MALAPPURAM: As the severe drought due to the shortage of rainfall has resulted in substantial crop loss and drinking water shortage in various parts of Malappuram district, the authorities have dec

Kerala has been officially declared a drought-affected area after successive monsoon failures during the current water year.

The State Disaster Management Authority on Wednesday declared Kerala as a drought-affected State following a review of the rainfall received during the two monsoon seasons this year and also field-level reports, which spoke of the impending crop loss and drinking water scarcity.

The authority, with the Chief Minister in the chair, met at the conference hall in the Assembly and decided to put each district in charge of a Minister to immediately assess the ground-level situation everywhere and decide on the steps that should be taken to lessen the intensity of the blow that was in store for the State during the summer months ahead.

The Central government has released a sum of Rs. 501 crore under the Integrated Watershed Management Scheme (IWMP) as part of the drought-mitigation measures in the afflicted zones of Maharashtra.

In a letter to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said that in keeping with the gravity of the drought being faced by the State owing to deficient rains till July, the Empowered Group of Ministers had approved to waive off the deduction of unspent balance from the first instalment of central assistance for 2012-13 under the IWMP.

It emphasises growing less water-intensive crops, fodder during low rainfall and soil testing

The University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) has come up with a contingency crop plan for southern Karnataka to tackle drought. UAS Vice-Chancellor Dr K Narayana Gowda said the contingency crop plan submitted to the State government lays stress on growing alternative crops and cultivating choices that are in tune with rainfall and soil fertility in the region. “The focus of the plan is on south interior Karnataka as the region accounts for a major share of State’s agriculture production. Moreover,

Five years after the launch of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) on which the Centre has spent over `1,10,700 crores so far, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will release a comprehensive review of the performance of the flagship scheme on Saturday.

The release of the review report is coming at a time when the job demands within MNREGA have seen more than 20 per cent decline in the last financial year, while a number of states could not spend their allocated funds under the flagship scheme.

The State government has submitted a proposal to the Centre to release Rs 2,200 crore fund for drought management. But the Centre has not released any amount till date, said the former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.

During his visit to Ammerahalli tank on Thursday, he said if the Centre releases the amount without any partiality, relief works will be started immediately in all the drought-hit districts of the State.

Climate change is one of a few major factors that ensure the country will continue to struggle to supply its cities and industries and fields with enough water, particularly in the North, as well as face more frequent and longer droughts.

The Africa–Asia Drought Risk Management Peer Assistance Project seeks to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and technical cooperation among drought-prone countries in Africa and Asia and thus to promote best practices in drought risk management (DRM) for development in the two regions.

New Delhi: In the first step towards streamlining and managing Delhi’s water, Delhi Jal Board and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) organized the first consultative works

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