-ANI   Aurangabad: Absence of proper rainfall has risked the farmlands of Aurangabad district in Maharashtra and lack of subsequent effective government intervention is leaving farmers with no option but suicide. According to climate report of researchers there are high chances of climatic conditions similar to El Nino effect to occur in 14 districts in Maharashtra. Farmers of Marathwada region in Aurangabad have been experiencing difficult times for the last three years. The...

-Reuters   The extra irrigated area would cut India's dependence on annual monsoon rains that Water crops grown on nearly half of the country's farmlands New Delhi: India plans to expand its farmland under irrigation by at least a tenth in the next three years, potentially boosting grains output by an equal proportion in the world's second-biggest rice and wheat producer, a top government official told Reuters. The extra irrigated area would cut India's...

-Down to Earth   India's first PM born after Independence will face the old problem of poverty eradication India may have its first post-Independence-born prime minister this June. But what difference would it make in terms of the country's development agenda? How will the new prime minister face the challenges that have been there since before Independence? Or, what are the developmental challenges the new prime minister may find difficult to address? Arguably,...

-The Hindustan Times   New Delhi: Forecasting the June-to-September rains, which account for three-quarters of India's annual rainfall, is becoming tougher. Last year, six states had to declare droughts despite predictions of a normal monsoon. Although India is scaling up its prediction techniques, including joint Indo-American forecasting under a bilateral agreement, too little is understood about how pollution and rising temperatures are impacting the monsoon. But new research shows that they are surely...

-The Times of India   VISAKHAPATNAM: The deadly duo of scorching heat and poll fever is taking its toll on the beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the three north coastal districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam. According to the reports, while nearly 400 NREGS workers have fallen sick in the last two weeks due to their punishing double duty under extreme weather conditions -- NREGS works...