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Farmers lament inadequate rains, prayers held to appease Gods

          Abohar (Punjab): Punjab farmers have lost all hopes of a good harvest this season due to lack of rains. Monsoons have revived in some parts of the country after a lull, but their erratic behaviour is still causing concern in many other parts. Torrential rains have triggered flooding in the East and the North East, but a drought-like situation has been developing in the northern belt. In Punjab, rainfall so far has been much lower than last year, when the country had its best rains in a decade. Anguished farmers bemoaned their parched dreams. "There is no water, so our fields are drying up. We are facing lot of problems. The crops which we had sown a month back are now drying," said Om Prakash, a farmer.

          Meanwhile, residents of Jaipur, conducted a fire ritual to appease the rain Gods. Dozens of priests and devotees prayed to the Gods to bring rains. "Our ancestors used to hold such ceremonies, when there was no rainfall, and they ere always successful. So we also decided to please the rain Gods by holding this prayers," said Raj Purohit, a priest. Traders expect the scanty rains to hit the oilseed, rice and other winter crops this year, but add that while output of major crops had already been hit, immediate rains could stem the damage to some extent. Government officials have however, ruled out the possibility of a drought similar to 2002, saying there was no cause for panic yet although various ministries have been asked to be on alert.

Drought-stricken farmers in MP say govt ignoring pleas for help (Go To Top)

          Morena (MP): Farmers here say that the state government has ignored their repeated pleas to provide water for their dying crops as delayed monsoon heightens fears of drought. Monsoons continue to be tardy and there are no signs of a rapid recovery in the remaining days of July, making lives of millions of farmers miserable. July-August are crucial months for the flowering of most crops, but Madhya Pradesh is among the worst hit, with many areas receiving 54 percent below-normal rains while the eastern sector has recorded only 51 percent below normal. "What is the government doing? We are all dying here. Our cattle are dying, we have no water here. No one listens to us," said Amar Singh Yadav, a farmer. Pramod Kumar, another farmer, said: "We have to fetch water from a long distance. The stream here has also dried up. There is no arrangement for water."

          State's met officials said only 154 cm of rainfall has been recorded till now. Groundnut and soybean, the season's main oilseed crops, have been affected by insufficient rain in the key central and western regions and need immediate rainfall to stop further damage. The district administration says it is taking into account the trend of a late rainfall in the region. "There has been a trend in this place that it always rains here in late August or September. So we are still waiting that rains will bring an end to the water problems here. We are praying to God to help us," said Kishore Kanyal, area sub-divisional magistrate.

Spirituality, the new mantra for Indo-Pak peace: Ravi Shankar (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar today said that spirituality could play an important role in improving relations between India and Pakistan. Ravi Shankar, who returned to the Indian Capital today after a visit to Pakistan, said that till now diplomacy had been restricted to the political, cultural and sporting arenas, but now the peace process had found a new dimension in the form of spirituality. "We talked about how spirituality can unite people. It is beyond all religion it can unite people and it can take away many ills of the society like depression and aggression," he told reporters here. He also described his visit to Pakistan as one of goodwill and acknowledged that people of that country had warmly received him. "We are all interdependent and inter-linked. If SAARC nations live in peace and harmony with each other, if violence is put to an end, then we can emerge as a supreme power," Ravi Shankar said.

Salman's black buck case resurfaces (Go To Top)

         Mumbai: Seems the bulging biceps pin up matinee idol is always in trouble. A local court in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, today rejected the prosecution's plea for cancellation of the bail of actor Salman Khan facing trial in the poaching case. Accepting the arguments of Khan's counsel Hastimal Saraswat that the bail can be cancelled only by the court which had granted it, Chief Judicial Magistrate Praveer Bhatnagar rejected the application moved by the prosecution last month. The hunting incident had occurred in September 1998 when Salman was participating in the shooting of Sooraj Barjatya's film Hum Saath Saath Hain in and around Jodhpur city.