-The Hindu Business Line Agriculture Ministry expects record harvest this year New Delhi: With the monsoon covering the entire country this week, sowing of kharif crops till July 15, at 559.76 lakh hectares (lh), surpassed last year’s acreage of 548.38 lh as farmers planted more rice, pulses, coarse cereals, oilseeds and sugarcane. Cotton was the only crop that witnessed a drop in acreage, at 75.41 lh in the June to July 15 period...

-The Indian Express Agriculture Ministry’s harvest estimates don’t square with drought conditions in several cases, raise serious questions of credibility. We have had two consecutive drought years, yet India’s milk production, according to the Agriculture Ministry, has risen from 137.69 million tonnes (mt) in 2013-14 to 146.31 mt in 2014-15 and 160.35 mt in 2015-16. Never before has the country’s milk output grown at these rates — that too, in the face...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The government's first assessment of farm prospects six weeks into the monsoon season shows the country is heading for a record kharif harvest, which should boost rural income and calm food inflation, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said. Pulses output, which had fallen sharply after two years of drought, will rise 20% and cool prices for consumers, while farmers will gain from higher output and better prices...

-Livemint.com How women in a remote Nagaland village are bringing about transformation rooted in traditional Naga practices Inside a small thatched hut, smoke from the wood fire danced with the sun rays beaming through gaps in the roof. We huddled around the fire, brewed tea and wordlessly consumed the packed breakfast of bread, jam and boiled eggs. An intense cicada cacophony resonated across the hillside; the incessant shrill buzz battering our eardrums...

-HuffingtonPost.com In Bundelkhand, people struggle for every drop of water they can find. TIKAMGARH DISTRICT: For years, Lakshman Pal, 28, planted wheat and tended to his small field here. Each season, he hoped for rain. He looked up at the sky and waited for the showers that normally came. But for the past two years, they’ve hardly come at all. His crops eventually withered and died, crumbling to dust. In early May, Pal...