-The Business Standard Impact on farm output to depend on distribution of rains The southwest monsoon is likely to be below normal in 2014 because of the evolving El Niño, a warming of the Pacific Ocean that upsets weather patterns across the globe, according to a forecast issued on Tuesday by a leading private meteorological agency, Skymet. The official monsoon forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is due on April 25. Rain during...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: El Nino is likely to hit rains in India but the country may escape an overall drought, private weather company Skymet said in the first forecast by any agency about this year's monsoon. rainfall in the season is likely to be below normal at 94% of the long range average, it said. Releasing its assessment some 10 days before the official India Meteorological Department's monsoon prediction,...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of rice cultivation, which has been in existence in the region for some years, is now all set to revolutionize rice production. And if the divisional commissionerate has its way, the yield of different varieties of rice grown using this technique will increase threefold in the next two years or so. Introduced in the region, especially Bhandara district, by the...

-The Hindu The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has given its starkest warning of the likely impact of climate change. The IPCC's March 31 report, the most comprehensive yet, states that the evidence of global warming is now overwhelming, and warns that all countries and all social classes of people will be affected by changes which are likely to be "severe, pervasive and irreversible." All animal species...

-Deccan Herald The world is not ready for climate change, which poses a number of serious risks, says the planet's leading body of climate scientists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at its conference in Yokohama, Japan recently released a major report on the impact of climate change, with the goal of spurring world leaders to act more decisively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The report warns of serious impacts...