Weather conditions promoting El Nino persistent, says Met department; drought feared In its first monsoon forecast in late April, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had announced that monsoons would be normal this year and there was a little chance of El Nino—associated with dry spells west of the Pacific—arriving in the second half of the season. But of late, IMD seems to have shifted its stand. Now the weather agency is...

A delay in the onset of monsoon by 3-4 days over the Kerala coast won’t jeopardise India’s farm prospects in the crop year starting June 1 as sowing usually picks up with the arrival of the seasonal showers, according to outgoing agriculture secretary P K Basu. In an interview, Basu told FE that the rainfall in June, however, holds the key. ‘‘If there are scanty showers in June, sowing may be...

-Reuters SUPALI: Two years ago, Vilas Yelmar took out a 200,000 rupee ($3,610) bank loan to develop a small grape orchard in a dusty hamlet southeast of Mumbai. The bank has repeatedly asked for the loan to be repaid, but Yelmar, whose annual income has risen to 2 million rupees, has spent the money on a new sport utility vehicle and a lavish family wedding. He is one of an increasing number...

The marginalisation of tribals in the last few decades has been enormous. Tribals have lost out in agriculture, and their forests also stand depleted, writes KD Singh In 2006, the Prime Minister described the Maoist threat as “the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by the country” and suggested development in insurgency-affected regions as the key remedy. In 2009, the Union Government announced a new nationwide initiative, the ‘Integrated Action...

-NDTV Nagpur: The entire Vidarbha region in Maharashtra is facing a drought-like situation following huge water scarcity due to drying of lakes and wells in most of the villages due to intense heat wave conditions. Approximately 4,300 villages are facing the grim situation as village wells and water bodies are drying up fast, prompting the administration to supply water through tankers for human consumption and livestock. According to sources, around 331 villages in...