With the monsoon season coming to an end in India, major rice producing states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand have recorded deficient rainfall. The governments in these states have begun responding to the crop losses but farmers underline that nothing short of a compensation can help them recover the losses sustained by drought-like conditions. Details here.

This year, drought in 22 out of 24 districts in Jharkhand was so distressing that hundreds of thousands of farmers are unable to invest in the next crop cycle. They depend on food rations from the government for survival and hope for a quick settlement of their compensation claims. A ground report from Palamu district.

Because of a delayed monsoon, a decline in kharif sowing of pulses by 93%, soybean by 93% and oilseeds by 91% in Maharashtra. An overall kharif sowing area decline across the country, too.

The latest data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) indicates drought conditions in 196 districts of the country. Of these, 65 districts are from Uttar Pradesh and 33 are from Bihar. The government should declare a drought and compensate the farmers for the loss of crops under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

Deficient monsoon rainfall has affected millions of farmers across 65 districts in Uttar Pradesh. While they are demanding an official declaration of drought, farmers from at least 18 other districts in the state were hit by floods leading to further crop losses. The state government has announced a drought survey and also flood relief. But farmers say it is too little, too late.

Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan in Madhya Pradesh led a protest by tribal farmers in Barwani district in Madhya Pradesh. The protesters gheraoed the District Magistrate’s office, demanding compensation for their crops destroyed due to drought-like conditions.

A village in Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh sees significant improvement in groundwater reserves after the farmers build bunds in their fields to harvest rainwater. This has led to the handpumps in the village still having water in peak summers, something that was unheard of in the past. Women no longer need to spend hours fetching water.

The nationwide Jal Jeevan Mission was launched in 2019 with an aim to assist the state governments to provide tap water connections to all rural houses by December, 2024. As of July 31, 34.67 % of rural houses are yet to be covered under the scheme. Details here.

Uttar Pradesh, one of the leading rice producing states in India, is reeling, as more than half the monsoon season is over and the state has a rainfall deficit of 40 %, which has had a direct impact on paddy sowing. Other paddy growing states in the Indo-Gangetic plains have also reported deficient rainfall. How will this affect paddy production and food welfare schemes? Will there be a ripple effect on the global food supply, as India is the world's largest rice exporter? Gaon Connection tries to find answers in its new series, Paddy Pain.

A survey in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana found that a large chunk of farmers were not aware of crop insurance. Only 16 per cent were repaying their loans as they felt they would get a loan waiver from the government.