A board announcing a holiday outside a school in Erode, Tamil Nadu, on Saturday
| Photo Credit: M. Govarthan

With the onset of the Northeast monsoon, Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay has instructed officials to maintain a “continuous vigil” across all constituencies throughout the season, according to sources.

He made this remark while reviewing monsoon preparedness, waterlogging at 35 locations including Velachery, Manadi, and the Madras High Court area, and the Greater Chennai Corporation’s (GCC) response to the heavy rain that has been lashing the city, at the Integrated Command and Control Centre at Ripon Buildings earlier this week.

He asked officials to respond promptly to complaints, and applauded civic and other departmental personnel for their work following the downpour.

Fund allocation

According to data presented by officials to Ministers last week,, of the ₹100 crore special fund for the monsoon, ₹44.46 crore was allocated for drainage and roads, including ₹22.46 crore for desilting 1,671 km of stormwater drains and ₹22 crore for patchwork and road restoration.

Another ₹26.68 crore was earmarked for pumps and maintenance, including hiring 150 high-capacity pumps and 500 tractor-mounted pumps. Another ₹15 lakh was allocated for repairing electric motors at ₹1 lakh per zone. Additionally, ₹4.65 crore was allocated for pump and sump maintenance, along with five temporary personnel per division for emergency monsoon works. Another ₹10 crore was allocated as an emergency response fund, at ₹5 lakh per division.

Stormwater drain construction under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) fund is complete in the Tiruvottiyur (93.68 km), Manali (126.296 km), Madhavaram (165 km) and Anna Nagar (13.87 km) zones, and under the Capital Fund in the Royapuram, Thiru. Vi. Ka. Nagar, Ambattur, Teynampet, Alandur, and Perungudi zones.

Balance work is due on October 25 in Tondiarpet (Capital Fund). It is due on October 31 in Ambattur (ADB fund), Anna Nagar, Kodambakkam, Valasaravakkam, and Adyar (Capital Fund), Kodambakkam and Valasaravakkam (CMRL fund), and Alandur (KfW fund). Under the KfW fund, 145.27 km of 154.19 km is done in Perungudi and 101 km of 125 km in Sholinganallur, with the balance due by March 31, 2027, according to the presentation.

The Highways Department has completed desilting 275 km of stormwater drains, 18,000 catchpits, 321 culverts, and six vehicular subway wells. In Sholinganallur zone, it has completed stormwater drain construction at Sholinganallur junction, desilting of the cross culvert at Chennai One Road in Thoraipakkam, and a link connecting the Semmozhi Salai drain to the macro drain, fitted with a flap gate. In Perungudi, it desilted the drain at S. Kolathur. In Adyar, it cleared a blockage near the Thiruvanmiyur bus terminus and built a cross culvert near Raj Bhavan and the taluk office road. Work to address water stagnation on GST Road in Teynampet, between Anna Flyover and Cathedral Road junction, is also complete.

The Water Resources Department has evicted encroachments at Vaikkadu village in Manali zone that obstructed the discharge of surplus water from Puzhal lake and kept 1,000 sandbags ready at the lake. It has strengthened the Adyar river bund near Kasi Theatre in Kodambakkam zone and constructed a missing link in the Kolapakkam channel at Dharmarajapuram in Alandur, with temporary flood-mitigation measures in place. One-time cleaning of the North Buckingham Canal in Tiruvottiyur zone has also been completed.

Pumps and relief centres

For emergency operations, 1,189 vehicles and machines have been kept ready. These include 676 Corporation pumps, 134 rented high-capacity pumps, 648 tractor-mounted pumps, and 109 water-collection tanks. The Corporation and Fisheries Department have also readied 36 and 97 boats, respectively.

The city has 227 temporary relief centres and 112 community kitchens ready to accommodate residents from low-lying areas and provide food.

Published – October 23, 2026 11:51 am IST

ISMA Director General Deepak Ballani addresses a press conference on the recent surge in domestic sugar prices, in New Delhi on August 24.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The hot winds sweeping across the ancient Kallanai, which should be brimming with water by now, are raising temperatures across the Cauvery delta this year. A weak southwest monsoon and the vexed inter-State river water sharing dispute with Karnataka have left farmers in the region in distress yet again.

As the Stanley Reservoir at Mettur could not be opened on the customary date of June 12 owing to insufficient storage, a majority of farmers in the delta, for whom the Cauvery is the lifeline, have not been able to cultivate paddy this kuruvai (kharif) season. With the Super El Nino effect looming large, farmers are worried about the prospects of the forthcoming samba crop too.

