-Livemint.com An uneven distribution of rainfall has left several key rice-producing states parched even as others had to battle excess water The patchy progress of the southwest monsoon this year has cast a long shadow on India’s kharif crop produce, particularly of rice, which is an important constituent of the government’s food distribution programmes. The threat comes right after wheat production in the Rabi season took a hit from heatwaves and at...

-Newsclick.in The brake on the release of funds by the Centre, which has found blatant and persistent violation of norms by Nabanna, has queered Mamata Banerjee's pitch. Kolkata: It’s a tough call suddenly for Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee; TMC’s very comfortable majority in the Assembly notwithstanding. Mamata finds herself in an awkward situation after the arrest of two of her trusted aides – Partha Chatterjee and...

Is India going to face inflation in cereal prices during the rest of the current financial year? Experts differ on this. An analysis by Nomura Global Economics and CEIC finds that a below normal monsoon does not always translate into high retail inflation in food. Similarly, an above normal southwest monsoon does not always bring down the rate of food inflation. However, some agricultural experts (please click here, here and...

-Newsclick.in The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha has called for a protest from August 2 to 4 against insufficient fund allocation, delay in wage disbursal, and other issues in implementing the employment scheme. Kolkata: Uncertainty looms over the Centre's decision on additional fund allocation to the MGNREGA programme before undertaking the traditional mid-term review at the end of August or early September. Contrary to official expectations, the dependence of rural households on jobs under...

-The New Indian Express Onion production is estimated to have risen to 31.70 million tonnes in 2021-22 from 26.64 million tonnes in the previous year, according to the government data. NEW DELHI: The government has procured 2.5 lakh tonnes of onion from farmers to create buffer stocks for 2022-23 and will intervene in the market in case of rise in retail prices of onion. Onion production is estimated to have risen to 31.70...