-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 Business Standard   Food articles inflation dips to 8.64% compared to 9.9% in March Wholesale Price Index-based Inflation fell by 0.5 percentage points to 5.2 per cent in April from 5.7 per cent in March, providing some relief to a new government amid other deteriorating macroeconomic numbers such as retail inflation and industrial output. All three major components of the index - food, fuel and manufactured goods - recorded moderation in inflation on...

-The Business Standard Hailstorms may cause Rs 12k-cr crop damage, El Niño a bigger worry India's hope rally will be at risk if El Niño actually strikes this year. Even if a reformist government comes to power in May, global weather forecasts seem to suggest India is faced with the prospect of an erratic rainfall, as a result of the waters of the Pacific Ocean warming (known as the El Niño effect). It...

-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Agriculture) The two-day National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign has come out with detailed strategy for maximising crop production during the coming kharif season. The focus will be on ensuring timely availability of fertilizers and quality seed and also sufficient credit to farmers. Based on inputs from States and the Fertilizer Ministry, it is established that sufficient quantities of fertilizers and seeds are available in...

-The Tribune Punjab: No doubt there is a pressing need to restore the fast deteriorating underground water balance in Punjab and parts of Haryana because of excessive withdrawals of water to meet the irrigation requirements of water-guzzling crops, particularly the rice crop. In Punjab available canal water hardly meets one-fourth of the water requirements of the agriculture sector and three-fourth water requirements are met through the pumping of underground water. In...