The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
Monsoon this year has failed most of India, causing drought in even well-irrigated and rainfed areas. Ravleen Kaur reports how our food preferences are making us vulnerable to drought Hari Achal Singh has been a farmer for as long as he can remember. And that
Government says enough grain stock, farmers go hungry Budhi Rikisyan sat in her house making leaf plates for the last rites of her granddaughter, Mantawa. Unable to suppress hunger pangs, the 12-year-old girl plucked surbari leaves from the field and ate them in early August. After five days she was …
The Mayans penchant for building places of worship brought their downfall In 2001, when a hurricane ripped through the jungles of northern Guatemala, an uprooted tree at the base of the ruins of a pyramid exposed stones bearing one of the longest texts of hieroglyphs ever found. The inscriptions belong …
Due to lack of sufficient rainfall, mouzas of northern and eastern parts of Golaghat district like Kakodonga, Missamora, Rongamati, Mohura and Dakhinhengera have remained barren this season. This has inevitably led to hardships for the poor farmers. Rivers like Brahmaputra, Gelabil, Dissoi and Kakodonga flow by these areas and collection …
Groundwater, which has emerged as India's prime adaptive mechanism in times of drought, will play a crucial role this year since the aquifers were recharged in 2006-08. The impact of the drought of 2009 will therefore be less severe than the drought of 2002. Beyond the immediate response, we need …
Gargi Parsai NEW DELHI: Even as the number of drought-hit districts has risen to 278, the affected 11 States have altogether sought additional Central assistance of Rs. 72,313.62 crore for relief including diesel subsidy to farmers. Of this, Bihar has sought the highest (Rs. 23,071.13 crore), followed by Maharashtra (Rs. …
LUCKNOW: Chief minister Mayawati has requested prime minister Manmohan Singh to classify Jhansi, Chitrakoot and Mirzapur revenue divisions as special category divisions under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) for ensuring rapid development of backwards areas like Bundelkhand and Vindhyachal. She has also asked the PM to include three irrigation projects …
K. Balchand NEW DELHI: Calling for redoubled efforts for mitigating rural distress from the after-effects of drought, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday that the prime task was to put purchasing power in the hands of the most-needy parts of the country
Sept. 9: The state government has finally declared 971 of the total 1,108 mandals in AP as drought hit and has sought an assistance of Rs 4,200 crore from the Centre. The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, who made this announcement on Wednesday at the Secretariat, said that his predecessor, …
Notwithstanding the near normal rainfall over the past few weeks in the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh remains concerned about drought and on Wednesday asked the state governments to
Sept.09 : Finally there is acknowledgement on the part of the government that the country is indeed facing a serious drought and a crisis in food availability. For months we were treated to the Met department statements predicting some shortfall in the rainfall, nowhere close to the calamitous situation that …
A fourth of all the water used in Asia can be saved using new methods of growing rice Surinder Sud / New Delhi September 8, 2009, 0:36 IST New methods can halve the use of water in growing rice - the water saved can equal a fourth of all Asia
Mahim Pratap Singh CHHATTARPUR/TIKAMGARH (MADHYA PRADESH): Bundelkhand is reeling under agrarian crisis. Farmers in Chhattarpur and Tikamgarh districts who took heavy loans for the kharif crop are in a dilemma
Lux Lakshmanan Food security in India is getting more and more dependent on annual monsoons. In a year of low rainfall, a large section of the people, especially those below the poverty line, have to depend on subsidised government food rations. If this situation continues, the country will be stressed …
