-Livemint.com An uneven distribution of rainfall has left several key rice-producing states parched even as others had to battle excess water The patchy progress of the southwest monsoon this year has cast a long shadow on India’s kharif crop produce, particularly of rice, which is an important constituent of the government’s food distribution programmes. The threat comes right after wheat production in the rabi season took a hit from heatwaves and at...

Is India going to face inflation in cereal prices during the rest of the current financial year? Experts differ on this. An analysis by Nomura Global Economics and CEIC finds that a below normal monsoon does not always translate into high retail inflation in food. Similarly, an above normal southwest monsoon does not always bring down the rate of food inflation. However, some agricultural experts (please click here, here and...

-Hindustan Times Parts of eastern and northeastern India, which recorded scanty rainfall in June and July, may not get adequate showers in the next two months as well, the weather office said, raising concerns over the kharif or monsoon crop. Rainfall during the second half of the southwest monsoon is likely to be normal, the India Meteorological Department predicted on Monday. In the first half, till July 31, it was 8% above...

-Gaon Coonection Half of the southwest monsoon season is almost over, and several districts in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are still waiting for good rainfall. Paddy and pulses farmers are staring at a wilting crop. They fear a drought year ahead. Panna, Madhya Pradesh  "July is about to end, but where is the rain?"  With a marked anxiety in his voice, Malkhan Singh Gaud, a 55-year-old farmer from Madhya...

-Down to Earth Sluggish monsoon; area sown down 15%; rural employment stares at meltdown There are disturbing signals of a potential meltdown of the country’s biggest employer and also food producer as the southwest monsoon enters  its second week of the second month. Kharif sowing was down 15 per cent by July 7, in comparison to last year for the same period. Altogether, farmers didn’t sow in 6.3 million hectares (Ha) of farms. Sowing...