-The Hindustan Times Despite a pickup in rainfall last week, the southwest monsoon remains in deficit by a significant 22%, almost certainly lowering annual production of grains, pulses and oilseeds, the three crops where sowing has been worst hit. The Met office’s estimate coincided with the release of food inflation data that showed a worrying 10.81% rise in June from a year earlier, up from a 10.74% rise in May, an...

-The Telegraph The poor rainfall performance is likely to impact India’s rice yield this year, a senior agrometeorology scientist said today amid growing concerns over the rainfall deficit persisting 45 days into the monsoon season. Rainfall activity over the past week has reduced India’s land area under rain stress from 82 per cent on July 7 to 59 per cent today, but the cumulative rainfall is still 21 per cent below normal,...

-The Hindu Association’s decision is in protest against lack of clarity in RTE implementation As many as 1,800 schools are likely to remain closed from Monday as the Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association (KUSMA) has decided to go ahead with its weeklong bandh. Despite a dialogue scheduled for Monday with the State government, the association has taken the decision as a mark of protest against the lack of clarity in the implementation of...

-The Deccan Chronicle Following the age old practice of trying to circumvent the law, schools which did not enjoy a minority status, have begun vying for it to avoid admitting poor students under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Sensing trouble, the state government has come up with a strategy of its own to defeat them at their own game. Much to the horror of the institutions concerned, it announced after...

-AFP Annual monsoon rains, crucial to India's economy, covered the country on Wednesday but remained 23 percent below average, sparking fears of their impact on two cereal-producing states. The pounding rains that sweep across the continent from June to September are dubbed the "economic lifeline" of India, which is one of the world's leading producers of rice, sugar, wheat and cotton. "The monsoon is covering the entire country today with parts of Gujarat...