-The Financial Express To deal with the possibility of a deficit monsoon, the Agriculture ministry has suggested sowing of short- duration varieties of paddy, pulses, oilseeds and other less water-intensive crops in the northern India regions for curbing possible crop losses. In its first advisory for the northern Indian region, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), a premier institute under the ministry of Agriculture, has suggested transplanting of short duration paddy varieties of...

-Business Standard Odisha govt readying contingency Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has asked all district collectors to submit contingency plan proposals for Agriculture sector after an India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast said there will be less than normal monsoon rains this year. "All district collectors have been asked to submit contingency proposals for their areas to the Agriculture department keeping in view their geography and resources after consulting the respective zonal DDAs (deputy...

-The Times of India HYDERABAD: In a major policy shift that could shape the future of Agriculture in Telangana, the government on Wednesday said it was getting ready to grow dry crops such as ragi and bajra in view of an impending drought after the killer heat wave in the region. Unseasonal rains in MarchApril had damaged Rabi crops in 75,000 hectares across nine districts of the state, forcing the government to...

-PTI Kolkata: With child labour decreasing at a dismal rate of only 2.2 per cent per year, it would take more than a century to end the menace, a report said on Thursday. An analysis of census data by non-governmental organisation CRY (Child Rights and You) has revealed that child labour has been decreasing at a mere 2.2 per cent per year over the last decade, contrary to popular perception of its...

-The Financial Express The NITI Aayog must firm up a concrete plan involving the states to deal with monsoon deficiency to avoid all-round confusion. This is an old and oft-repeated story in the media, but worth mentioning here for the readers who have missed it. It goes like this. During the period of erstwhile Planning Commission, one of the officials in-charge of projecting agricultural growth found out an innovative way to do...