India's annual monsoon rains, vital to the trillion-dollar economy's farm output and economic growth, were 11.1 percent below normal for June 1-23, sources at the weather office said on Thursday. "We are still hopeful of an improvement in rainfall by June end," a senior official at the India Meteorological Department, who could not be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media, said. On Wednesday, the Met...

The steady progress of the monsoons ought to refocus policy attention on India's deeply stressed water economy . There are fast rising demands on water resources generally, together with poorly governed supply systems, with the result that overall balances are precarious. What is worse, there's increasingly reckless mining of groundwater, and aquifer depletion is concentrated in many of the most populated and economically significant areas. Now, we have a highly...

In the first study of its kind, a group of scientists will map climate change vulnerability in all the north-eastern states of India. The study, to be completed by end-July, will focus on threats to agriculture, forestry, water and livelihood resulting from climate change in the fragile region. The study will be conducted jointly by scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, Jadavpur University, the Indian Institute of Technology...

While it may appear paradoxical that at a time when the government is fighting inflationary pressures, it has chosen to hike the minimum support price (MSP) for foodgrains, the reality is that prevailing market prices for almost all foodgrains, oilseeds and cereals are way above even these newly announced prices. Therefore, despite the substantial hike in MSP for kharif crops, especially for pulses, the impact on both market and farmers’...

Not so long ago, the prospect of a global sugar shortage gave food manufacturers a panic attack. Poor weather conditions hitting crops in the world's two biggest sugar-producing nations, Brazil and India, sent the price of the sweet stuff soaring on international markets. In August last year, US firms such as Kraft Food, General Mills and chocolate-maker Hershey were so worried that they wrote a joint letter to the country's...