-The Hindustan Times     For India, the monsoon is more than just a cool respite: It's the economy's life-blood. It's a long expedition nature undertakes each year. Drafts of early-summer breeze in from the southern Pacific stream northwards, preparing to travel more than 8,000 km to reach Asia in time and picking up moisture on the way. If the Pacific winds are one essential ingredient of a perfect monsoon, the Indian...

-The Hindu   The much-awaited Southwest Monsoon, crucial to the country's economy, is expected to hit Kerala in the next 24 hours. But whether it will be bountiful or erratic and how it will impact the agriculture sector is not known. States have been alerted to be prepared with contingency plans for kharif (paddy) sowing. "Conditions are conducive for the likely onset of monsoon in Kerala in the next 24 hours. Today (Thursday) there...

-Yojana Journal   The summer of 2014 got drenched with the elections euphoria, but for Indian agriculture all eyes are set on the prospects of a good monsoon. Is there a possibility of an El Nino? Will it lead to a drought like condition and have an adverse impact on agricultural production? How will this impact hose dependent on agriculture for their livelihood? What about farmers' suicides? These questions remind us of...

-Deccan Chronicle   New Delhi: Tipped to be agriculture minister, Radha Mohan Singh has an arduous task at hand to boost the growth, which could not meet the target of four per cent per year in recent years.   Also, the El Nino threat to the monsoon rains will be the immediate challenge, which can affect the foodgrains productions in the next financial year. Even though there has been record foodgrains productions in the past...

-Financial Chronicle   Forecasts on possible monsoon behaviour are not very encouraging. There is a possibility of El Nino factors causing further problems. More recently, our farmers in parts of north and central India experienced the fury of hailstorms and heavy rains. Climate change further complicates the possibility of providing accurate advance estimates of monsoon behaviour. This is not only true in our country, but also around the world. California, for example,...