-Financial Express Higher sowing augurs well for bountiful wheat and oilseed production The resilience of India’s agricultural sector has been a positive factor in the India growth story. During the ongoing rabi season, the average area sown for wheat is up by 25%, to 25.5 million hectares as of December 9, from a year earlier. Area under oilseeds, too, is at record levels. All of this augurs well for bumper rabi crops...

-NITI Aayog Working Paper, ISBN: 978-81-953811-7-3 Abstract -  The importance of agriculture in an economy usually declines as it climbs the development ladder. Raising agriculture productivity has been known to be an important precursor. Labour productivity in agriculture can either be increased by higher land productivity or higher land availability per farmer and mechanisation. In India, however, the dramatic increase in land productivity through industrial farming has caused severe environmental damage and...

-The Hindu The existing approach of dealing with surface water and groundwater independently has severe limitations The theme of this year’s World Water Day (March 22) was ‘Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible’. The primary focus is to draw attention to the role of groundwater in water and sanitation systems, agriculture, industry, ecosystems, and climate change adaptation. Groundwater helps reduce the risk of temporary water shortage and caters to the needs of arid...

-Down to Earth Blog The district set a record for creating 1,121 farm ponds in 30 days in September 2021, in line with the recently launched state climate mission In September 2021, Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai district set a record for creating 1,121 farm ponds in 30 days by leveraging the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The initiative’s aim was to ensure adequate water for agricultural and domestic purposes throughout the...

-Down to Earth  Reservoirs in Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh have less than normal storage  At least 23 out of 130 reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission (CWC) were full, according to a bulletin released September 16, 2021 evening. All four reservoirs in Telangana monitored by CWC were full to their capacity as of September 16. Eight out of 25 dams in Maharashtra; three each in Karnataka, Jharkhand...