-Hindustan Times Heavy rains and deadly flooding in south India, a region that saw a killer heat wave this summer, are weather patterns that appear to fit the scenarios of climate change in India, IMD chief Laxman Singh Rathore has said. “They (emerging weather patterns) fit the larger picture of climate change predicted by Indian scientists as well as global reports,” Rathore told HT. Episodes of excessive rainfall are increasing while the...

-The Times of India COIMBATORE: Farmers across the district are a happy lot this time, as no crops were damaged in the northeast monsoon showers. They also expect a good harvest this season, thanks to the right amount of rainfall. The district had received almost 250mm of in a span of two weeks. Even as widespread flooding was reported in paddy fields across the Cauvery delta and southern parts of the state, farms...

-The Times of India DEHRADUN: A performance audit report prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the 2013 Kedarnath flash floods, which was tabled in the Uttarakhand assembly session at Gairsain on Tuesday, squarely blames the state government of the time for being unprepared and failing to learn from previous natural disasters. The report raps the state government for its slow response which it says actually aggravated the disaster...

-Livemint.com The destruction of almost two-thirds of the state’s cotton crop by the whitefly has forced 15 farmers to commit suicide, pushed hundreds of others into debt An insect has ravaged the cotton crop across Punjab’s Malwa region. The destruction of almost two-thirds of the state’s cotton crop by the whitefly has forced as many as 15 farmers to commit suicide and pushed hundreds of others into debt. A Times of India report...

-PTI Delhi has reported 504 cases of dengue in the last five days, taking the number of patients hit by the mosquito-borne viral disease to 6,486, the highest since 1996. Data released on Thursday by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, which tracks the infection the symptoms of which include high fever and aching joints, shows 25 people died of dengue this season. Records of major hospitals, however, put the number of dead...