-Livemint.com A look at the past three budgets shows that the government took note of the crisis only in 2016 On 24 April 2014, about a month before Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed a new government at the centre, the India Meteorological Department made an ominous forecast. The four-month-long southwest monsoon which irrigates more than half of India’s farmlands was likely to be deficient. Over the next few months the...

-Business Standard A cool weather laden with moisture is good for the wheat crop. However, such a climate has been absent this year India's wheat market is in a tizzy as supply projections and actual arrivals are not matching, raising a big question mark over the Centre's official production estimate for 2015-16. The agriculture ministry in its third advance estimate of foodgrain production released earlier this month had estimated wheat output at over...

-The Indian Express Drought poses major setback to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in Maharashtra. Pune: Ekurke was a success story that inspired many. In 2013, this village in Osmbanabad district’s Kalamb tehsil built 350 toilets in a short span of one-and-a-half months to end the shame of having to defecate in the open. The concerted efforts by the villagers led to the transformation of their village once “infamously dirty” into one where each...

-Economic and Political Weekly In an effort to understand the trends of farmer suicides, this article uses data from the National Crime Records Bureau to estimate the suicide mortality rate of farmers and non-farmers for India and its states. The methodology used corrects for an error present in previous studies and alters some commonly held views about the level and trend of farmer suicides in India. Please click here to access. ...

-The Indian Express The data has been collated by NGO CRY from replies given by Delhi Police to RTI queries filed by the organisation. Last year, almost 8,000 children went MISsing in the national capital, an average of 22 children every day, a significant increase compared to 2014, when 18 children on an average went MISsing every day. The data has been collated by NGO CRY from replies given by Delhi...