-Down to Earth As June ends, the monsoon, it turns out, is deficient by 40 per cent. Despite the forecast of its revival in July, it is a concern for India's rainfed areas that account for significant foodgrain production and also host the largest number of farmers in the country. More than 100 districts are officially "chronic drought-affected" areas. Why have we not been able to drought-proof them? On June 28 Prime...
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Domino effect of poor monsoon -Gargi Parsai
-The Hindu A welter of problems may be in store for the country These are testing times for the Narendra Modi government in the farm and food sector: the south-west (June-September) monsoon is delayed, deficient and weak; kharif sowing, much of which is rain-fed, is lagging by over 17 per cent over last year; rising food prices are pushing up inflation and pulling down growth. Right now the prices of only perishable...
More »Centre braces for sub-normal rains -Vishwa Mohan & Rajeev Deshpande
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government officially acknowledged that it is gearing for its first big test with the Met downgrading its monsoon forecast from 95% to a likely 93% of the long period average rainfall. "The government is alert about the possibility of a subnormal monsoon this year and contingency plans are being prepared," President Pranab Mukherjee said in his address to Parliament on Monday. The official word...
More »India needs to do a lot more to effectively deal with El Niño fallout-Sanjeeb Mukherjee
-The Business Standard More, water levels in the reservoirs of southern India are below the 10-year average at 8.28 billion cubic metres As doubts mount over the impact of El Niño on the southwest monsoon season in 2014, India's preparedness to face a low rainfall situation seems to have improved in the past four-five years. However, there are many gaps to be plugged. For example, although the average water in major reservoirs across...
More »Monthly WPI inflation stood at 4.68% in February
-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) The official Wholesale Price Index for ‘All Commodities' (Base: 2004-05 = 100) for the month of February, 2014 has remained unchanged at its previous month level of 178.9 (provisional). INFLATION The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, stood at 4.68% (provisional) for the month of February, 2014 (over February,2013) as compared to 5.05% (provisional) for the previous month and 7.28% during the corresponding...
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