Overall, the country has received 10 per cent less than its normal rainfall for the month of June. Prolonged heat waves were observed for 11-19 days, as against a normal of 2-4 days in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, east Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, etc.

Last week, the district hospital in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh reported a surge in deaths for which a probe is underway. Gaon Connection met some families who brought their sick family members to the hospital during extreme heat conditions prevailing in the district, but lost them. The government has denied any link between the deaths and the heatwave.

अलग-अलग फसलों के प्रीमियम निर्धारण को तर्कसंगत बनाया जाना चाहिए, ताकि किसानों को इसका लाभ मिल सके।

After wreaking havoc in the Kutch-Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Biparjoy, which is now a ‘deep depression’, moves towards Rajasthan. With several areas of Jalore and Barmer districts witnessing heavy rain today, IMD has put a red alert in these two districts.

According to the India Meteorological Department, normal to below normal rainfall is likely over some areas of Northwest India and parts of West-Central India and some pockets of Northeast India. Skymet has forecasted a 20% chance of drought this year.

Because of deficient rainfall in the monsoon season, All India Kisan Sabha has raised a demand to declare drought in Marathwada region, which has already reported 685 farmer suicides till August 31 this year.

Children from a government-aided rural school in Kalpathy, Kerala, plant vegetables in grow bags, as part of the World Environment Day celebrations.

Supriti Kachhap, who belongs to the Oraon tribe in Jharkhand, lost her father when she was eight-month-old and her mother worked as a daily wager to feed her five children. At the Khelo India Youth Games in Panchkula, Supriti won a gold medal in the 3,000 metre race in the under-21 category.

It’s not just in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia where there has been a spate in deaths amidst heatwave conditions in the past week. In the neighbouring Deoria district, 48 deaths were reported between June 17-June 18 when the temperature surged to 45 degrees Celsius. One of these deaths was that of a 30-year-old father of two kids who was returning to his house after meeting his wife at his in-law’s place. Gaon Connection explores the circumstances in which the young man died.

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.