Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has announced a crop loss assessment following recent inclement weather and promised compensation to affected farmers. The announcement came as Mann presented a report on the power department and addressed other issues including sacrilege laws and drug enforcement.
The Uttar Pradesh government is accelerating compensation for farmers affected by recent adverse weather, including storms, fires, hailstorms, and excessive rainfall.
Gujarat has reported 35 rain-related deaths in the past two days, primarily in the worst-affected districts of Valsad and Navsari, as floodwaters recede and authorities initiate damage assessment surveys and post-flood cleanliness drives.
Unseasonal rainfall could damage standing wheat crops, especially late-sown fields nearing maturity and grain-filling stages.
Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan announced that the death toll from rain-related incidents has reached 15, with seven people still missing. He confirmed that the overall situation is under control, except for a few areas in Pathanamthitta, as the state intensifies rescue and relief operations. The CM detailed the deployment of rescue teams, functioning relief camps, and immediate compensation measures for victims and affected families, while also cautioning against rumours regarding dam water release.
Farmers in some villages of Maharashtra's Akola district claimed to have received as little as Rs 3 and Rs 21 as compensation under a central insurance scheme for the crop losses they suffered due to heavy rains, and called the aid as 'insulting' and 'mockery' of their plight.
A forest official in Karnataka is under investigation after a video surfaced allegedly showing him demanding a bribe from a farmer who suffered crop damage due to a wild elephant attack.
Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday asserted that his government was committed to protecting the interests of the state's farmers and people on the Cauvery issue, while appealing to organisations to withdraw the proposed state-wide bandh.
'Why not aspire for 8 or 9 or even 10 per cent?'
'Monsoon is the pran (life) of our water system.' 'A weak monsoon will have a very negative impact on crops and people's lives.'
The Congress Legislature Party leader in Maharashtra raises concerns about law and order due to missing girls and the impact of unseasonal rains on farmers, criticising the government's response.
The state government has directed a joint assessment of crop loss due to the cyclone by officials of the agriculture and revenue departments, he said.
The family of the farmer from Rajasthan, who on Wednesday committed suicide at a public rally in the national capital, claimed that he took the extreme step due to "unexpected loss" of his crops.
Heavy rains exacerbate the flood situation in Punjab, leading to 37 deaths and widespread crop damage. Rescue and relief operations are underway as authorities issue alerts and provide assistance to affected populations.
The recent flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain in north Bengal have caused massive destruction in at least 30-35 tea gardens in Darjeeling, with reports of loss of plantation areas, deaths of workers and damage to houses of labourers, prompting planters to convene a meeting to assess the situation, stakeholders said.
Even as the Uttar Pradesh government has flatly denied suicides by farmers in any part of the state, state chief secretary Alok Ranjan on Tuesday admitted that the untimely rain, thunder and hailstorm in large parts of the state had caused tremendous loss to the standing wheat crop to the tune of over Rs 1,100 crores.
Wheat production during the current season is expected to be better than last year provided the weather remains favourable over the next few weeks, said senior industry executives. The weather had turned uncharacteristically hot in the latter half of last month, but owing to strong winds, the chill has returned in the last few days.
Trump may strike. He may announce productive talks and extend again. He may do both at the same time. Iran will not open the Strait on someone else's terms, so no matter what happens, that problem will remain unsolved. And the IRGC will still be collecting its $2 million toll from every ship bold enough to ask permission to pass.
'Marathwada is the suicide capital of Maharashtra.' 'To stop such man-made disasters, the government should immediately come up with a rightful package, not this charitable approach to compensation.'
IMD data shows in the 24 hours between September 1 and 2, Haryana received 806 per cent more rainfall than normal, Punjab 759 per cent, Himachal Pradesh 510 per cent, Delhi 740 per cent, Chandigarh a staggering 1,638 per cent, and Rajasthan 193 per cent.
Heavy rains in Maharashtra have caused floods, road blockages, and widespread damage, resulting in casualties and displacement. The state government is monitoring the situation and coordinating rescue efforts.
The tea sector may see a crop loss of 50 per cent (around Rs150 crore) while the damages owing to landslides washing away a 100-acre plantation in Wayanad are yet to be accounted for.
A new study by IIT-Kharagpur warns that ozone pollution could significantly reduce agricultural yields in India, particularly impacting wheat, rice, and maize production. The study, published in the journal 'Environmental Research', highlights the vulnerability of major food crops to rising surface ozone levels, especially in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Central India. The researchers call for effective emission reduction strategies to mitigate these risks and ensure global food security.
ISRO has projected wheat production of 122.24 million tonnes.
'Our politics is transparent -- it's about ensuring farmers don't die by suicide, about ensuring agriculture remains viable, about ensuring food security for the nation.' 'If that's politics, then yes, we do politics.'
However, the estimates could change in the coming months, as full impact of excess rainfall and floods on the standing soybean and urad crops in central and western India in late August and September has not yet been fully taken into account.
The worst-hit districts include Kendrapara, Balasore and Bhadrak, while the human casualty 'still stands at zero,' he told reporters in Bhubaneswar.
Karnataka suffered a crop loss in around 97,365 hectares out of the total bearing area of 2,26,244 hectares of coffee and spices plantations.
There has not been a large impact of untimely rain and hailstorm so far in several major wheat-growing areas, and those might have damaged around 3 per cent of the standing crop -- not enough to make a big dent in the expected 112 million tonnes of production in FY24, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Relentless rain pounded most North Indian states all through March. Separately, the chairman of Food Corporation of India (FCI), Ashok K Meena, told reporters the agency was on track to achieve the targeted 34 million tonnes of procurement in FY24 on the back of a strong start to the purchase season from Madhya Pradesh.
The government has made its flagship crop insurance schemes voluntary for farmers with existing crop loans or those willing to take new ones, as it seeks to address the concerns raised by farmers' body and states in implementation of these programmes. "The Union Cabinet has approved the revamping of 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)' and 'Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS)' to address the existing challenges in implementation of crop insurance schemes," an official statement said.
Amid the Bharatiya Janata Party's criticism over the duration of his visit to cyclone-hit Konkan region of Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that he was at least taking stock of the situation on the ground and not conducting an aerial survey in a helicopter.
Monsoon hit the state on June 20 and has since then cost it Rs 5,000 crore in damages.
Kerala floods take a toll on small businesses, NBFCs brace for losses
Santosh Patkar of Devgadh Taluka Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra is a worried man these days. Devgadh, which is known as the home to world famous Alphonso variety of mangoes, has seen an unusual drop in yields which is affecting farmers' income. Being one of the primary agricultural produce from the area, Santosh is not untouched by this somewhat rare phenomenon. He said in his own mango garden, yields have come down by a third from most trees.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that one person died in the state in cyclone Dana, even as the administration evacuated around 2.16 lakh people from the low-lying areas.
The landfall process of the severe cyclonic storm Dana was complete on Friday morning and the system took at least eight and half hours to enter the landmass, India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
"The new structure will substantially reduce taxes on the middle class and leave more money in their hands, boosting household consumption, savings and investment," Sitharaman said presenting what was dubbed as 'reformist' budget for the next fiscal in Lok Sabha.
Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa said the "unprecedented" northeast monsoon killed 470 people and nearly a lakh livestock besides damaging crops in over 3.83 lakh hectares.
The rains were being caused due to a cyclonic circulation lying over north east Arabian sea and adjoining Saurashtra and Kutch regions, the IMD said in its bulletin.
'There is more expansion in the industry happening in retail lines, so we will continue to focus on those lines.'
