-The Economic Times It's not just India that is baking. Globally, this seems to be one of the worst summers in recorded history. The global average temperature for May was the second hottest ever since 1880 - the year records were first compiled -- US National Climatic Data Centre (NCDC) has said. Only 2010 witnessed a worse May.  The NCDC said such a hot May was never recorded in the northern hemisphere.  No...

-The Economic Times CHANDIGARH: The monsoon eluding the north has now added a new worry - the sharply falling water level in the Bhakra dam, and the Pong dam, in Himachal Pradesh have led to a shortfall in power supply to the northern grid. The powerhouses of Bhakra are now supplying 10% less power to the northern grid, fuelling fears of severe power and water crisis in at least four states...

-Down to Earth As corruption hijacks procurement centres in Bundelkhand, farmers prefer suicide to a debt trap. Richard Mahapatra reports from Uttar Pradesh with photographer Sayantoni Palchoudhuri A fatal paradox strikes Bundelkhand in the face—an overflowing wheat stock yet an overwhelming number of farmer suicides. Farmers here dread the government wheat procurement centre and the post-mortem house. In Orai, a small town in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, the two are...

Punjab’s agricultural sector grew at 1.6 per cent during the 11th Plan against the national average of 3.41 per cent. The growth is tardy owing to near saturation in productivity. The rural debts in Punjab are estimated to be Rs 35,000 crore. The number of indebted rural households in Punjab is 66 per cent, third highest in the country after Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Government of India’s debt...

There could be a turnaround in the monsoon scenario in the next four to five days, according to the latest forecast of the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In its weekly report released on Friday evening, the IMD said “an analysis of the current meteorological conditions indicate increase in rainfall activity in east, central, and north-west India due to development of the seasonal east-west trough, with embedded upper air cyclonic circulation. “The condition...