-NDTV Bhopal: Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir said today he was concerned about the persisting smog cover over Delhi and hinted that the courts might look into the issue. "We are concerned. With each passing day, the smog level is rising.  We will deal with the matter," the chief justice said in Bhopal. He made the observations during a hearing on disposal of the Bhopal gas tragedy waste at the Union Carbide...

-The Economic Times The fear of drought in India has abated with late precipitation of the monsoon in September this year. However, the country continues to suffer from a drought of formalised tabulated data of agro items on a real-time or monthly basis, though many estimates continue to fatigue the print and electronic media.  Red or green prices flashing on computer screens are taken for 'granted', but the discovery of future or...

-The Hindustan Times India is building a new system to predict the monsoons - one that will forecast summer rain more accurately than the present model. This comes after the ministry of earth sciences, which oversees the Met department, concluded that its 'empirical method' has become obsolete. The new model - called the dynamic model - will cost Rs. 400 crore and take three years to be ready. "Though the empirical model is still...

-The Times of India The monsoon in August has beaten most expectations, including the India Meteorological Department's outlook of 96% rain for the month, by registering 99.6% of normal rainfall (till August 29). The rain rally, particularly impressive in north India, has raised hopes of a better than expected kharif crop output. The overall monsoon deficit now stands at 12%, considerably better than 19% when the month began. The northern states, which...

-Live Mint Notwithstanding the drought, farmers have preferred to sow sugar cane and rice instead of opting for less water-intensive crops such as coarse grains and pulses. The latest sowing data released by the agriculture ministry as of 16 August shows that area under coarse cereals and pulses is down 13% and 12.39%, respectively, from last year, while that for rice and sugar cane contracted only 3.57% and 4.53%, respectively. In the process,...