-India Climate Dialogue The meteorological department’s analysis of annual rainfall for the past 50 years has found significant increasing or decreasing trends in districts that could put a spanner into India’s food security scenario. Since June 13, there has been a hiatus in the advance of southwest monsoon in the country due to the weakening of its circulation pattern. This dry spell is expected to soon change as the monsoon is likely...

-The Tribune Hoshiarpur: Progressive farmer of backward Kandi area of Hoshiarpur district, Parlad Singh from Namolihar village, has become a role model for others by adopting organic farming. Beginning in 1998 with the cultivation of his 7 acres of ancestral land, he is now successfully practising diversified organic farming. He has been earning a much greater deal as compared to traditional wheat-paddy farming. Parlad said starting with his 7 acres of ancestral...

-Financial Express Water resources minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday it was practically difficult for sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra to abandon the water-guzzling crop and shift to other crops, as the latter are less remunerative. “I ask as a farmer. I will not undertake the sugarcane crop, you tell me what should I do…. The price of non-basmati rice is `13-14 per kg, which is peanuts and look at the price (escalation)...

-Livemint.com Currently water guzzling crops like paddy and sugarcane, which use up to 60% of available irrigation water, are cultivated in some of the most water scarce regions in the country, says the study New Delhi: India needs to realign regional cropping patterns with available water resources to ensure future sustainability of food production, a study released on Thursday said. Currently water guzzling crops like paddy and sugarcane, which use up to...

-The Hindu The court-ordered clean-up in the textile town has managed to mitigate ill-effects of industrial pollution to a large extent. A similar remediation effort, involving the government and stakeholders, is needed in other parts of Tamil Nadu, where groundwater has been so contaminated that farming is not possible anymore On a sunny June morning, two men are spotted fishing close to the Orathupalayam dam in Erode district. A rather ordinary act in...