-The Hindu     Aberrations in monsoon behaviour are not uncommon. What is new is the difficulty in forecasting caused by factors coming under the generic title, ‘Climate change.' Forecasts by the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum and the India Meteorological Department indicate that the south-west monsoon rainfall may be deficient. Also, there is a possibility of the evolution of an El Niño event during June to September. There is a 45 per cent...

-ANI   Aurangabad: Absence of proper rainfall has risked the farmlands of Aurangabad district in Maharashtra and lack of subsequent effective government intervention is leaving farmers with no option but suicide. According to climate report of researchers there are high chances of climatic conditions similar to El Nino effect to occur in 14 districts in Maharashtra. Farmers of Marathwada region in Aurangabad have been experiencing difficult times for the last three years. The...

-The Times of India   VISAKHAPATNAM: The deadly duo of scorching heat and poll fever is taking its toll on the beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the three north coastal districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam. According to the reports, while nearly 400 NREGS workers have fallen sick in the last two weeks due to their punishing double duty under Extreme Weather conditions -- NREGS works...

-The New York Times   As politicians scramble for India's 815 million votes in the most expensive and closely contested general election in the nation's history, an unexpected protest is rumbling from what was once one of the country's most placid voter blocs: its farmers. The protest is inflamed by rising attention to the shocking suicide rate on India's hardscrabble farms. Since 1995, more than 290,000 farmers have killed themselves. Though that figure,...

-The Business Standard   New climate report means big changes to future agreements Two distinct features set the third report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) apart from its two earlier instalments. First, even as the report points out that governments have not done enough to curb, let alone reverse, the rise in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), it does not seek to instil a sense of despair....