-Livemint.com A government report says nearly 11,500 of Maharashtra’s 40,000 villages face water scarcity due to a combination of less than normal rainfall and consequent exploitation of groundwater Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday declared a ‘drought-like situation’ in 180 tehsils , more than half the 353 of these administrative units in the state, in an acknowledgement of looming agrarian distress. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said after a cabinet meeting that his government...

-The Indian Express As per the data available with nodal officer Dinesh Singla, who is Executive Engineer, PPCB, a total of 2589 fire incidents have been reported in Punjab this paddy season till October 21 in which Amritsar tops with 535 cases, followed by Tarn Taran with 494 cases. Ludhiana: WITH JUST one-fourth of the total estimated paddy arrival in mandis till now, a total of 2589 fire incidents have been reported...

-The Indian Express First, it was low prices and, now, with soaring input costs, farmers may cut back on sowings Nashik/ New Delhi: During much of the current government’s tenure, Indian farmers have suffered from poor crop realisations, partly due to the crash in global agri-commodity prices after around April 2014 and aggravated by demonetisation and GST (goods and services tax) that have depressed sentiment in predominantly cash-based produce markets. One indicator...

-The Hindu Despite the dense forest cover in the Western Ghats, Kerala had only about 19% resilience while Sikkim had 100%. Chennai: The increasing variations in rainfall, frequent drought and heat waves along with changes in evapotranspiration tend to alter the hydrological balance. This is turn affects the ecosystem productivity. A study was therefore carried out in India to assess the resilience of terrestrial ecosystem to drought at the district and State...

-Down to Earth While last year, the state’s 14,679 villages were hit by drought, this time 20,000 villages are already facing drought-like conditions The Maharashtra government has identified 201 talukas in 32 districts that are facing water scarcity owing to deficient rainfall in the southwest monsoon season. As per a preliminary list of drought-affected areas, which is available with the Down To Earth, maximum drought-affected talukas are in Jalgaon district (13) followed by...