-Livemint.com Drought declaration can provide farmers relief through compensation for crop damage and restructuring of loans New Delhi: Even though the monsoon ended with a 14% rainfall deficit, with nearly half the country’s districts facing a shortage of over 20%, states are delaying declaring a drought that could provide immediate relief to farmers by compensating for crop damage and restructuring farm loans. The June-September monsoon, which irrigates over half the country’s farm...

-The Indian Express Congratulations to the IMD which sounded out the country on below-normal rainfall at 93 per cent of the LPA and then downgraded it to 88 per cent. Skymet’s forecast for 102 per cent of the long period average (LPA) of the southwest monsoon was wrong. On September 30, the monsoon ended at 86 per cent of the LPA, leading to a second consecutive season with Deficient Rainfall (mild...

-IANS Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on Tuesday asked the state government to submit within four weeks a report over the alleged farmer suicides in the state. Hearing a petition over suicides of farmers due to crop loss in the state, OHRC's working chairman Justice B.K. Mishra directed the government to inquire into the claims and submit a report, said an OHRC official here. The secretaries of agriculture and revenue and...

-The Times of India There is more to this year's rainfall deficit than meets the eye. After the monsoon was officially declared over on September 30, 17 of the country's 36 weather subdivisions had received deficient or scanty rainfall. That's about 39% of the country's area, home to over 66 crore people, nearly half the country's population. Deficient is when rains are below the average by 20% or more while scanty...

-The Indian Express The average rainfall across the country during June 1-September 22 has been 718 mm, which is 14 per cent less than the LPA of 839 mm. This year’s monsoon deficiency, likely to be around 13-14 per cent, could be listed among the five worst years in terms of rainfall, officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in Pune said. In the last 40 years, the highest rainfall deficiency was recorded...