Over the past few months, the flow into the Mettur dam from Karnataka has been meagre. Tamil Nadu realised just 2.915 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) in the Cauvery from Karnataka in June, against the 9.19 tmc ft stipulated for the month by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court.

Consequently, after a record coverage in 2025, when kuruvai paddy was raised on over six lakh acres against the normal area of about 4.4 lakh acres, agricultural fields across the delta, irrigated by a network of rivers and canals, are lying fallow. Announcing the kuruvai special package, the State government said the crop could be raised on about 3.55 lakh acres with groundwater. But farmers claim that only 1.5 lakh acres would be covered in the filter point areas in the core delta districts, largely in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur.

The kuruvai cultivation area in Thanjavur has come down to around 89,000 acres this season from around 1,94,000 acres in the previous cultivation year. In Tiruvarur, the coverage area has dwindled to around 64,000 acres from around 1,91,000 acres in 2025-26, say district officials.

A section of farmers who had raised the crop using groundwater is complaining about erratic three-phase power supply. Complaints of withering crops have been reported in a few places in the delta.

Cultivation with groundwater

R. Arivazhagan, a farmer of Olaidevarayanpettai in Thanjavur district, has raised kuruvai paddy on six acres with groundwater. He explains the issues in cultivation with groundwater. Though he has raised the crop, many of his fellow villagers are not able to do so owing to the depletion in the groundwater table as the rivers are dry. “My neighbour is drilling a fresh borewell and the yield from my borewell is going down too. There are disruptions in three-phase power supply owing to voltage drops and other issues. I am not sure whether I will be able to see through my 25-day-old crop over the next three months,” he says.

Several farmers who had taken up summer ploughing in anticipation of water release from the Mettur dam have burnt their fingers. “Many of us had taken up summer ploughing twice by spending at least ₹1,500 an acre each time, expecting water discharge by mid-June. But we could not go in for the kuruvai crop and our lands are lying fallow. Farm labourers have been rendered jobless. The entire rural economy has been badly affected,” says R. Pandidurai, a farmer of Seelathanallur in Tiruvarur.

Farmers demand that the entire State, especially the delta districts, be declared drought-hit so that they can avail themselves of relief, including compensation under the ‘prevented sowing/planting risk’ (due to adverse weather) clause of the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme. “We had kept the fields ready after ploughing, but there was no flow in the Cauvery. Farmers in Nagapattinam district have been hit as we don’t have too many borewells, except in the Thirumarugal area. We hope we will get some compensation under the crop insurance scheme,” says Karunainathan of Vedaranyam.

Mahadhanapuram Rajaram, a veteran farmers’ leader and president of the Cauvery Irrigation Farmers Welfare Association, says, “We estimate that the delta farmers stand to lose about ₹1,125 crore as they have not been able to raise kuruvai crop. It would also trigger fodder shortage in the coming months. If the samba or thaladi crops too were affected by drought or rain at harvest stages, the financial burden on the State would be heavier.”

“We could face a production loss of up to 15 lakh tonnes of paddy this season. More importantly, the loss of the crop could lead to migration of farm labourers as they look for other sources of income,” says Cauvery Dhanapalan, president, Tamil Nadu Vivasaya Sangankalin Kootuiyakkam.

“The inflow and the storage at Mettur are still not encouraging. We doubt whether the government will manage to get water from Karnataka. The prediction of a weak monsoon due to the El Nino effect has cast a shadow over the samba crop too,” Mr. Pandidurai says. The dam had just 38 tmc ft of water against its capacity of 93.47 tmc ft, and the inflow was hovering at 125 cusecs last week. The dam, which was at its full capacity during the same time last year, needs substantial inflows in the coming weeks for the government to decide on water discharge for the samba season.

P.R. Pandian of the Coordination Committee of All Farmers Associations of Tamil Nadu says the lack of Cauvery water has endangered the livelihood of farmers in the delta this year. “The southwest monsoon has been scanty, and is going to end soon. It has been predicted that the State may get less than normal rainfall during the northeast monsoon too. We may go in for the samba crop with direct sowing, pinning our hopes on the monsoon. But the question is whether we will be able to protect the crop through the season. Unless the monsoon comes to our aid, we have a very precarious situation,” he says. “Only if water is released from the Mettur dam by August can farmers safely raise long-duration varieties during the samba season. If the water release is delayed further, they can only go in for medium or short-term varieties,” says Mr. Dhanapalan.

‘Declare delta as drought-hit’

Mr. Pandian says it is time the government declared the delta ‘drought-hit’ and started rolling out relief measures. “It should provide drought relief as was done by the Jayalalithaa government some years ago. The government should provide ₹15,000 an acre as relief for the kuruvai loss,” he says, adding that the government should also support farmers raising the samba crop using groundwater by providing seeds and diesel at subsidised rates.

