According to available reports, the Southwest monsoon this year is likely to be normal. Severe drought is however persisting in parts of Maharashtra where in a city like Latur, drinking water has become a luxury.

The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI),  a at its  Foundation Day Celebration held on April 1, 2016, in Delhi, announced that it would name its library after Prof. M S Swaminathan. Prof. Swaminathan gave the Foundation Day lecture on the occasion of  the first Founder's Day celebration  of the IARI  to be organised after 100 years of its establishment.

I am happy that Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed has taken over as the CM of Jammu & Kashmir. She has great qualities of leadership as I observed when she participated in a meeting of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs of which I was the then President in the year 2007 at Cairo.

Prof M S Swaminathan, Agriculture Scientist has urged the Government to accept and implement the Farmers' Commission Report, with regard to Minimum Support Price for grains set at production cost plus 50% citing the need to safeguard interests of small farmers and the increasing risk of taking up agriculture as a profession due to adverse incidents caused by climate change.

The Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India is extending help to Afghanistan for establishing an Afghanistan National Agricultural Science and Technology University (ANASTU) and a Genetic Garden of Afghanistan at the Tarnak Farm in Kandahar under the auspices of ANASTU.

It will be prudent to take anticipatory action on managing excess or deficient rainfall. MSSRF’s experience in Koraput shows that an effective method of managing monsoon will be the establishment of gene, seed, grain and water banks. The gene & seed banks will help to introduce contingency plans to suit different weather probabilities, while the grain & water banks will help to ensure food and water security. The water bank consists of water harvested during rainfall, while the gene bank will provide a wide range of genetic variability to enable the farmer for match the variety with the monsoon behaviour.

Today (23 March 2016) is World Meteorological Day.

Today (22 March 2016) is observed as the World Water Day. The importance of water in all aspects of human life needs hardly any elaboration. In our country, inter-state water conflicts are growing.

MSSRF had initiated ‘Custom Hiring Centres of Farm Implements’ in three villages in Vidarbha in 2012. MSSRF’s experience with respect to the functioning of these centres indicates the enormous reach of the centres to the most marginalized sections of the village community.

Today (21 March 2016) is the International Day of Forests. This is to remind us of the critical role played by forests in climate regulation, protection of hydrologic cycles, conservation of biodiversity and provision of a wide range of minor forest produce which protect the lives and livelihoods of tribal and other forest dwellers.

Myanmar is the last country in the old British Empire to take to the democratic pathway of governance.

A recent article in Down to Earth (1-15 March 2016) has described the serious malnutrition prevailing in several parts of Maharashtra, particularly Amaravati district.