It has also predicted a below normal monsoon for the season with a Long Period Average of 93 per cent, subject to the error margin of 5 per cent.
The Quad has come of age and its agenda covering areas like vaccines, climate change and emerging technologies makes it a force for global good, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the first summit of the coalition. In his opening remarks, he also talked about shared values and promoting a secure, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
In a tweet, before leaving for New Delhi, Rajapaksa said he was looking forward to strengthening bilateral relations with India.
The American had expressed a desire to meet the Sentinelese tribe, which is known to resist all contact with outsiders, often firing arrows at anyone who comes near.
The Modi government has to embrace the history of Tamil conquests in South East Asia and stop obsessing about Babar/Humayun, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards are back for 2021 to show that all animals have a funny bone. Now in its seventh year, the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards has already received thousands of entries from around the world, catching some of wildlife's funniest moments on camera. This year, the competition organisers are releasing some of the shots that have already had them howling like hyenas, to inspire both professional and amateur photographers to enter their own images before June 30, 2021. We bring you some of our favourites.
'And we said to him, "What will you do for us if we jump in early?"' 'His answer was very simple: "I'm going to have the most diverse cabinet and administration in the history of the US".' '"You can expect that you will have a seat at the table, okay? Number one. So influence if I win".' '"Number two, you should fully expect that we will focus on the issues that you care about: Immigration".'
'Although Hong Kong weathered many a storm and displayed a remarkable resilience to bounce back, the developments in the territory have raised question marks with regard to its future stability and prosperity.' A revealing excerpt from Rup Narayan Das's Hong Kong Conundrum: Pangs of Transition.
India achieved a major milestone in its vaccination programme against COVID-19 as the cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country surpassed the 200-crore mark on Sunday.
The aftermath of Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan has led to an argument that there was no religion as Hinduism in Chola times.
Instead, there was only Saivism, Vaishnavism, etc, and that the Cholas were Saivites, and hence not Hindus, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Mridula Dwivedi visited Krabi in Thailand and came back feeling blessed! :-) Here's why!
'It's probably something I'll look back on at some point, and it's a nice accolade to have'.
The next edition of the high-voltage Malabar naval exercise begins from August 26 to 29 off the coast of Guam amid mounting global concerns over China's growing military muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific region.
The TMC would field one candidate for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Haasan said his party would extend full support to him.
India, Australia, Japan and the US on Friday pledged to work together for ensuring peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific and the world, as top leaders of the Quad grouping announced a slew of new initiatives to take on common challenges, amidst muscle flexing by an assertive China in the strategic region.
The suburban trains on the Central Railway's main line as well as the Harbour line are running 20 to 25 minutes behind their schedule, an official said.
If it splits now, who takes what away and leaves what behind? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are an asset that any country aspiring to become a major power would give anything to own.' 'It is disappointing that India has not capitalised on this potential,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Describing the trial as a "complete success", they said all mission objectives were met during the test-fire. All radars, tracking systems and range stations tracked and monitored the flight performance of the missile, which was launched with support of a mobile launcher.
India has got the second set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals and entities under the automatic exchange of information pact with Switzerland, marking a key milestone in the government's fight against black money allegedly stashed abroad.
The surface-to-surface tactical missile was blasted off from a canister strapped to the ground launcher from launch complex 4 of the Integrated Test Range in the APJ Abdul Kalam Island around 12.10 pm.
Rediff readers share their best travel photographs of India.
India added three unicorns per month in 2021 to nearly double the overall number to about 85 at last count. And there are many gazelles and cheetahs in the pipeline. All gunning to be unicorns (and then decacorns) soon thereafter, notes Sandeep Goyal.
'The Olympic Spirit has been thrown to the wind in Xi Jinping's China.' 'The International Olympic Committee is ready to kowtow to totalitarian China,' notes Claude Arpi.
Images from Day 2 in the first Test between India and Sri Lanka, in Mohali, on Saturday.
The missile is capable of intercepting incoming targets at an altitude of 15 to 25 km was launched against multiple simulated targets of 1,500 km class ballistic missile.
'The food security along the coastal region will be severely affected.'
It is a timely reminder that when faced with twin threats, India has succeeded by wisely choosing allies, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'It doesn't look as if any sensible, worldly wise, person is in charge in China.' 'If at all anybody is in charge, it can only be a bunch of bumpkins of whom Xi has become a puppet,' observes B S Raghavan, the veteran civil servant.
'The MEA, hopefully, made it clear that the Indian PM can't be seen in Xi Jinping's company when China has, for all intents and purposes, annexed over 1,000 sq kms of Indian territory in eastern Ladakh, and essentially that the Wuhan spirit and the Mamallapuram spirit have turned into vinegar.'
India, which abstained during the vote on a strong resolution against Sri Lanka's human rights practices at the UNHRC, on Tuesday urged Colombo to fulfill its commitments on the devolution of political authority, to carry forward the process of reconciliation and address the aspirations of the Tamil community in the island nation.
'From the very start, PM Modi was insistent that visiting foreign leaders should be exposed to an India beyond its capital.' 'Through these experiences, he felt that the full Indian narrative would be much better understood across the world,' explains External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. A riveting excerpt from Bluekraft Digital Foundation's Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery.
While the US omitted China and Russia from the list of invitees, Beijing was furious over the invitation to the self-governing island Taiwan, which China said is a blatant violation of the 'One China' policy that considers Taipei as the integral part of the Chinese mainland.
'They are taking the people of the country for granted.'
India said it will continue to extend its developmental assistance to the friendly people of Sri Lanka.
While the two leaders have met earlier when Biden was the Vice President of the country, this is for the first time that Biden will be meeting Modi after he became the 46th president of the US in January.
Iqbal wanted to land the smuggled goods by helicopter on the Andaman Islands. DK asked, 'Iqbal, a helicopter will bring the consignment to the island, drop it there and then return. Won't radars detect it?' 'No.' 'How?' 'Radars can't detect aircraft that fly at a low altitude. Our helicopter, after entering India's air space, will dive and fly at four feet above the sea level.' 'For that, I have a German pilot in mind. He was an ace aviator in the last world war.' An enthralling excerpt from Aabid Surti's Sufi: The Invisible Man Of The Underground.
Virat Kohli's position as India's ODI captain, his Test deputy Ajinkya Rahane's future as vice-captain in the longest format along with 100-Test man Ishant Sharma's place will be up for discussion when the national selectors pick the jumbo squad for the tour of South Africa later this week.
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