New Delhi: Observing that the country was facing a "difficult situation" following delayed and deficient rainfall, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday that the Centre has adequate foodgrains and would not hesitate to take strong measures and intervene in the market if the need arose.

Shreekant Sambrani / New Delhi August 10, 2009, 0:36 IST

The government

Aug. 9: Hyderabad is the worst affected among seven Telangana districts, failing to get any rain in the last week, according to the Indian Meteorological Department

Refuse To Buy Pawar Line of Wait-And-Watch As Met Office Gives More Bad News
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New Delhi: When increase in prices and fall in monsoon rainfall became the central concern for the entire Opposition to target UPA government in Parliament on Thursday, the weatherman provided more ominous news.

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.

P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI: The southwest monsoon crossed its midway point five days ago but the situation continues to be grim across the country, with part of the gains made during the first half of July even getting eroded during the past two weeks following the northward movement of the monsoon trough from its normal position.

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.

D. Chandra Bhaskar Rao

KHAMMAM: Conditions across the 46 revenue mandals in Khammam district are slipping deeper into a drought-like situation as the monsoon is playing truant.

Andhra Pradesh is facing a drought-like situation this year. The state had been receiving good rainfall ever since YSR Reddy became Chief Minister for the first term in June 2004. In his second term now, the Chief Minister is now thinking of declaring a drought in case the state does not receive sufficient rainfall by August 15.