The Print In compounds outside wheat mandis across Punjab, gunny bags full of golden grain are piled up in huge quantities. Less than a month into the procurement season, the state has already contributed more than 100 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of wheat in 2023-24 to the central government’s reserves. Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are the next big contributors with around 55 LMT and 50 LMT, respectively. Earlier this year, unseasonal rains...

-The Hindu The scientists in the institute have identified a few locations in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand for “densification” of seismometers and river gauges to take the total number to 100 from 60. The National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has begun field studies to put in place an early-warning system in the Himalayan States against major and sudden floods, rockslides, landslips, glacier lake...

-Down to Earth From floodplain identification to flood hazard map to availability of Rain Gauges, CAG report points out shortcomings in Kerala’s flood response Could poor response on part of the Kerala government have caused the massive floods of 2018 in the state? A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pointed at severe lapses on the part of the government in planning, capacity building, flood forecasting and dam...

-The Hindu Pampa, Manimala, Achencoil still above danger level Amid havoc caused by torrential rains over the past week leading to floods and landslips, the Kerala Government has constituted an expert committee to regulate the release of water from 81 dams across swollen rivers. The hydroelectric, irrigation and drinking water dams in the State are several decades old and designed in a pre-climate-change era. Climatologists, structural engineers, and hydrologists are on the committee...

-The Hindu Researchers noted that the changes in the Indian Ocean temperature have a huge effect on the rainfall in the region The quiet, sleepy, yet mesmerising village of Mawsynram trounced Cherrapunji to become the wettest place in the world. Mawsynram receives over 10,000 millimetres of rain in a year. Decreasing trend A recent study that looked at the rainfall pattern in the past 119 years found a decreasing trend at Cherrapunji and nearby...