-Scroll.in Some believe the ‘peculiar’ thunderstorms and dust storms are because of a change in the pattern of winter storms, or rising heat. Several of India’s northern states – particularly Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi – have experienced a spate of severe thunderstorms and dust storms with strong winds and lightning in the past month. The storms have killed over 124 people and left a trail of devastation. According to the Indian...

-The Hindu Business Line Eleven years since its inception, the State’s farmer’s debt relief commission has quietly eased the burden of debt on poor farmers, and grown to be a model worth emulating Earlier this week 35,000 debt-ridden farmers coursed through Maharashtra, walking 180 km on blistered soles, to converge at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan demanding freedom from debt and fair compensation for their produce. As the government scrounged for solutions, it could’ve...

-Hindustan Times KC Rekha may have become a fisherwoman out of necessity, but she’s come to love her profession, despite the odds and uncertainty, despite her life being as complex as the tangled net in her vessel. Thrissur (Kerala): KC Rekha, a 45-year-old mother of four sits alone on an isolated beach of a Kerala fishing village at the crack of dawn, untangling a mess of nylon fishing nets on which her family’s...

-The Hindu The direction of the wind, intensity of the rain and several other factors go into determining whether a rainy spell qualifies as monsoon. In our eagerness for monsoon to arrive, any long drizzle may make it seem as though the annual rainy season is finally here. But not all rain spells that arrive in June qualify to be monsoon showers. For example, the sudden showers that greeted a parched Chennai...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The monsoon, in its withdrawal phase now, has revived over key drought-hit states that account for over a third of India’s food output, offering respite to millions of farmers battling tough conditions and a government staring at a rural crisis. The late surge, not unusual, has narrowed current rainfall deficiency from 16% to 15% for the June-September season. Overnight, Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region and the states of Chhattisgarh, Telangana...