-PTI New Delhi: The spectre of a drought looms over large parts of the country with 40 per cent of its land mass receiving "deficient" rainfall. "As of today, 47 per cent of the country has witnessed normal rainfall, 40 per cent deficient and merely 13 per cent excess precipitation. The overall deficiency has increased to 12 per cent," India Meteorological Department said, adding with the southwest monsoon expected to start withdrawing...

-The Indian Express It will be taken up aggressively to replace chemical fertilisers: Khadse  The Maharashtra government is drawing up a comprehensive plan to promote organic farming in a phased manner as an alternative to chemical fertilisers. The Ministry of Agriculture is preparing the draft and special allocations will be made to meet the target. The stress on organic farming reflects the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s view that chemical fertilisers should be done...

-The Indian Express We can add millions of hectares to irrigated land without building a single new dam. We just need to adopt a different method of managing the water already stored in them. One of the drivers of India’s irrigation sector has been the construction of large dams on our rivers, which Jawaharlal Nehru famously described as “the temples of modern India”. While these dams have helped increase India’s irrigated...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes that the biggest losers of the deadlock over the Centre's land acquisition bill would be Bengal, Odisha and Bihar, sources close to him have said. Whether the bill is blocked or passed in a watered-down version, it will hobble his ambitions of bringing the eastern states on a par economically with the western states, they explained. If the Modi government fails to evolve a...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: As the farm crisis rocks the state assembly, there is no escaping the fact that the despair in Maharashtra's countryside is only deepening. The farmer suicide count in the six-month span from January to June this year stood at 1,300 cases, the state's revenue department figures show. So in just six months this year, the farmer suicide toll has already touched 66% of the 1,981 cases recorded...