-Livemint.com In summary, it is hard to escape the macroeconomic consequences of an agriculture shock, notwithstanding fluctuation-smoothing strategies The monsoon forecast, close on the heels of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy review, has turned all eyes to the farm sector. If the actual out-turn matches the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) predictions — seasonal rainfall at 88% of the long-period average (LPA) for 2015 — it would be on...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Greenpeace India will meet representatives of different political parties and raise the issue of fundamental rights, after the government suspended its FCRA registration and blocked its domestic and international Bank accounts. Greenpeace India campaigner Priya Pillai said the organization will speak to all the political parties to stand up and protect the fundamental rights. Pillai was recently "offloaded" at Delhi airport from a flight to London where she was scheduled...

-Livemint.com Politicians prefer a short-term response over a more nuanced, structural solution to the problem of rural distress Confirming everyone’s worst fears, last week the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast a deficient monsoon this year. The next day, some of the newspapers wrongly reported it as a drought (guess breathless reporting is no longer a preserve of the electronic media), adding to the disappointment of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) refusal...

-The Indian Express In Madhya Pradesh’s Hoshangabad district, reeling under malnourishment, govt shuts eggs out of anganwadis while locals see hope in poultry farming Maryarpura (Hoshangabad): Gagan Lachhu is so emaciated that he can hardly walk on his own. In a few months he will turn two but his weight is an alarming six kilograms. “Once, we nearly forced his mother to admit him at the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre in Itarsi...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Successive Indian governments have ignored repeated alerts and done little to introduce laws to curb practices that could explain how lead could slip into noodles and other raw and processed food, analysts say. India introduced unleaded petrol in March 2000 but the governments since then have not moved enough to impose mandatory limits for lead in paints which remain a key source of environmental lead pollution in the...