**1. Introduction**

Indian agriculture is considered as "Gambling with monsoon" which means the production and productivity of Indian agriculture is mainly depends on the quantity and distribution of monsoon rains. Among them, South West monsoons are very important which covers major area of the country and directly indicates the country's production. Agriculture sector plays a vital role in country's economy and is the backbone of the country. Country produces almost all the agricultural commodities starting with cereals, pulses, oilseeds, commercial crops, fruits, vegetables and plantation crops [1]. Among the commodities cereals contribute to the major proportion which is the means of daily staple food. Major cereals like Rice, Wheat, Maize and minor cereals like sorghum, bajra, ragi (finger millet), etc.., contribute significantly to the daily calories of the people [2].

Rice (*Oryza sativa* L) is considered as one of the imperative food crops of the globe. Rice is being cultivated since ancient times to feed the population. The crop is the staple food source feeding more than half of the world's ever-growing population [3]. The crop is grown by more than one hundred countries of which more than 70% of the production comes from Asian countries. The crop also cultivated in small to medium scale in Africa, Europe and American countries [4]. India grows rice in 43 M ha with production of 112 million tons (Mt) of milled rice and average productivity of 2.6 t −1 ha. The crop is grown in highly diverse conditions ranging from hills to coasts. Primarily a *kharif* crop, it is cultivated round the year in one or the other parts of the country [5]. Rice production in India has made tremendous progress over the years. However, it is facing unprecedented challenges of environmental degradation and climate change in recent years [6–8]. Low and uncertain income, degraded natural resource base, growing labour and energy shortages and threats of climate change are making Indian agriculture highly vulnerable and unsustainable [9–12].

Though green revolution brought tremendous changes in production and productivity of food grains, it also led to some of the related problems. There has been a constant increase in the number of insect pests and diseases, some of the non-insect pests, nematodes over the years [13]. The country witnessed a number of epidemics due to these biotic stresses. The level of incidence, quantum of damage has changed over the years [14]. These pests and diseases showed a concomitant shifts from their minor status to major status/intensity depending on the region, varieties grown, environmental conditions and cultivation practices [15]. Major diseases of rice such as blast, brown spot, sheath blight, bacterial leaf blight and tungro have become more severe over the years, and a number of minor diseases like sheath rot, bakanae, false smut, grain discoloration, early seedling blight and narrow brown spot have emerged as major problems [16]. Similarly, among the insect pests, gall midge, white backed planthopper, gundy bug, leaf folder has emerged as major problems to the rice cultivation [4].

There may be a number of factors responsible for this changed scenario of pest status like intensified rice cultivation of high yielding varieties, cultivation of varieties lacking the resistance to major pests which provide rapid multiplication of pests, imbalanced application of chemical fertilizers, particularly the nitrogenous fertilizers, non-judicious application of chemical pesticides which leads to resistance development and changes in climatic conditions [13, 17]. Present review provides the information on important emerging diseases of rice, nature of damage, yield losses and possible management strategies to mitigate the losses due to these new emerging problems.

*Emerging Minor Diseases of Rice in India: Losses and Management Strategies DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99898*
