Heatwave may abate over most parts of North India in next two days; temperatures likely to drop by 2-3C.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
China has formally started the construction of a USD 167.8 billion dam over the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh, raising concerns in India and Bangladesh.
22 Assam Rifles women personnel are in the Republic Day marching band contingent. Dressed in crisp uniforms, playing bagpipes, drums and side drums, the year-old band has already built an admirable reputation.
'...they always address problems superficially, never tackling root causes.' 'Currently, the policy response will focus on immediate relief -- getting people to safety, providing facilities, clearing debris.' 'This is necessary, but once immediate relief operations end, everything returns to 'normal' without addressing underlying vulnerabilities.'
The band women are drawn from different parts of India and have been practicing along with their male counterpart in New Delhi for the past few days.
This would be due to early monsoon onset, abundant precipitation in the soil and the government's higher minimum support price (MSP) for farmers, the USDA said in its assessment.
Satellite imagery showed a layer of dense fog extending from Punjab and north Rajasthan to the northeast. Patches of fog were also visible along the east coast.
The early onset of the southwest monsoon brought continuous rainfall across southern and eastern India, contributing to this record.
'China could intentionally release excess water.' 'The North East is already flood-prone during the monsoon, and even a controlled release from Chinese dams (during the monsoon) could worsen flooding.'
So far, over 30 people have died across Northeastern states due to heavy rainfalls, floods and landslides, according to media reports.
India's fresh restrictions on limiting access to Bangladeshi exports appear to be in response to Dhaka denying certain value-added items from the Northeast to enter that country through the land transit points.
'The Pakistanis knew there was only one route up and they could take direct aim at us as we climbed up.' 'They knew they could kill us.'
'Assam Rifles have prevented a large number of genocides and killings.'
On the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India movement, Utkarsh Mishra recalls the conditions under which the Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi, launched the final struggle for independence.
'When India opened its doors to the world, moving away from an agrarian to a market economy, everything, whether life or love, was commodified.'
Podcaster Allahbadia's remarks on parents and sex on comedian Samay Raina's YouTube show India's Got Latent triggered a controversy and several FIRs have been lodged against him and others in various parts of the country.
Tata Electronics on Saturday began the construction of its Rs 27,000-crore chip assembly plant in Assam, which is expected to become operational next year and create 27,000 jobs initially. The plant will produce 4.83 crore chips per day using indigenously-developed technologies. The plant's Bhumi Pujan (foundation stone laying) ceremony was held at the project site at Jagiroad in Morigaon district in the presence of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran.
At 4 am, troops roared their war cry! In the long running tradition of the armed forces, soldiers seek the blessings of the Goddess before setting out on their mission -- in war or peace. The Republic Day parade is one such mission.
Assam's flood situation remained critical on Tuesday with over 6.71 lakh people affected in 20 districts in the second wave of flooding this year, as the Indian Air Force (IAF) rescued 13 stranded fishermen from the severely-hit Dibrugarh district, an official said.
'It has the potential to sow seeds of furthering discord when the direction of the discourse is aimed at propagating the perceived supremacy of 'cultural nationalism' from a distant past over the prevailing dominance of 'Constitutional nationalism',' argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Unidentified armed militants abducted a senior official of the National Hydro Power Corporation in Sonitpur district of north Assam while the official was coming from his work site at Tawang on Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday evening.
'Mamata needs to address the anger and resentment among various sections of the Hindu community because low-scale communal violence has always paid richer electoral dividends for the BJP.'
The Army shot dead two militants of the United Liberation Front of Assom in an anti-insurgency operation in North Assam on Sunday. A satellite phone as well as arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain militants.
At least 28 people died in rain-related incidents Sunday as heavy downpours lashed north and northwest India, causing landslides, traffic chaos and house collapses, as well as a dam breach which inundated several villages in Haryana.
'It has been doing yeoman service for the people of the North East.'
>The Indian Army still uses old British-era names and recruits soldiers based on caste or region, which hurts national unity, argues Colonel K Thammayya Udupa (retd).
Major Khathing was the first man to hoist the Indian flag in Tawang. He also brought Bum La under Indian control.
For the BJP, Telangana is a sunrise state in the South, while Karnataka is a southern success despite the ups and downs.
Cold-day conditions prevailed in parts of north India on Friday though the maximum temperatures rose slightly amid clear skies and sunshine during the day.
'Dense' to 'very dense' fog prevailed in parts of Punjab, Haryana, west Rajasthan, Bihar, Delhi, west Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam.
'China has thus far been cautious, emphasising its focus on development rather than weaponising water resources.'
Boxing Federation of India (BFI) chief Ajay Singh will be up against secretary general Hemanta Kalita, vice-president Rajesh Bhandari, and Kerala State Amateur Boxing Association secretary D Chandralal when the BFI holds its long-awaited elections on March 28.
'The win in Assam is likely to have a ripple effect in other north-eastern states like Manipur and Nagaland which have been reluctant to embrace the BJP in the past,' says Nitin A Gokhale, the distinguished commentator on strategic affairs, who lived and reported from Assam between 1983 and 2006.
The Highlanders were the more organised side from the moment the referee blew his whistle and their upper hand in the game finally paid dividends in the 26th minute of the first half.
Sarma said his government will take further steps based on the suggestions of the home minister.
Devastating floods in north Assam districts of North Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Sonitpur have so far taken lives of 17 flood-hit, besides causing misery to over eight lakh people.
The threshold for a heat wave is met when the maximum temperature of a weather station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, 37 degrees in coastal areas, and 30 degrees in hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 notches.
'Assam is not a dumping ground for Bangladeshi Hindu refugees,' says Assamese actor Ravi Sharma who joined the BJP in August and quit the party on December 10 in protest against the Citizenship Act.
The North East is a sizeable success story for the Modi government politically and for the BJP electorally. It will be an unpleasant surprise if they choose to blow it, bowing to their basic, polarising instinct at any point, points out Shekhar Gupta.
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