Farmers organisations say the kuruvai special package, announced by the government, has not been of much help. “Though the government had said farmers would be given the support for two acres, officials here say we will get it only for one acre each as there have been a number of applications. The application process is cumbersome, and we are required to submit several documents such as bills for machine planting, photos of farmers in the field, besides the land records. We have to spend considerable time and effort in submitting these papers for a meagre financial support,” Mr. Arivazhagan says, calling for simplifying the application process.

“The special package is inadequate to meet the requirements of farmers. Since there has been a large number of applications, the allocation should be increased,” says Swamimalai Vimalnathan, secretary, Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmers Protection Association.

He wants the government to come up with a special samba package too as farmers who were not able to raise the kuruvai crop will plant samba, pinning their hopes on a good monsoon. He suggests that as a special case, the government provide free farm connections to those who have been waiting for long so that more farmers can take up cultivation using groundwater.

Delta farmers also take a critical view of Food Minister P. Venkataramanan’s reported suggestion that farmers go in for alternative crops in view of the water shortage. “Before making such suggestions, the government should carry out a proper study and identify crops which are suitable for the different soil conditions in the delta region. Such crops should also be able to withstand the monsoon. But there seems to be no plan or effort in this direction,” says Mr. Vimalnathan.

“Karnataka has been releasing only the surplus water and does not agree to the distress-sharing formula. We have not even got half of June’s quota of water and there is no guarantee that Karnataka will release our share in July or August. Tamil Nadu should sanction relief to the farmers and can mobilise funds by claiming compensation from Karnataka for the crop losses,” says V. Jeevakumar, a farmers leader of Budalur.

Running from pillar to post

D. Abraham of Kanarpatti in Tirunelveli district had sold over 7.50 tonnes of paddy to the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India nine months ago. But he is still running from pillar to post to get his payment of ₹1.86 lakh. His family expenses forced him to not only pledge his jewels but also to pay interest for them till date.

The plight of Mr. Abraham, who is the district secretary of the Coordination Committee of Tamil Nadu All Farmers’ Associations, is not unique. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam  government’s announcement on waiver of cooperative crop loans came as a jolt to the farmers who pointed to the gap between what the TVK had promised before the election and what it announced after coming to power.

The TVK manifesto had promised a complete loan waiver for small and marginal farmers who own up to 5 acres of land and a 50% waiver for the others. On May 25 this year, the government announced that only loans of up to ₹50,000 would be waived fully for marginal farmers. For loans exceeding ₹50,000, the waiver ranged between ₹5,000 and ₹40,000.

Effectively, a marginal farmer with a loan of over ₹1 lakh would get only ₹5,000 as relief. It was worse for small farmers as only 50% of loans up to ₹50,000 were waived. For the rest, the waiver ranged from ₹5,000 to ₹20,000. This triggered massive protests by farmers across the State.

‘Let down by the TVK government’

“While the poll promise of the TVK spoke only about total loan waiver for all farmers based on their land holdings, the government introduced ceilings. Farmers had voted for the TVK based on its promises, but we feel let down,” says R. Rampandian, of Aruppukottai, a functionary of Southern District Farmers’ Association.

The government blamed the Reserve Bank of India’s Model Operating Procedure, which mandates that States implementing loan waivers must settle the entire amount to co-operative banks within 45 to 60 days. It also blamed the State’s finances.

With all major political parties, including the DMK, the AIADMK, and the BJP, backing the farmers, they vowed to continue their protest till the ruling TVK implemented its poll promise. The government responded by announcing a revised loan waiver scheme on June 16.

It promised total waiver of loans up to ₹75,000 for all farmers irrespective of land holdings. For loans above ₹75,000, the waiver was restricted to ₹35,000 per farmer. But the farmers remain dissatisfied and their protests continue.

Maharashtra model

The Maharashtra government’s announcement that a complete waiver of farm loans up to ₹2 lakh would be sanctioned has further fuelled anger among farmers. “Won’t the RBI norms apply to Maharashtra? Why cannot Tamil Nadu follow suit,” asked  N.A. Ramachandra Raja of Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam. Of the 600 farmers who had borrowed from the Singarajakottai Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society in Rajapalayam, only 170 will benefit from the waiver, he said.

Why do farmers demand loan waivers? They complain that their occupation has become a gamble amid the adverse impact of climate change. “Each year, several farmers part with their farmland unable to handle the crop loss they face. The government needs to incentivise grain production,” Mr. Ramachandra Raja says.

