-Livemint.com As of Tuesday, 40% of the country was rain deficient, even as the monsoon is expected to start withdrawing from northwest India this week New Delhi: As India faces a monsoon rainfall deficit of 12%, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology on Tuesday said the 2015 El Niño is now the strongest since 1997-98. The temperature anomalies in the tropical Pacific Ocean remain a little more than half a degree below...

-The Indian Express The Centre needs to wake up. Otherwise India may return to the shortages of the mid-1960s. The cumulative rain deficit in the current monsoon season stood at (-)12 per cent of the long period average (LPA) as on August 27. If the deficit continues at this level till the end of September, the IMD’s forecast would be coming true. Technically, like last year, this would also be a drought...

-Livemint.com The two weather agencies have had different forecasts for this year’s monsoon since April For once, the state-run forecaster India Meteorological Department (IMD) and private weather forecaster Skymet Weather Services Pvt. Ltd are on the same page: Rainfall in August will be below normal. The two weather agencies have had different forecasts for this year’s monsoon since April. Recently in August, while IMD reiterated that monsoon this year will be deficient,...

-The Indian Express Note to Policymakers: Access to technology by itself does not ensure learning. Speaking at the Saarc Summit in Nepal last November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that “information technology has removed all barriers to quality education”. With the launch of Digital India, state governments and education practitioners have become increasingly interested in the potential of technology to address low learning levels in primary schools. Behind Modi’s assertion is a...

-The Indian Express Indian agriculture has made remarkable progress since 1947 and credit for this goes mainly to the farmer. Now we need to repay our debt to the agricultural community As India celebrates its 68th year of independence, it is time to pause and look back at the major challenges we have faced since Independence and how they were overcome, as well as at the mistakes and follies we committed...