-The Indian Express Farm incomes may not revive despite good monsoon. There are new challenges for policymakers. India’s per capita calorie demand has been falling for at least the last 30 years. Most people do a double-take when they hear that. One can’t debate the fact much: National Sample Surveys every five to seven years have documented this. What we can debate are the reasons behind this: In their 2009 paper Angus...

Rising prices of dal: How to deal with it? The 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. In India, however, ordinary citizens are under enormous duress due to the skyrocketing prices of dal/ lentils since the last one year. The website of Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs shows that dal prices varied across places. For example, the...

-Business Standard Unlike in the previous years, both the states have received normal to excess rainfall from June till July 12 Hyderabad: Pulses, oil seeds and maize are among the top crops that are leading the ongoing Kharif sowings in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, even though there is still a couple of more weeks left for the sowing of irrigated dry (ID) crops during the current season. In Telangana, pulses and soybean...

Situation alarming: More than one-third population hit by drought   The country is facing severe drought for the second consecutive year. Conservative estimates from official sources show that over a quarter of rural habitations are facing drinking water scarcity. Although both India Meteorological Department and Skymet have predicted a more than normal rainfall during June-September, 2016, the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country has declined from 22 percent...

-The Indian Express It’s not that Maharashtra has spent less on irrigation. The real problem is its high cost. Latur in Maharashtra has become a symbol of acute water scarcity. Several “jal doots” (water trains) had to ferry water to thirsty Latur. The Maharashtra government also imposed Section 144 to maintain law and order near water bodies/ distribution points. The high court intervened in the case of IPL matches and asked these...