-The Hindu This could cause monsoon to spill over to October: Officials Australia’s weather bureau said the withering El Nino — among the strongest in history and responsible for two years of consecutive Droughts and record summer temperatures in India — had ended. While that bodes well for the monsoon, weather officials in India said this could also be a precursor to floods during August and September and monsoon possibly spilling over...

-The Financial Express Dismantling cane economy will not be painless, shift crop to drip irrigation Opinion-makers, from agricultural economists and academics to environmentalists, have blamed sugarcane for aggravating the water shortage in Marathwada. But the view is contested. ‘I reject the hypothesis,’ says Venkat Mayande, during a conversation in Pune. Mayande was vice-chancellor of Akola’s Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University till 2012. How can 2.1 lakh hectare (ha) of cane cause a shortage of...

-Business Standard Private weather forecast agency revises estimate to 109% of LPA As the country awaits the arrival of the southwest monsoon after two years of drought, private weather forecasting agency Skymet on Tuesday revised upward its 2016 southwest monsoon forecast to 109 per cent of the long period average (LPA) from 105 predicted in April. The forecast, if accurate, would mean that India might have its highest southwest monsoon since 1994 and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In its over-zealousness to protect the lives of citizens reeling under severe drought in several states, the Supreme Court has erred in directing the Centre to set up a National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) under a non-operational statutory provision, which had riled the government. Led by finance minister Arun Jaitley, the government had accused the judiciary of wanton interference in the executive's exclusive domain of earmarking...

-DNA To add value to the ailing farming sector in Maharashtra, which is reeling under successive Droughts, agrarian distress and a negative growth rate, the state government is working on an agro-industrial policy. "We are working on an agro-industrial policy. It will look at granting incentives to agro-industries like food processing units, which will help create value chains for farmers and set up facilities like cold storages. The policy will also grant...