PUNE/ KOLKATA: Heavy rains lashed Mumbai and parched fields in peninsular India as the monsoon resumed its journey after an agonising 11-day interruption, but the unforeseen 41% rain deficit this month has taken its toll, with vegetable prices rising sharply for the third straight month.  The monsoon, almost stagnant since June 6, touched southern parts of Gujarat and Chhattisgarh on Sunday. It is forecast to gain momentum in the next three...

Basagonda adopted INM system to cultivate papaya Around three years ago when Basagonda Muttappanavar decided to join his father in farming, he had a dream: to bring about a radical change in farming methods. Confident Being the son of a farmer, the 27-year-old agriculture graduate was confident of turning the not-so-profitable land into a dividend-rich farm. Basagonda decided to cultivate Taiwan-786 variety of papaya on 4 acres of their 45-acre farm at Managuli village,...

-The Hindu The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) is set to take place on June 20 at Rio de Janeiro, 20 years after the 1992 Earth Summit on Environment & Development. World leaders, experts, and U.N. agencies are expected to take stock and reaffirm global commitment to sustainable development. The summit is taking place against the backdrop of threats of catastrophic climate change, unprecedented environmental degradation and widespread market...

-The Business Standard MSP hikes will stoke food inflation The government’s new kharif pricing policy, suggesting a steep 16 to 53 per cent increase in the minimum support prices (MSPs) of various crops, is unlikely to fully satisfy farmers even as it will stoke food inflation and swell the food subsidy bill. Approval of the new prices by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) came on the day that inflation numbers...

-The Telegraph Costlier food items carried inflation up to 7.55 per cent in May, and the price situation could get aggravated further by the government’s decision to raise the minimum support price of paddy, oil seeds and pulses. However, the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) deferred a decision to raise urea prices because of opposition by some ministries. Inflation in May last year stood at 9.56 per cent. Overall food inflation rose to...