Kisan Sabha Says PM

Lawyers for New York City are trying to convince a jury in a federal trial that Exxon Mobil knew that an additive that it used in gasoline would contaminate groundwater.

Ranchi, Aug. 6: The state will seek a Rs 391-crore relief package from the Centre to battle drought.

Chief secretary A.K. Basu today left for New Delhi with a proposal for the Union agriculture ministry.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has sought a special package from Union Government of Rs 7789 crore to fight drought, an official spokesman said here on Thursday.

The State Agriculture Minister Chaudhry Laxmi Narain met the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi and requested him to release the relief package at the earliest.

LUCKNOW: Even as political parties continued to point fingers and accuse one another of not doing enough for the drought-hit farmers, a petty farmer committed suicide in Lalitpur district of Bundelkhand after his crop failed because of virtually no rainfall.

SAMBALPUR: Is Sambalpur heading for a drought? Well, if it does not rain for another week the farmers fears might just turn out to be true. While delayed monsoon has led to cultivation on only about 60 per cent land till now, those who dared to go ahead with cultivation await rains -- which seem to have changed its path.

Shokha Ram Das (65) stares at his five bigha land in Dumdumi village under Chharra gram panchayat, nearly 12 km south of Purulia town, awaiting the rains. With just 2 per cent cultivation till date, nearly 280,000 hectares of agricultural land in the district is lying vacant, facing a near drought situation.

Hundreds of farmers wake up every morning, hoping for a downpour.

An action plan have been prepared by the Hailakandi district administration to tackle the drought-like situation prevailing in the district, an official press release said. It may be mentioned that almost all the 322 villages in Hailakandi district including 25,000 farmer families have been badly hit by the ongoing drought-like situation.

While the agricultural scientists are urging for speedy completion of seedling transplantation to save the agricultural sector in this drought-like situation, the Agriculture Department expects that by the end of August, transplantation activities would be able to cover about 95 per cent of the winter paddy crop area if the present weather condition persists.

State Minister for Urban Development Dinesh Prasad Gowala recently urged the farmers of Cachar district to seek assistance from the Agriculture and Irrigation departments in view of the prevailing drought-like situation.