-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's weather agency has revised its 2014 monsoon forecast downwards, predicting 13 per cent rainfall deficit instead of 7 per cent forecast earlier this year, cautioning that yields of several crops may decline but dismissing fears of a widespread drought. The India Meteorological Department today said the rainfall during the remaining six weeks of the monsoon season will be much better than over the past two months. But...

-The Business Standard The Budget missed the chance to articulate its intentions to the farming community; the prime minister's Independence Day speech provides another invaluable opportunity Young Indians starting their careers in an environment devoid of hope and opportunity and surviving on dole will be inclined to populist politics. But the farming community expects much more substance from the government, and the Budget was a good example of how populism trumped...

-The Times of India In a sternly-worded letter dashed off to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Andhra Pradesh government has urged the institution to not underestimate the distressful conditions prevailing in the state for the past three years, which has forced as many as 6,792 farmers to commit suicide. The nine-page letter dated July 25, countering RBI's argument about AP reporting no cases of acute concern among farmers, has been...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Indira Gandhi's name is set to be removed from the popular rural housing programme that provides subsidies to the poor to have a house of their own, in a move which will symbolize the regime change. The rural development ministry is looking to turn Indira Awaas Yojana, a scheme, into a "mission" with increased budget and with an important design innovation which mandates toilets to be...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today accused the developed nations of a "disinformation campaign" to "isolate" India for refusing to toe their line at the World Trade Organisation, painting his government before a domestic political audience as a champion of the poor. Addressing a party meeting weeks before his US trip next month, Modi pitched the recent controversy at the global trade body as a battle between the haves...