-The Hindu In a democracy, it is important for government agencies to disseminate data in a timely manner After a delayed start, the southwest monsoon recently wreaked havoc in Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other parts of India. In such a situation, a data journalist would have ideally looked for weekly comparisons of rainfall data across the affected States to determine when the rains began to intensify; historical data to determine how the...

-The Hindu More heavy rainfall forecast for 48 hours Thiruvananthapuram: The death toll in rain-related incidents in Kerala went up to 92 on Tuesday, even as the southwest monsoon again showed signs of intensifying over Kerala, sparking fears of fresh flooding. The India Meteorology Department (IMD) has issued a heavy rainfall warning for eight districts for Wednesday. According to a bulletin issued by the weather office on Tuesday evening, the low-pressure area in...

-The Hindu CM Naveen Patnaik writes to PM seeking 5 lakh PMAY houses BHUBANESWAR: With a month left for the southwest monsoon to hit Odisha, the State government on Monday said it would begin a door-to-door house damage survey from May 14 and issue work orders for the construction of houses on June 1 in cyclone-affected areas. 11-member team An 11-member Central team, split into two groups led by Vivek Bharadwaj, Additional Secretary in...

-Livemint.com Reeling under intense dry spell, state recorded 49% rain?deficit, says regional?disaster monitoring centre Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Wednesday declared 156 out of the 176 talukas of the state drought hit in the wake of a failed northeast monsoon. This has added to the growing call for the speedy implementation of the farm loan waiver to mitigate the deepening agrarian distress. The declaration comes months after several districts of the state...

-Livemint.com Declining income, shrinking farmlands, rise in number of dependents on existing holdings add to farm woes Bengaluru: Since 2000, Karnataka has put nearly 200,000 hectares of farmland to non-agricultural use, including for industrial, residential and infrastructure projects. Besides shrinking farmlands, the number of dependents on existing land holdings have also increased considering little employment opportunities elsewhere. From 1.312 million hectares in 2000-01 (cumulative), the total land put to non-agricultural use has risen...