: Keeping in view the possibility of poor monsoon this year, the state agriculture department has submitted a contingency crop plan - Kharif 2014 -to the disaster and relief department. In the plan, the agriculture department has suggested that through proper technical guidance to farmers loss in agricultural production could be curbed in case of weak or non-uniform monsoon in the state. The department has given various suggestions including...

-The Hindu     Filmmakers Kavita Bahl and Nandan Saxena on their award-winning documentary "Candles in the Wind" which chronicles the struggles of the widows of the Green Revolution in Punjab As calls for a ‘second green revolution' begin to be heard, it is important to examine the legacy of the first. In Punjab, the laboratory of the revolution, the experiment seems to have gone wrong - water tables have declined, agriculture has become...

-The Pioneer Dantewada: Bio farming has altered the direction and way of 2,000-year-old traditional agricultural practices of farmers residing in villages such as Bhusaras, Hiranaar and Surnaar of Dantewada district of Bastar region. With a unique way of farming, without using hybrid Seeds, fertilizer, insecticides, and modern and costly farm implements, the farmers of these villages have produced 4-5 times more crops. Because of the agricultural practice here, the Central Government has declared...