Situation alarming: More than one-third population hit by drought The country is facing severe drought for the second consecutive year. Conservative estimates from official sources show that over a quarter of rural habitations are facing drinking water scarcity. Although both India Meteorological Department and Skymet have predicted a more than normal rainfall during June-September, 2016, the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country has declined from 22 percent...
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Grain stock ample to tackle drought, says Centre -Sanjeeb Mukherjee
-Business Standard At end-April, Foodgrain stock in the pool was estimated at 36.95 mn tonnes, 6.7% more than at the same time last year As a drought and drinking water crisis grips several states, the food stock position in the central pool seems to be among the few comfort factors for the government. At end-April, Foodgrain stock in the pool was estimated at 36.95 million tonnes, 6.7 per cent more than at the...
More »Modi govt wakes up too late to the agrarian crisis -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com A look at the past three budgets shows that the government took note of the crisis only in 2016 On 24 April 2014, about a month before Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formed a new government at the centre, the India Meteorological Department made an ominous forecast. The four-month-long southwest monsoon which irrigates more than half of India’s farmlands was likely to be deficient. Over the next few months the...
More »The story behind India's missing wheat stock -Sanjeeb Mukherjee
-Business Standard A cool weather laden with moisture is good for the wheat crop. However, such a climate has been absent this year India's wheat market is in a tizzy as supply projections and actual arrivals are not matching, raising a big question mark over the Centre's official production estimate for 2015-16. The agriculture ministry in its third advance estimate of Foodgrain production released earlier this month had estimated wheat output at over...
More »Centre asks states to scale up DBT scheme for food subsidy -Sandip Das
-The Financial Express In a bid to curb pilferage of Foodgrains in the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the Centre on Saturday asked the states to opt for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under which the subsidy component is credited to bank accounts and allows the beneficiaries to buy Foodgrains from the market. However, for implementing DBT, the states must complete digitisation of beneficiary list and seed bank account details for fund transfer....
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