-Outlook The agriculture sector witnessed record foodgrains output of 257.44 million tonnes in this year enabling the country to become world's largest rice exporter for the first time, but the monsoon played spoilsport dashing farmers' hopes of an encore in 2013. A hefty increase of Rs 1 lakh crore in farm credit target to Rs 5.75 lakh crore was a major highlight for the sector in 2012, while the continuing farmers suicide...

-The Economic Times The government is likely to miserably fall short of its rural electrification target for the current fiscal as most villages that were to be covered under the scheme are located in difficult terrains, making it difficult for the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) to lay power lines there. Officials from Rural Electrification Corporation, the nodal agency for implementing the scheme, say many of the villages that were to be supplied...

-The Hindustan Times With just three days left before the ongoing winter session winds up, the UPA floor managers are in a hurry to clear its pending legislative agenda. For Tuesday, the government has listed as many as seven bills for discussion and passing. Top government sources indicated that it may list heavy agenda for the remaining two days as well. With a large part of the session already disrupted over the...

-The Hindu THE SUNDAY STORY An analysis of the output from 18 different global climate models indicates that India’s average annual surface air temperature could go up by between four degrees Celsius and seven degrees Celsius by the end of this century. The warning signs are already out there. Global air and ocean temperatures have risen in response to human-driven emissions, particularly of carbon dioxide. Oceans have become more acidic and the...

-The Economic Times DOHA: India faces the risk of devastating drought as monsoon rains are likely to have a shortfall of 70% in the years ahead, as climate change shakes up global weather phenomena, recent research and experts at a global conference said. The risk of adverse changes in global weather is aggravated by the fact that international efforts to act against climate change have been blocked by deep divisions among the...