From using lavender in traditional Dogri embroidery to making essential oils, beauty products and food syrups infused with this flowering plant, Bhaderwah, once known for its maize fields, is embracing lavender to bring about an economic transformation to their small town.
Also, the monsoon this year may end up being the driest since 2015, which recorded a rainfall deficit of 13 per cent, they said.
The country can expect normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon season as a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and a lower snow cover over the northern hemisphere are likely to counter the evolving El Nino conditions, the India meteorological department (IMD) said on Tuesday.
Cyclone 'Biparjoy', the first storm brewing in the Arabian Sea this year, has rapidly intensified into a severe cyclonic storm, with meteorologists predicting a 'mild' monsoon onset over Kerala and 'weak' progress beyond southern peninsular under its influence.
Science in India has developed a great deal since C V Raman, particularly after the country gained Independence but we are yet to win a Nobel prize in physics, chemistry or medicine. Is it a reflection on the quality of Indian science? Or it has to do with the politics of Nobel prizes, as is often believed, asks Dinesh C Sharma.
'Not surprisingly, the call for lighting diyas, candles and other sources of illumination to demonstrate a nation's resolve to fight coronavirus has elicited astrological, numerological and even medical explanations,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
Presently director at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's Sugarcane Breeding Centre in Coimbatore, Bakshi Ram's next target is to improve both cane yields and sucrose content in cane varieties cultivated beyond the Vindhyas in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, as also Maharashtra.
Having sex every other day may be optimum, says Dr Raghuveer Karne. Prolonged abstinence can increase the number of dead sperm.
Green revolution and technology use should not be region-specific.
'While the poor have little say in shaping India's intellectual or public discourse, they do have a significant role in deciding political outcomes,' points out Roshan Kishore.
The stagnation in US-Russia relations does not augur well for New Delhi's strategic interests, says Harsh V Pant and Raj Kumar Sharma.
'Any new technology, either before or soon after its release, will face severe criticism by one or the other segment of society. It is only after seeing the benefits of new technology for themselves that our farmers accept it.' 'The arable land in India is not increasing and currently hovers at around 140, 145 million hectares.' 'Today, Indian agriculture has to work towards achieving nutritional security.'
For the second successive year, Monsoon is likely to be below normal with parts of north-west and central India to be the most affected.
Over the years, pravasis have become a constituency, to be tapped, cultivated, and honoured, or at the very minimum to be listened to, says Ambassador B S Prakash.
'Sasikala definitely has an emotional advantage over the others, but there are very seasoned politicians with a strong support base.' 'For the time being, they may toe her line.'
Vandana has been attempting to bring in radical changes in the unhealthy food habits amongst the tribals.
Harassment, corruption and the burden of compound interest for years are also the reasons.
'It has also underestimated the striking force of the Opposition. It has been complacent and paralysed. That may be due to the compulsions of coalition politics and the arrogance of a party which looked at itself as entitled to rule,' says political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot.
Desis in the US recall their earliest celebration of the festival of lights on American soil. Chaya Babu reports
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