-The New Indian Express NEW DELHI: There seems to be no respite from searing heat for a month and half more with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) saying that the drought condition prevailing in the country now will remain maximum for 30 to 45 days. IMD director B P Yadav said farmers faced two deficient rainfall years consecutively and the immediate solution is good monsoon and the weather office has predicted good...

-Livemint.com Work-related seasonal migration is higher when rainfall is low and the construction sector, the largest employer of such labour, is witnessing a slowdown Mumbai: The announcement of plentiful rains this year is likely to spell relief for those forced to migrate because of failing monsoons. A slowdown in the construction industry which employs most migrant labourers would likely have strained their ability to deal with another deficient year after rains...

-Livemint.com/ AP Hundreds of millions of people in at least 13 states are reeling from severe drought, a situation that is expected to worsen in the coming months Shahapur: Shantabai Babulkar’s day begins before dawn with a 5 kilometer trek across barren fields and dusty scrubland to fetch water from a distant well for her family. The two metal pots of muddy water that Babulkar, 58, balances on her head and a...

-The Hindu The Hindu decided to find out whether these forecasts have worked in the past. Answer (based on 10 years of forecast data): not very accurately Chennai: Following the India Meteorological Department’s forecast of an ‘above normal’ monsoon of 106 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) on Tuesday, The Hindu decided to find out whether these forecasts have worked in the past. Answer (based on 10 years of forecast...

-The Hindu Central Water Commission data on live storage show that only 23 per cent of capacity is available, and this is well below last year. Water levels in major reservoirs of the country are alarmingly low, weekly data released by Central Water Commission (CWC) shows. CWC, a technical organisation under the aegis of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, monitors live storage status of 91 major reservoirs in the...