-Business Standard/ PTI Directs Centre to constitute a national disaster response force within the next six months In a strong indictment of Centre and states' handling of the Drought situation, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said if state governments maintain an "ostrich-like attitude", Centre cannot wash its hands of constitutional responsibility, since the "buck stops" with it. The apex court, giving its judgment on a public interest litigation by Swaraj Abhiyan on Drought,...

-The Hindu Supreme Court's observations on Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana its judgment on the PIL filed by Swaraj Abhiyan on Drought The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana were hesitant to even acknowledge, let alone address, a Drought or a Drought-like situation. They had not disclosed the full facts about the conditions prevailing in their States. It was hearing a PIL filed by Swaraj Abhiyan seeking relief for Drought-hit...

-Livemint.com Revision of Drought management manual among slew of directions made by Supreme Court New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday hit the reset button on Drought management, directing the government to abandon the existing system and evolve a transparent, rules-based framework. The new policy will prescribe a standard methodology and time-frame for declaring Drought. The court also directed the Union government to set up a National Disaster Mitigation Fund within three...

-PTI NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to create a disaster mitigation fund to tackle Drought- like situation and directed the Agriculture Ministry to hold a meeting within a week with affected states like Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana to assess the conditions.       A bench headed by Justice M B Lokur directed the Centre to also implement the provisions of Disaster Management Act and fix a time limit for...

-Livemint.com New Delhi: Despite widespread Drought in 11 states across the country, India’s foodgrain production is actually set to grow marginally, the third advance estimates released by the agriculture ministry on Monday showed. Total foodgrain production in 2015-16 is estimated at 252.23 million tonnes, marginally higher than 252.02 million tonnes produced in 2014-15, the data shows. If the estimates hold up, it would imply that the damage to the agrarian economy is less...