-Hard News Floods in Kashmir could have been managed better if there was a reliable early warning system The first fortnight of September saw Jammu and Kashmir being ravaged by severe flash floods. But, according to the snatches of news we got, the monsoon was below average in the state until the last week of August. Thereafter, four days of incessant rain in the Valley and in Jammu made almost all the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In a first comprehensive report on 'extent of damage' caused by Hudhud in Andhra Pradesh, the state government has informed the Centre that the very severe cyclonic storm had not only killed 46 persons and injured 43 others but also affected 20.93 lakh families and took lives of 2831 animals and 24.43 lakh poultry/ducks in four districts on October 12. The details, extended by Andhra Pradesh...

-The Telegraph A swathe of land stretching from the Himalayan foothills to the Indo-Gangetic plains has experienced a steady and significant decrease in water stored in lakes, reservoirs, rivers and as groundwater over the past decade, government scientists have said. Scientists at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting here and their collaborators in other institutions have found that the terrestrial water storage (TWS) - a measure of surface and underground...

-The Indian Express The Indian meteorological department (IMD) website states that Kautilya's Arthashastra contains records of rainfall and its impact on revenue, as well as details about relief work. Similarly, Kalidasa's Meghdoot, written around the seventh century, mentions the date of the onset of the monsoon and traces the path of monsoon clouds. Till today, forecasts are made on the same broad lines. Farmers like me still look towards indigenous knowledge for...

-The Economic Times Dinkar Patil, a farmer from Buldhana district in Vidarbha, Maharashtra, normally cultivates cotton on his 13-acre farm land. This year, however, he has skipped the cotton crop and opted for soyabean and tur dal. "The rainfall started late. I did not cultivate cotton because of the delayed rains and the huge increase in cost of cultivation of the crop," said Patil. He is expecting a fall of about...