Too early to comment on impact of drought, floods: PM

October 8th, 2009 Food shortages loom over flood-hit south IndiaNEW DELHI — Millions of poor villagers across southern India are facing an imminent food shortage following months of intense drought and recent devastating floods, aid agencies warned Thursday. The worst floods to hit the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in a century have killed about 280 people, destroyed or washed away millions of acres of cropland and contaminated grain stocks in millions of homes.

October 7th, 2009 NEW YORK - The massive food scarcity in India due to floods and drought is impacting hundreds of millions, derailing ongoing humanitarian work by years and adding to other serious socio-economic woes, warns the US-based non-profit World Vision. The failure of the monsoon in north, northeast and some parts of western India, has led to 22 percent less rain than normal and now, flooding in the south has left 1.5 million homeless, 200 people dead and over 200,000 homes destroyed, says the organisation.

September 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda has contributed 20 percent of his annual salary as an MP to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund in the wake of floods and drought in several parts of the country.

September 12th, 2009 More flash floods slam Turkey, trapping hundredsISTANBUL — Authorities say heavy downpours have led to new flash floods in northwestern Turkey, trapping hundreds of workers at some tile factories. At least five workers are reported missing.

September 8th, 2009 PATNA - Heavy rains have led to flash floods in nearly 100 villages in the districts of Gaya, Nalanda, Jehanabad and Nawada in Bihar, officials said here Tuesday. The areas were drought hit just over a month ago.

August 23rd, 2009 BEIJING - China's anti-drought authority has urged for more efforts to fight drought in the north of the country that is affecting some 4.6 million people, and warned of a possible drought in the south. The drought in the north was threatening 8.67 million hectares of crops, the office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said Saturday.

August 22nd, 2009 PATNA - An 11-member central team visiting the drought-hit parts of Bihar for the past three days has found the situation in the affected areas to be grim, the team's leader said Saturday. R.K. Tiwari, joint secretary in the agriculture ministry who led the team, said the situation was bad due to the poor monsoon.

August 19th, 2009 PATNA - An 11-member central team, that is on a three-day visit to the drought-hit districts of Bihar starting Wednesday, will assess the drought situation in the state and meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Friday. Last week, 26 of the state's 38 districts were declared drought-hit.

August 18th, 2009 HYDERABAD - With the southwest monsoon triggering heavy rains in parts of Andhra Pradesh and reviving hopes of the farmers, the Congress government is reluctant to declare the state drought hit. Minister for Revenue and Relief D.

August 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said there is no need to panic over the drought situation in many parts of India as the government has a better understanding of how to handle a crisis like this. The prime minister was speaking at a special session devoted to the drought situation during a chief ministers conference on internal security.

August 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Leaders of Bihar's ruling coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) Friday requested the Election Commission to hold simultaneous by-election from all 18 assembly constituencies where they were due, instead of only seven, in view of the drought conditions in the state. The Election Commission has issued a notification for holding by-elections on Sep 10 to seven of the 18 constituencies where they have been necessitated for various reasons.

July 29th, 2009 RANCHI - Jharkhand Wednesday declared seven more districts as drought hit after scanty rainfall affected paddy crop in the state. Earlier, four of Jharkhand's 24 districts were declared drought hit.

July 6th, 2009 22 die in Vietnam landslides, floodsHANOI, Vietnam — The government says the death toll from landslides and floods in Vietnam's mountainous north has risen to 22. Thirteen other people are still missing after the heavy rains that struck on Friday night.

June 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Brushing aside fears of a drought, union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar Sunday said that though the monsoon rains have been delayed this year, there is "no drought-like situation". "There is no drought like situation because of the delay in the monsoon and the losses would be compensated in the months of July and August...

January 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The union cabinet Thursday approved the setting of a National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management that will develop technologies to combat droughts, extreme temperatures, floods and salinity - which threaten agriculture. To be located in Malegaon in Maharashtra, the institute's mandate will be to pioneer research and ensure that these technologies when put in practice will lead to adaptation of crops, livestock, horticulture and fisheries to such stresses, said a cabinet note.