-The Hindu Business Line Both the Centre and States need to be prepared for the possibility in peninsular India The bad news is that the met department’s pessimistic monsoon forecast — of it being 7 per cent less than the long-period average (LPA) — is turning out to be right. The monsoon started off with much promise in June, finishing the month with a 16 per cent surplus and kharif sowing doing...

-Business Standard CRISIL Ratings identifies four states and five crops at highest risk to deficient monsoon Within the next 40 days, the southwest monsoon will formally start retracting from the Indian mainland, ending its four-month journey over the country, pounding some parts with excess showers, but could leave almost 30 per cent of the country with deficient or less-than-normal rains, unless there is an abnormal pickup in the coming weeks. That looks highly...

-The Indian Express From pulses in Karnataka to soyabean in Madhya Pradesh, basmati paddy in Haryana to groundnuts in Gujarat, hedging their bets. Please click here to read more. ...

-Business Standard Encourages states on short-duration and less of rain-dependent crops, pushes seed availability in case of re-sowing as IMD predicts deficit in rainfall this year Mumbai/ Hyderabad: With the forecast of monsoon rain revised downward, the Union ministry of agriculture has directed states to be ready with contingency plans. Earth Sciences Minister Harsh Vardhan said rainfall would be only 88 per cent of the long-term average from the 93 per cent expected...

-The Times of India AKOLA: For the last 23 years, Rukhmabai Rathod had run her 6-acre farm virtually single-handedly. After her husband's death in 1992, the uneducated but determined woman took charge. She decided what to sow, how much to spend and stood her ground with banks and creditors. "She was anguthachaap but she understood everything," says her brother-in-law Babulal Rathod from the Kazadeshwar village in Vidarbha's Akola district. "I didn't think...