-Livemint.com Rainfall will be 97% of the 50-year average with a 54% probability that rains will be normal to above normal, IMD said in its first stage, long-range monsoon forecast New Delhi: Rainfall is likely to be normal during the June-to-September southwest monsoon season, the government’s weather office said on Monday. “For the third consecutive year, India will have a normal monsoon. There is very less probability of experiencing a deficit monsoon. We...

-The New Indian Express Something remarkable happened when the farmers came marching to Mumbai recently. Instead of greeting them with hostility, Mumbaikars welcomed them with affection, food and water. This change in attitude was triggered by the farmers’ extraordinary discipline and their efforts to ensure minimal disruption to the Mumbaikars’ routines. Even hard-boiled journalists acknowledged, for a brief moment, urbanites had realised  our farmers and adivasis were indeed facing difficult times. The...

-The Hindu Amid criticism from SC/ST panel, experts say project must continue Now in her late twenties, Veeramma Selvan of Thekkekadampara tribal hamlet in Sholayur gram panchayat of Attappady has reasons to believe that her gods have stopped smiling. It was in January last year that she lost her five-month-old, underweight son Balu — her fourth child — allegedly due to milk aspiration. (a medical condition in which the mother's milk goes...

-Livemint.com The NITI Aayog and the government have decided to focus only and only on farmers and the agriculture sector, says NITI Aayog VC Rajiv Kumar New Delhi: The spectre of farm distress has finally begun to haunt policymakers and the government is doing everything it can to address the situation, Rajiv Kumar, vice-chairman of central government think tank NITI Aayog, said on Friday. “We in the NITI Aayog and the government have...

-Business Standard Decision likely soon, states will be free to adopt one or more of the models suggested New Delhi: The Central government is looking at spending a minimum of Rs 200-250 billion initially along with the states in ensuring that farmers get the benefit of Minimum Support Price (MSP) either through direct procurement of goods or a system of Price Deficiency Payment on the lines of Madhya Pradesh’s Bhawaantar Bhugtan Model. Officials...