Yield loss due to natural calamity is calculated based on field reports and assessment of crop-cutting experiments by district and block agriculture officers.
Many chief executives said they were talking to people at the top level in their organisations to find how their companies can help the flood victims.
The government should have mentioned clearly the specific structural reforms that were responsible for the deviation from the fiscal deficit target by half a percentage point, says A K Bhattacharya.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Home Minister Shivraj Patil arrived in Purnea in Bihar on Thursday for a visit to the flood-hit districts. Dr Singh, Gandhi and Patil will undertake an aerial survey of the flood-affected districts in an Indian Air Force helicopter.Dr Singh is scheduled to review the relief and rescue measures at a high-level meeting with senior officials of the state government, before returning to Delhi.
The severe cyclonic storm, which brought in its wake heavy rain coupled with gale wind till early Sunday, uprooted hundreds of trees and snapped cables in Kolkata and in the coastal districts of North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore, bring life to a near-halt.
What should you do in case of a chemial attack, a tear gas attack or a terrorist attack? How should you protect yourself and your family in case of a natural calamity: be it floods, earthquake or a tsunami? What precautionary steps you should take if there is -- God forbid -- a war between Indian and Pakistan tomorrow?
Brazil, Russia, India and China, also known as the BRIC group of countries, are expected to overtake the rich countries in primary energy consumption by 2030 and worsen their environmental calamities, Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned. The OECD estimates suggest that 63 per cent population in the BRIC countries is living under medium to severe water stress and this share is expected to increase to 80 per cent by 2030.
As the pandemic unfolded, the India-China relationship has come under severe stress. To restore normalcy, agreements between the two countries must be respected scrupulously in their entirety. Where the Line of Actual Control is concerned, any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo is unacceptable, declares External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
The relief material from India started reaching Myanmar on Wednesday, with two Indian Air Force planes and two Naval ships arriving in the cyclone-hit country with urgently required essential supplies. India is sending another consignment of relief material by an IL-76 aircraft of IAF on Thursday to the neighbouring country, where the death toll has crossed 22,000 and is rising rapidly, revealing the extent of widespread devastation caused by the calamity.
More than one million people in the US state of Louisiana and neighbouring areas were without power as strong winds and rains produced by a weakened Hurricane Gustav lashed the area, but mostly spared New Orleans, which was devastated three years ago by Katrina.
If the government had woken up on August 18, then a more planned evacuation was possible and most of the lakhs of people marooned today would not be there. It is clear that there has been a series of grave and criminal blunders that have led to this disaster of huge proportions. The trouble is, even now we do not know who people are whose neglect caused this disaster, and going by our track record we may never know who they are
It is shocking story of chalta hai (take it easy) attitude of the state and Central government that has caused such misery to people of Bihar. By all accounts, Kosi has not fully flooded yet, says a source in Kathmandu who has visited the area. If more rains hit the area in September then, the situation will be more dangerous than it is now.
Over a dozen IAF planes, including Mirage-2000 fighters and Sukhoi 30s, besides 35,000 kg C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, took part in the exercise.
An entire nation and even the world is literally walking on a razor's edge, yet we have some marketers of insurance and banking products using the financial crisis as a plank or a fear factor to sell? A G Krishanmurthy is appalled by their lack of ethics.
The state government has instructed officials in coastal districts and various departments to be alert to tackle any emergency situation
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and submitted a detailed report on the recent political developments in the wake of Governor J P Rajkhowa advancing the assembly session.
He spent 12 hours out in the open precariously perched on a cliff as torrential rains unleashed large-scale devastation on Kedarnath, demolishing all that came in their way with equal fury except the shrine.
With mosques inundated by flood waters, hundreds of people offered Friday prayers along with "funeral prayers in absentia" for those killed in the natural calamity.
The unstated aim of a well-publicised airlift operation of this kind is to demonstrate India's ability to rapidly move troops and equipment over long distances.
Mumbai-based Doctors For You, a nation-wide humanitarian organisation which has provided services in several disasters in the last few years, started an OPD camp on September 30 just outside the Rajendra Nagar overbridge roundabout when practically the entire city was inundated.
Nitish also requested Dr Singh to tour flood affected areas of Bihar to personally assess the damages of property and miseries to millions.
Over two million people in Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Saharsa, East Champaran, Supaul, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Patna, Katihar and Bhagalpur are reeling under the impact of the calamities
"Does one need bullet train or improvement of basic rail infrastructure," the MNS chief said.
The 125 Helicopter Squadron (Gladiators) since its formation in November 1983 has enhanced its operational capability over the years and earned accolades for its valour and strike capabilities when deployed internally as well as abroad.
Rescuers on Sunday struggled to reach out to thousands of survivors in the cyclone-hit southwestern coastlines of Bangladesh where the calamity left over 2,000 people dead besides flattening houses and snapping communication lines nationwide. Over 60 per cent of the crops in the affected areas have been completely destroyed due to the cyclone Sidr as the government deployed army helicopters, navy boats and thousands of troops in rescue operations.
34 farmers and farm labourers committed suicide on an average every day in 2014, reflecting the deepening agrarian distress in several parts of the country.
With India's emergence as a hub of low-cost outsourcing, global IT giants are increasingly ramping up their presence in the country.
'If it works, something good can come out of this tragedy for the common public good,' say Dr Prasad Gadgil and Dr Kunal Basu.
'You have to be insensitive and callous to want to shoot the spectacle of persons dying, presumably for the pleasure of posting the picture or video on WhatsApp,' says Shuma Raha.
Men and women of the Indian Air Force who conducted rescue missions in Kerala's worst deluge speak to Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
Thousands of firemen, NDRF and IAF personnel along with forest officials are working together to douse the flames.
You must initiate the claim process within 7 days of the damage. The more time you take to get the vehicle to a service centre, higher the chances of your claim getting rejected.
The sector has sought a mandatory natural catastrophe cover to cover perils in calamity-prone areas.
Beyond colossal loss of human lives, if there is anything perhaps equally overwhelming in Nepal's earthquake tragedy, it is the monumental damage the country's iconic heritage has suffered due to the calamity.
Reports from across the state said there was a lull in rains in most places on Sunday morning, but hundreds of families were still in relief camps with the coastal stretches, low-lying areas and hill districts remaining vulnerable.
The Indian contingent of more than 300 navy personnel was assisting in the relief, with divers searching the brackish waters and medical teams seeing patients in makeshift tents set up at shelters.
The Mumbai police has set up a new control room to handle rain related complaints.
As the magnitude of tragedy caused in Uttarakhand continues to unfold, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday issued an appeal to the public for generous donations to support the victims who have suffered "extensive devastation".
As many as 27 persons were reported killed in the calamity.
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