'Dense' to 'very dense' fog prevailed in parts of Punjab, Haryana, west Rajasthan, Bihar, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam.
At the review meeting, chaired by cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba in New Delhi, the IMD said above normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of northeast, east and central India and some parts of northwest India.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to cut the benchmark interest rate at its upcoming monetary policy review meeting, taking place soon after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results, amid inflation challenges, said experts. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may also refrain from rate cut as economic growth is picking up, notwithstanding the elevated interest rate of 6.5 per cent (repo) prevailing since February 2023. The meeting of the Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das headed MPC is scheduled for June 5 to 7.
Over the past few days, deaths due to heat stroke have been reported from different parts of the country including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha.
"Seventeen states, including the national capital, are rain deficient, while two states fall in the scanty rainfall category. The rest have witnessed good rainfall," IMD Director Dr S K Subramaniam said.
Tourist centres have been closed in many districts, including Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram, and a night travel ban has been imposed in the hilly areas of Idukki district.
Cyclone Vayu was to hit the Gujarat coast on Thursday, but it changed course on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
This is the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal this pre-monsoon season.
A punishing cold wave swept Delhi on Monday morning with the minimum temperature at the Safdarjung observatory, the city's base station, plunging to 1.4 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the month since January 1, 2021.
Landslides and flash floods triggered by incessant rain in Himachal Pradesh have paralysed normal life.
https://www.rediff.com/business/report/quality-control-orders-what-does-this-mean-for-domestic-industry/20240425.htm
The country also reported 1,750 deaths due to extreme weather events such as floods, cyclonic storms, heavy rain, landslides, lightning, among others, during the year, it said.
A railway official said around 20 trains were delayed by 15 minutes to 2 hours in the morning.
Unseasonal rain coupled with lightning and thunderstorm lashed parts of Mumbai in the wee hours of Thursday, bringing some respite from the hot and humid weather in the city, civic officials said.
After a steady surge, prices of pulses, except those of urad and masoor to some extent, are showing signs of stabilising amid a revival of monsoon rains over major growing areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka, and on expectations of a rise in imports. Chana prices, which too had moved up in recent months, have dropped by almost 3 per cent since the end of August due to increased liquidation of government stocks, official data shows. Monsoon rains seem to have benefitted the standing soybean crop as well.
Aizawl has been cut off from the rest of the country due to a landslide on National Highway 6 at Hunthar.
The mercury soared to 46.2 degrees Celsius at Najafgarh, making it the hottest place in the capital.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the borewell in his house in Sadashivanagar in the state capital has gone dry for the first time. This happened despite the fact that Sadashivanagar is located next to Sankey Lake.
Delhi's minimum temperature on Wednesday morning plunged to 4.4 degrees Celsius -- the season's lowest -- making the national capital colder than Dharamsala, Nainital and Dehradun.
The system, which moved towards Bangladesh from north Bay of Bengal at a speed of 56 kmph caused moderate to heavy rain and squally weather in West Bengal's coastal districts of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur, dampening festive spirits on Deepavali and Kali Puja.
Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) reported very strong results for the January-March quarter of the last financial year (Q4FY24), beating consensus comfortably. The margins of the automobile business improved 170 basis points (bps) year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 8.8 per cent, while FES (Farm Equipment Sector) margins improved to 15.8 per cent (up 60 bps Y-o-Y), despite a decline in volumes due to cost optimisation and lower raw material costs.
The country received 16 per cent more rainfall than its normal limit in June, the IMD on Tuesday said.
The IMD defines a normal monsoon as one which delivers between 96 and 104 per cent of the 50-year average rainfall for the season.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
States have been told to prepare in advance to counter any impact of an adverse southwest monsoon.
The India meteorological department said another western disturbance is likely to bring storms and rain to the northern plains, including Delhi, over the next few days.
The duo used their mobile phone to establish contact for their rescue, following which an NDRF team was roped in.
The IMD has issued Yellow alert for Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts for today whereas Wayanad too has Yellow alert on May 22.
The onset of the southwest monsoon is being keenly watched this year as it may provide an early sign regarding its progress over the Indian subcontinent, particularly when El Nio is expected to rear its head during the latter half of the season.
It said the weather system was expected to intensify into a deep depression by 5.30 am on Wednesday and turn into Cyclone Mocha in the next 12 hours, packing wind speeds of 80-90 kmph and gusting to 100 kmph.
Commuters on some routes, including the Harbour line that operates services between Panvel and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), complained of delay in train operations in the morning hours.
A 22-year-old person was killed and another one injured on Thursday after a tree fell on their hut in Mumbai as moderate to heavy rains lashed the city and its suburbs in the last 24 hours, officials said.
The local train traffic on the Central and Western Railway routes was mostly normal though the trains were running a few minutes late, railway officials said.
The India Meteorological Department said the southwest monsoon further advanced into Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmiri, some parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan on June 30.
The weather system moved west-northwestward and concentrated into a depression on Saturday at 8.30am, close to west of Andaman Islands, the bulletin said.
Rijiju, who was removed as law minister on Thursday, refused to answer questions about his previous ministry contending that they were no longer relevant and that he looked forward to serve in the Earth Sciences Ministry.
The event, for which people had started gathering since morning, began around 11.30 am and went on till around 1 pm. That day, the nearest weather station to the spot of the programme recorded a maximum temperature of 38 degrees Celsius.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Thursday evening as a 'very severe cyclonic storm' with maximum wind speed reaching up to 150 kilometres per hour, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
As the heavy rains continued on Wednesday also, Orange alert was sounded in 12 of the 14 districts of the state for the day.