The farmers point out that farmers in Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh are being given ₹6,000 to ₹10,000 as incentive to sustain food production. While a farmer sells one quintal of paddy for ₹2,450, he buys a 50-kg bag of complex fertilizer for ₹2,100, Mr.  Ramachandra Raja points out.

Mr. Abraham adds, “If the farmer wants to increase the yield, he has to apply potash, costing ₹2,400 [50-kg bag]. And the cost of pesticides has also skyrocketed.”

In addition, the farmers face shortage of workers during peak farming season as the workers prefer MGNREGS  work.

“Even after we undergo all these hardships to raise the paddy, the government is in no mood to give us a fair remuneration. In a situation where the farmers cannot fix the price of their produce, we have no other option but to demand crop loan waiver to sustain farming,” he says.

The Swaminathan Committee had recommended that the Minimum Support Price for crops should at least be 50% more than the comprehensive cost of production. “If its recommendation is implemented, we would not need crop loan waiver or fertilizer subsidy. It is now the bounden duty of the government to provide crop loan waiver,” says Mr. Perumbadaiyar of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam in Tirunelveli.

(With inputs from V. Venkatasubramanian in Thanjavur, S. Sundar in Madurai, and P. Sudhakar in Tirunelveli)

Thiruvananthapuram:

Schools and colleges will remain closed on Thursday in six districts in Kerala in view of the rain alert issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for the state.

The districts that have declared the holidays are Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Idukki, Ernakulam and Wayanad.

Meanwhile, all the professional exams which are scheduled for the day will not be cancelled.

Some districts of Kerala have been receiving incessant rainfall for the last two days.

The Regional Met Centre of Thiruvananthapuram has issued an orange alert for the districts of Wayanad and Kannur, while a yellow alert has been issued for the districts of Kasaragode, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Thrissur, Idukki and Ernakulam.

Earlier on Wednesday, an orange alert was issued for eight districts, including Wayanad, Kannur, Kasaragode, Kozhikode, Idukki, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta, and Thiruvananthapuram.

The IMD has also predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall, very likely along the West Peninsular Coast during the next 3-4 days and over northeast India, likely from June 27 to June 30. The rainfall activity is likely to increase over Northwest India, with heavy to very heavy rainfall likely from June 28 to June 30.

On advancement of southwest monsoons, the IMD said in a press release, “The Northern Limit of Monsoon continues to pass through Mundra, Mehsana, Udaipur, Shivpuri, Siddhi, Lalitpur, Chaibasa, Haldia, Pakur, Sahibganj, and Raxaul. Conditions are likely to become favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into the remaining parts of North Arabian Sea, Gujarat State, Madhya Pradesh; some more parts of Rajasthan; remaining parts of Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Bihar; most parts of East Uttar Pradesh; some more parts of West Uttar Pradesh; some parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu-Kashmir-Ladakh-Gilgit-Baltistan-Muzaffarabad, northern parts of Punjab and northern parts of Haryana during next 3-4 days.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Guwahati:

At least 36 people were killed in heavy rains and landslides in four northeastern states on Tuesday under the impact of Cyclone Remal while normal life came to a grinding halt in all the eight states of the region with road and rail links affected, officials said.

While 27 people were killed in Mizoram, including 21 in a quarry collapse in Aizawl district, four deaths were reported in Nagaland, three in Assam, and two in Meghalaya.

The rains, accompanied by gusty winds, triggered landslides, uprooted trees and electric poles, and disrupted power and internet services.

In view of waterlogging between the New Haflong-Jatinga Lampur section and Ditokcherra yard under the Lumding division of Northeast Frontier Railway, many trains were either cancelled or partially cancelled and rescheduled.

In Mizoram, at least 27 people, including 21 in a collapsed stone quarry, were killed and 10 others were missing in multiple landslides in Aizawl district.

Disaster management and police officials said that 21 bodies had been recovered so far from the quarry site between Melthum and Hlimen in the Aizawl while several others were still trapped under the debris following the collapse in the morning. Six died and many others were missing following incidents of landslides at Salem, Aibawk, Lungsei, Kelsih, and Falkawn in the district.

In Nagaland, at least four people died in different incidents while more than 40 houses have been damaged in various parts of the state.

A minor boy drowned at a river near Laruri village under the Meluri subdivision of Phek district, while two other incidents of drowning were reported from Doyang Dam in the Wokha district, an official said. An elderly man was crushed to death after a wall collapsed in Phek.

In Assam, three persons were killed while 17 others were injured in Kamrup, Kamrup (Metro), and Morigaon districts. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), a tree branch fell on a school bus in Dhekiajuli of Sonitpur district, injuring 12 students. Five others were injured in different incidents in Morigaon.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed grief over the loss of lives.

