-IANS The spectre of drought is looming large over Bihar, something that state officials have acknowledged. "If the monsoon fails the state in the first two weeks of July, the situation may be near drought," an official here said. Monsoon normally hits the state between June 12 and June 14. But this year, it was delayed by over a week. Soon after the rains began, they have been scanty. The state has received...

Elders devise a system to share water among arecanut farmers Disputes over sharing of water from Bukkarayanakere were common among arecanut growers in Doddabukkasagar of Kadur taluk until around 40 years ago. A few senior citizens came together in the early 1970s and decided to resolve them forever by devising a new system, according to which water is released periodically to all farmers. Now, disputes over water are unheard of in the...

Gosikhurd was sanctioned in 1983 and meant to irrigate 2.5 lakh hectares in Vidarbha As Manikrao Gedam sits outside his three-room house, he wonders how he has benefited by giving up his 10 acres for the Gosikhurd irrigation project at Bhandara in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region. For that matter, he wonders what anyone has gained from it. Today, he has nothing else, but the house in a resettlement colony; his sons are unemployed; and...

Chandil, Jharkhand: Outrage has given way to expectancy in West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, where people are now waiting for the benefits that will come to them from a multipurpose project on the Subarnarekha, a venture that is finally set to take off after 40 years of holdups and protests.   On June 15, a team of engineers will test the dam’s vital functions and, if all goes well, the inauguration is expected in...

-The Times of India Anticipating what farmers support could mean to Samajwadi Party in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Akhilesh government doled out sops worth Rs 5,432.37 crore for agriculture and allied activities to benefit the group. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav also reiterated his government's commitment to scrap the old land acquisition policy and come up with a farmer friendly version soon. Stating that loans were a stress that haunted a...