The Southwest Monsoon is set to arrive early with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands expected to receive first seasonal showers on May 15, the weather office said on Thursday.
Vouching for preserving its independence and sovereignty, Muizzu made a firm commitment to ensure that the Maldives remains "free of any foreign military presence."
Annapurna Devi, Subhas Sarkar and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh will be the new ministers of state for education.
Fifteen Cabinet ministers and 28 Ministers of State were sworn-in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday evening.
The city's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 420 at 8 am on Thursday, compared to 426 at 4 pm on Wednesday. The AQI map prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board showed clusters of red dots (indicating hazardous air quality) spread across the Indo-Gangetic plains.
The sustainable impact of this process is under scrutiny, Tripathi added.
With Delhi recording air pollution levels seven to eight times above safe standards on Monday, the city government announced the return of its flagship odd-even scheme after four years anticipating further deterioration of air quality post-Diwali.
The air quality in the national capital remained poor for the sixth consecutive day on Monday with stubble burning accounting for seven per cent of the capital's PM2.5 pollution.
A prolonged break in monsoon rains in most parts of the country is threatening to hit the yield of kharif crops. It could even delay the upcoming rabi sowing. Major agricultural states, such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Gujarat, have witnessed a deficit of 30-80 per cent in southwest monsoon rainfall in August compared to the long-period average for the month. Meteorologists see no big revival in monsoon rains from hereon, though they forecast "some activity" over the Bay of Bengal on September 5-6.
A powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 on the richter scale and epicentred in Myanmar on Wednesday shook several parts of east and northeast India.
Also, the monsoon this year may end up being the driest since 2015, which recorded a rainfall deficit of 13 per cent, they said.
According to Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) Sameer app, the city's air quality index (AQI) stood at 449 in the severe category at 8 am on Saturday. It was 462 on Friday.
After a making a slow progress, the southwest monsoon is expected to gain momentum and advance further into several parts of drought-hit Maharashtra and central India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the Quad is not against anyone, but for a rules-based international order and respect for sovereignty, in a veiled reference to China.
With rainfall and monsoons becoming highly unpredictable partly due to climate change and partly due to usual changes in weather patterns, it is such innovations by IMD which will help in planning better, reports Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
A moderate intensity earthquake, with epicentre in Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, shook Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of North India in the wee hours of Saturday.
There will be a blanket ban on the production, sale and use of all types of firecrackers in the national capital, including on Diwali, till January 1, 2023, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board's mobile application SAMEER, the city recorded an air quality index of 168, which falls in the 'moderate' category, much better than Monday's AQI of 221, which falls in the 'poor' category.
The IMD said that the impact of Vayu had led to heavy to very heavy rainfall in isolated places in Saurashtra, while the entire state received scattered rainfall on Saturday.
India and the US on Friday said they have started talks to put in place a strategic framework for human space flight by year-end as they plan to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024.
The air quality in the capital has remained very poor or severe on most of the days in November so far.
Over 1.4 lakh jobs are estimated to be created between March 2019 and March 2021 in various central government departments, according to the Union Budget presented on Monday. The strength of government establishments was 32,71,113 as on March 1, 2019, which is estimated to increase to 34,14,226 by the first day of next month - an increase of 1,43,113, it said. The budget documents have given a break-up of the jobs estimated to be created in central government departments between 2019 and March 2021.
As many as 29,557 COVID-19 patients have recuperated in the past 24 hours.
Monsoon will be insufficient this year.
He alleged that the BJP made people burst firecrackers on Diwali.
Heatwaves claimed more than 17,000 lives in 50 years in India, according to a paper authored by M Rajeevan, former secretary of Ministry of Earth Sciences, along with scientists Kamaljit Ray, S S Ray, R K Giri and A P Dimri.
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.
A moderate intensity earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale shook the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Friday evening but there were no reports of casualty or damage.
The minimum temperature in the capital dropped to 9.6 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal and the lowest this season so far. The maximum is likely to settle around 27 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department said.
The Ministry of Science and Technology has approached about a dozen well-known scientists from across the world in an effort to bring them back to various departments under the ministry, said Jitendra Singh, minister of state (independent charge) for science and technology.
A business in India wanting access to maps and geospatial data would typically have to wait months before it got what it wanted. All this is set to change with the new guidelines on geospatial data, report Neha Alawadhi and Peerzada Abrar.
Of that figure, a whopping 4,246 people died in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone.
The increase in stubble burning has kicked off a political slugfest, with Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Wednesday saying that there had been a 19 per cent rise in farm fires over 2021 in Punjab and that the Aam Aadmi Party had turned the national capital into a gas chamber.
The central government's Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi said a "significant improvement in air quality is not likely" owing to slow wind speed, particularly during night time, and contribution from farm fires.
Experts said while meteorological conditions were "moderately" favourable for dispersion of pollutants, a "very high" number of farm fires in Punjab was the primary reason for "severe" air quality.
Sunday's opening T20 International against Bangladesh can't be cancelled at the last minute despite deteriorating air quality in the capital, said BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.
'We are not saying we are going to face a drought... We are a doing and performing government. A contingency plan is being prepared,' Science Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan tells Rediff.com
Full list of the rejigged Union Council of Ministers
22 of the 37 air quality monitoring stations across Delhi recorded the air quality in the severe category on Thursday morning.
In the 30-year period between 1986 and 2015, temperatures of the warmest day and the coldest night of the year have risen by about 0.63 degree Celsius and 0.4 degree Celsius, respectively.
