-Hindustan Times With progressively increasing severity of rising temperatures and rain deficits over two consecutive years – 2014 and 2015, the Great Indian Drought was always coming. The India Meteorological Department, ministry of home affairs, the ministry of water resources, the Ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare office, and the National Disaster Management Authority knew it. The question is, what did we do with this knowledge? Six hundred million of India’s 1.2 billion...

-Business Standard Water harvesting needs attention, not just irrigation The charter of demands recently submitted by chief ministers of drought-hit states to the central leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeks liberal assistance for the states' drought relief efforts. These focus on managing the immediate crisis. While that is a valid concern, too few states sought aid for medium and long-term drought mitigation and adaptation measures which are vital to blunt the...

-Business Standard Unpredictable weather may impact 30 per cent of the harvest India has been hit by unusual weather. Much of the country has endured unseasonal rain, even hailstorms. In the process, nearly 30 per cent of the rabi planting seems to have been spoiled, with adverse implications for food availability and inflation, as well as farmer distress. The first half of March has been unusually cool, besides being the wettest for...

-The Tribune The outlook for all things smart is opening up, including Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA). Varanasi, set to develop as a Smart City, will be a lighthouse for sectors seeking sustainable ways to handle demographic pressures, finite environmental resources and climate change. The Finance Minister's budget speech has promised a hundred smart cities. With urban India well covered, it is the turn now of smart agriculture, equipped both to enhance food...

-The Financial Express The Asian Development Bank (ADB) warns of a 9% annual loss to the GDP of South Asia from climate change by 2100 if global fossil fuel usage continues unabated. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) warns of a 9% annual loss to the GDP of South Asia from climate change by 2100 if global fossil fuel usage continues unabated. While the global scientific community is divided on the exact cause...