KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

Private weather forecaster Skymet expects the upcoming June-September monsoon to be 'below normal' to the tune of 94% of the long period average (LPA), raising concerns about food grain production in the country. In January, Skymet had forecast the monsoon 2023 to be sub-par and now retains the same outlook.  "Courtesy Triple-Dip-La Nina, southwest monsoon observed above normal/normal rainfall for the last four consecutive seasons. Now, La Nina has ended. Likelihood...

Livemint Wheat prices have started climbing again despite the government launching open market operations to reain in prices of the crucial commodity due to the unseasonal rains in key what-producing states. Wheat prices had shot up by 15% in 2022 accoding to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, even before the OMOs. This comes as retail inflation continues to hover above the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance level,...

Hindu Businessline El Nino is one piece in the mammoth jigsaw puzzle that the Pacific Ocean and its seasonal climatic patterns typify. Being the largest single body of water, the Pacific has an outsized influence on weather and climate across the globe. During El Niño, trade winds weaken and warm water gets pushed back East of the Pacific, towards the West coast of the Americas.  Generally, El Niño occurs more frequently than...

Editorial team, Carbon Copy  Ongoing shifts in rainfall and temperature caused by climate change are likely to increase the debt burden faced by rural households, particularly of marginalised groups in dry areas, an editorial in Carbon Copy magazine said. The piece cited a study in the journal Climate Change that argues that changes in climate, along with existing socio-economic differences - caste and landholding in particular — will deepen the size...