-The Indian Express Last financial year, of the additional Rs 15,000 crore that the MoRD sought in supplementary demands, the Finance Ministry cleared only Rs 9,000 crore. Despite the Centre’s claim that this year’s MGNREGA budget is the highest ever, almost 88 per cent of the funds available for the scheme have already been exhausted, just halfway through the financial year. As of next week, only Rs 6,000 crore of the Rs...

-The Hindu Chief Secretary instructs State officials to take preparatory measures Uttar Pradesh is staring at a drought, the senior-most official in the State has said. Noting that the State received low rainfall during the monsoon, Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar has instructed divisional commissioners and district magistrates to brace for a “potential drought”. Mr. Kumar has instructed officials to coordinate with all departments and take “necessary steps on a priority basis”. The Chief Secretary has...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The country is headed for good rabi season despite below normal monsoon rains, thanks to a surge of rainfall in the last week of September that replenished soil moisture, agriculture secretary Shobhana K Pattanayak has said. The late rains will benefit planting of rabi crops such as wheat and chana, Pattanayak said on Thursday. “We are expecting a very good rabi season, so that should make up...

-The Financial Express The cumulative rainfall for southwest monsoon this year (July to September) has been 5% less than normal. The distribution has been uneven, with excess rains in some parts and shortage in several other areas like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra. This has impacted sowing. As compared with last year, sowing is lower for foodgrains and oilseeds. Even the government’s first advance estimates say that...

-The Financial Express Indian agriculture’s reliance on monsoon rainfall has reduced considerably over the last few years thanks to the increase in area irrigated, although there are still pockets — particularly in east and central India — where rains still are a decisive determinant of crop. Key grain-producing states Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have most of the cropped areas under irrigation coverage (see table). Unless...