-The Asian Age A recent study by the climate scientists from Stanford University in the Nature Climate Change Journal, claims that difficult times are ahead for Indians with increasing risk of drought and floods. The study has analysed precipitation data of India from 1951 to 2011. After reading the rainfall pattern of the last 16 years, the scientists have come to the conclusion that there has been a consistent drop in the...

-The Tribune The community has to pay the cost of environmental degradation if sustainable agricultural practices are not followed. Food can also be produced by in-built provisions for ecological services. For this, sustainability issues have to be addressed with policy support. An ecosystem is a dynamic, complex, functional unit of diverse living organisms, physical environment and humans are its integral part. The wellbeing of mankind depends upon food, water, fibre, medicine, flood...

-The Hindustan Times Sangrur: In spite of claims by farmers in the state to go in for direct seeding of rice (DSR) in the ongoing sowing season, those in the region are reluctant to adopt the new method. The government has been encouraging the DSR method, a technique that saves water and time. But, farmers feel that it would be ‘risky', especially for those with smaller land. Sangrur chief agriculture officer (CAO) Rajinder...

-Economic and Political Weekly     Sustained and focused efforts have to be made by the Tamil Nadu state government to provide relief and rehabilitation to the drought affected people of the state. S Rajendran (myrajendran@gmail.com) is with the Department of Economics, Periyar University, Salem, Tamil Nadu. Due to the failure of the north-east monsoon in December 2013, Tamil Nadu is witnessing drought like conditions this year, leading to poor agricultural productivity, rural distress,...

-The Hindu     Filmmakers Kavita Bahl and Nandan Saxena on their award-winning documentary "Candles in the Wind" which chronicles the struggles of the widows of the Green Revolution in Punjab As calls for a ‘second green revolution' begin to be heard, it is important to examine the legacy of the first. In Punjab, the laboratory of the revolution, the experiment seems to have gone wrong - Water Tables have declined, agriculture has become...