ASDMA officials said that heavy storms occurred in the Bongaigaon, Chirang, Darrang, Dhubri, Hojai, Kamrup, Kamrup Metro, Karbi Anglong, Kokrajhar, Morigaon, Nagaon, Sonitpur, South Salmara and West Karbi Anglong districts.

In Meghalaya, two persons died and over 100 others were injured as heavy rain lashed the state, officials said on Tuesday. Officials said one death was reported from East Jaintia Hills and another in a car accident in East Khasi Hills district. The relentless downpour damaged a large number of houses in 17 villages. Landslides were reported on the Shillong-Mawlai Bypass and at Bivar Road in Oakland, while flashfloods took place in Langkyrding, Pynthorbah, Polo, Sawfurlong, and Demseiniong areas.

In Tripura, heavy rain accompanied by gusty winds of 50 to 60 km per hour lashed most parts of the state during the past 24 hours, damaging 470 houses and forcing 750 people to take shelter in 15 relief camps in different districts.

Briefing media in Agartala, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sushant Chowdhury said that during the past 24 hours, the state recorded an average of 215.5 mm rainfall with Unakoti district recording the highest, at 252.4 mm.

In Arunachal Pradesh, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a high alert with a forecast of extremely heavy rainfall. Chief Minister Pema Khandu requested the people to take all precautionary measures and avoid vulnerable and isolated locations.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Untimely rains have left wheat-growing farmers worried as they anticipate a drop in yield, output and quality. File picture of a farm worker harvesting wheat in Gurugram
| Photo Credit: PTI

The story so far: The unusual rise in mercury in February this year, followed by an untimely spell of widespread rain accompanied by gusty winds and hails during the month of March in parts of the country’s key grain-producing States — Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat — have left wheat-growing farmers worried as they anticipate a drop in yield (productivity), output (production) and quality.

How will the rains affect wheat crop?

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), fairly widespread rains along with stormy winds between 40-50 kilometers per hour lashed several parts of the major wheat-growing States in the country during March, under the influence of consecutive western disturbances. Rain spells accompanied by winds are not considered to be a good sign for the crop’s health if they are close to the ripening and harvesting stage, especially if there are instances of water logging in the fields. Unfortunately, there have been instances of crop flattening in fields, besides water logging, which could be detrimental for the ready-to-harvest wheat crop. Wheat, a key rabi (winter) crop is sown between late October till December; it nears the ripening stage in the month of mid-March, and harvesting of the early sown varieties usually commences by the end of March itself. The IMD data suggests that between March 1 and April 9, large excess rains (40% more rain than normal) were received in several States.

How much output would be affected?

Agriwatch, an agri-commodity research firm, in its latest report has stated that owing to the recent untimely rains, the country’s wheat production in the agriculture year 2022-23 is likely to be 102.9 MT which is less than the Union government’s estimate of 112 MT. The Centre, however, is optimistic that wheat production would be close to 112 MT on account of an increased acreage (area) of wheat and better yield this season, despite a slight production loss due to recent adverse weather conditions. As per the government, the average wheat acreage this year (2022-23) has been 14,86,240 hectares more in comparison to the last five years (2017-2021) which stood at 30,382,010 hectares.

What are agri-experts saying?

A sizable section of farmers assert that the inclement weather has adversely damaged the standing wheat crop.

Indu Sharma, former director of the Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (IIWBR), based in Haryana’s Karnal, says, “It’s not just the untimely rains in March, but the unusually higher temperature in February this year that has also been detrimental for the wheat. Now, after the rains and winds, wherever the crop has flattened, it will be difficult to recover it, eventually hurting the crop’s yield. ”

Moreover, if the country’s wheat production drops below the government estimate it could lead to a hike in prices of wheat and wheat-based products in the domestic market, says Rajesh Paharia Jain, a New Delhi-based trader and wheat exporter. He adds that any decline in wheat production can also lead to a potential foodgrain security issue.

An agriculture domain expert and a former member of the Uttar Pradesh Planning Commission, Sudhir Panwar says if the government asserts that wheat production is not going to be severely impacted due to inclement weather then it means that the policy of wheat purchase would remain the same as that of the last year. “In such a scenario, the private player will purchase wheat on Minimum Support Price (MSP) or with some incentive. The wheat price for the consumer in the domestic market should hardly be impacted as the government’s first priority would be to replenish its foodgrain stock. If the production is less, then the possibility of market intervention by the government is also quite bleak as its priority would be to maintain the buffer stock,” he says.