In Gujarat, of the 12.5 million hectare of area under cultivation, while six million is dependent on rainfall, two million is covered by groundwater, a bulk of which is said to be in north Gujarat. Scanty rainfall in the last one and half years has not only depleted groundwater level but also affected dams.
'We can't have the best of both worlds -- large, efficient, world class government-owned banks, doing social banking and making profits. 'Why not set them free from the shackles of such obligations and run them as business units?' says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
In the national capital, the maximum temperature was recorded at the season's highest at 44 degree Celsius.
A day after arresting Hindu Sena chief Vishu Gupta, the Delhi police on Thursday nabbed his aide Mohit Rajput for breaching peace and tranquility by calling the police, claiming that cow meat was being served at Kerala Bhawan canteen.
'Once the prime minister and the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana pushed for this in 2014 and 2015, we have been trapped in a cycle of violence that gives India a bad name around the world,' says Aakar Patel.
A day after Nelson Mandela's daughter lashed out at the "crass" media frenzy around her ailing father, the South African police on Friday asked journalists to leave the road outside the entrance to the Pretoria hospital, where the global peace icon remains on life support.
Under NSA, the government can detain a person for as long as it wishes and the authorities need not disclose the grounds of detention. A person booked under the provision of Gangsters Act becomes part of a gang listed in police records. It entitles the police to keep track of those booked under the Act and issue summons to them for attendance at the local police station for questioning even if no fresh case is lodged against them.
The Sangh Parivar forgets that not only is there no scriptural prohibition, venerable authorities in India held beef as both a desirable and an essential food, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray
A heartwarming tale of how they used their time to beautify the schools where they are quarantined.
'While dairy farmers are suffering from low prices, consumers are paying a high price for milk.'
Amritsar-born entrepreneur John Nath Kapoor was arrested by the FBI for bribing doctors to over-prescribe a powerful opioid to patients.
According to experts, religious and spiritual influences can affect life decisions beyond the normal.
Remembering Verghese Kurien, a visionary who singlehandedly built world's biggest agricultural development programme.
The ICAS, a unique twinning programme, allows students to choose from international universities from USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany and France.
Sheela Bhatt visits a large urban basti a mere 20-minute drive from the prime minister's home to discover a story of grim struggle in the time of lockdown.
India is adopting a 'wait and watch' approach after the installation of the new government in Pakistan, the minister of state for external affairs told reporters in New Delhi.
The meat sellers are miffed over the crackdown on slaughter houses which has adversely hit the livelihood of lakhs of people, Qureshi said.
In its UP Vision Document, the BJP had promised it would shut down illegal and mechanised abattoirs in the state if it came to power.
The challenges authorities face in cleaning Ganga and other holy rivers in Varanasi.
The passport of rape accused Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati was impounded on Saturday and a look-out notice was issued against him, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Samajwadi Party and the Congress of chanting "Gayatri Prajapati Mantra".
The human toll in the floods and relentless rain across the country reached almost 200 by Thursday, even as thousands in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam, Odisha, West Bengal, and elsewhere were forced out of their homes into temporary shelters.
There have been several instances of traders dumping fruits and vegetables outside mandis. Or of farmers dumping produce outside their villages or feeding them to their animals.
The Election Commission sent a notice to Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the BJP's Mumbai chief. This is probably because a leading newspaper highlighted his utterances on its front page.
India's tour of South Africa later this year will commence with the visitors playing Twenty20 and 50-over internationals against the hosts before taking them on in a three-Test series.
'Nowhere in the country, except perhaps Jammu and Kashmir, do extremist groups enjoy political patronage as they do in Kerala. Terrorists are exported from Kerala to Afghanistan, Syria.'
Terming slavery and child trafficking the 'biggest scandal of our times', Indian Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi pn Wednesday launched a new campaign in London to end the menace posed by the trafficking 'mafia'.
Osama bin Laden had hinted at 9/11 attacks six months before the terror strike while addressing American "recruits" in Afghanistan, a media report said on Friday.
More than 50 students supported the cause by participating in this fest late on Sunday night. Earlier on May 27, Students' Federation of India staged similar protest in Kerala by eating beef outside University College, Trivandrum.
'All the bride's beleaguered parents wanted, they said, was a simple wedding without any unnecessary problems.'
There are about 85 million milch cows -- those that produce milk -- in the country.
We bring you a collection of some of the best photographs taken this week by ace photographers.
Here's your weekly digest of the craziest stories from around the world.
Aeroplanes existed in India 7,000 years ago and they travelled from one country to another and from one planet to another, the Indian Science Congress was told on Sunday in a controversial lecture that examined ancient aviation technology in the Vedas.
Responding to the donkey remarks made by Akhilesh, Modi said the criticism of donkeys by the UP CM only reflected his 'casteist mentality' and 'the feeling of hatred does not suit him'.
The army, SDRF and NDRF are assisting the district administrations in evacuating the affected population to safer places, the authority said.
A senior politician Naidu respected once tried to convince the firebrand student leader to quit the Jana Sangh.
'The UPA was the gang that couldn't shoot straight. The NDA is the gang that can't stop shooting. They (the Modi government) are shooting at anybody, everybody, all directions, shooting themselves in the foot.'
Ganguly had said India will lock horns with England, Australia and one other top cricketing side in an annual ODI series starting 2021.
Known for making controversial remarks, senior Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan outdid himself when he alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Lahore at the residence of his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last December. Sharat Pradhan/ Rediff.com reports from Lucknow.
Santosh Kaveri, a young inventor from Karnataka, is a sterling example of the 'Made In India' initiative. Find out why his dreams of being an innovator-enterpreneur shattered.
