Rain deficiency in eastern and western Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya is 20-46 per cent less than normal as of June 17.
An earthquake measuring 5.9 in the Richter Scale rocked the entire Northeastern region for a few seconds at around 8.47 am on Monday morning. There was, however, no report of any major damaged due to the earthquake which has its epicenter somewhere in Myanmar, according to initial information received.
The Lok Sabha witnessed a display of linguistic diversity on Monday, with the newly-elected MPs taking their oaths in English and Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Dogri, Bengali, Assamese and Odia.
On July 2 or July 6, the Dalai Lama will reveal his mind on his successor. This makes Beijing extremely nervous as the Communist regime fully realises the importance of controlling the next Dalai Lama, points out Claude Arpi.
Unlike the past when G V G Krishnamurthy, J M Lyngdoh, R Peri Sastry, H S Brahma, and V S Sampath held positions in the ECI representing all corners of India, this ECI will be North India-centric.
More than six hotel chains are looking at either building properties or expanding their presence in these states. ITC's WelcomHeritage brand, for instance, is scouting for properties in Nagaland and Kaziranga, Assam. The hotel, however, is already there in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya.
Union Cabinet on Thursday approved two major schemes -- PM Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and Krishonnati Yojana -- with an expenditure of over Rs 1 lakh crore to promote sustainable agriculture and ensure food security.
The Indian Army's Shatrujeet brigade is conducting an airborne exercise along the northern borders in eastern Ladakh to validate its rapid response capabilities, sources said on Monday.
A Guwahati-based non governmental organistaion, which conducted a study recently, has claimed that about 20 per cent of teenagers of the north-eastern region, between 11-17 years, are being compelled to become sex workers. In the study titled 'Rise in Child Prostitution in the north-east', the Global Organisation for Life Development stated that a five per cent rise had been registered in children getting involved in sex rackets from the past year.
He asked if DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, "who speaks of Tamil culture, such a serious allegation has been made--will DMK snap ties with Congress, for Tamil pride and the Tamil people."
On his first visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday asked people to speed up the pace of growth in the north-eastern region where the Congress has played a major role in the all round development.
Nobel laureate economist Abhijit Banerjee has said the current situation in Bangladesh is unlikely to trigger a fresh round of exodus of minority Hindus into India. He believes that migration is primarily driven by social networks and economic opportunities rather than persecution. Banerjee, known for his work in poverty alleviation, further emphasized that India's overt preference for Hindu migrants from Bangladesh in the past has been a significant factor in their migration, rather than attacks on the community.
US strikes on Iran's three main nuclear facilities have once again raised concerns that Tehran might shut down the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's most critical chokepoints, through which a fifth of global oil and gas supply flows.
'India is using Hasina to warn the Yunus government because there is a ground support for the Awami League in Bangladesh.'
The seven states of north-east are all geared up to become the next IT hub of the country.
The Assam government has submitted written requests to the prime minister and the Union home minister for setting up of a hub of National Security Guard in Guwahati dedicated to the entire north eastern region affected by insurgency. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has submitted separate requests to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram in view of the state's and the region's vulnerability against terror, an official source said.
'The collective shame and anger needs to be channelled now in a unified voice for just one thing -- swift justice.'
North-eastern insurgent groups are operating from Bangladesh and they have established links with the Inter Services Intelligence, the government on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha saying the matter has been taken up with Pakistan.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said it is essential that "appropriate agreements between India and China of 1993 and 1996 are scrupulously followed".
The cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early Friday with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph), it said.
Sarma, 53, has been enjoying a Z category cover provided by the Central Reserve Police Force VIP security unit for his travel in the north eastern states till now.
Local officials said no casualties have been reported due to Wednesday's quake that hit the Madoi County in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai province of northwest China at 3:44 pm (Beijing time), tremors for which were also felt in north-eastern Nepal.
The President will give away the Fakharuddin Ali Ahmed Award to noted film personality Shabana Azmi and journalist Shekhar Gupta at a function to be organized at the Pragjyoti ITA Cultural Complex, Machkhowa in Guwahati on Sunday evening.
'When I am working on a series, be it Paatal Lok on Amazon Prime or Kohrra on Netflix, I never take it for granted that we will be back with another season.' 'It's only at the end of the season that I ask myself if I still have it in me to take the story further and if I would like to meet the characters again.' 'If the answer is yes, then I find ways to make the journey exciting for myself, like taking Inspector Haathiram Chaudhary to Nagaland.'
As India's tea exports reach their highest in years, a sharp rise in imports is raising concerns among producers. In 2024, India took the third spot in tea exports, pipping Sri Lanka after exporting 254.67 million kg (mkg) of tea, up from 231.69 mkg in 2023.
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.
'Salilda and my brother Hridaynath would deliberately make my compositions tough.' 'Their logic was, "You can do it, so why should we not compose accordingly?",' Lata Mangeshkar, who would have turned 94 today, September 28, 2023, once told Subhash K Jha.
A lesson we have not learnt from China is the urgent need to knit the vast country together to keep it from falling apart at the seams. While there is considerable dent in poverty, sadly, the North East remains as distant today as it always was, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
In underlining the role of border villages as custodians of India's frontiers, New Delhi is following China's example in Tibet.
He emphasised the need to get over with election rhetoric and focus on problems facing the nation.
Eight suspected members of terrorist outfit Ansar-al-Islam Bangladesh, who were recently arrested, had been planning to target the 'Chicken's Neck' connecting West Bengal's Siliguri with the northeastern states, a top police officer said. They wanted to create large-scale instability in the corridor by carrying out synchronised attacks and fomenting instability, he said.
Based on the complaint filed by the rail staff police has lodged an FIR against unknown persons regarding the matter.
Addressing a Social Unity Conference in Navi Mumbai on Sunday evening, Pawar also criticised the Centre's handling of the ethnic strife in Manipur, which has claimed several lives since last May.
Top commanders of the Indian Army on Monday carried out a comprehensive review of the country's security challenges, including in eastern Ladakh and other sensitive areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, on the opening day of a four-day conference, people familiar with the developments said.
The planet experienced its warmest January on record last month despite the development of La Nia, a climate pattern that usually brings cooler global temperatures, the European climate agency said on Thursday. This comes on the heels of the Earth experiencing its hottest year on record in 2024, also the first to see global average temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), January 2025 recorded an average temperature of 13.23 degrees Celsius, 0.09 degrees warmer than the previous hottest January (2024) and 0.79 degrees above the 1991-2020 average. Scientists also found that the Earth's temperature in January was 1.75 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels. Global temperatures have stayed above the 1.5-degree mark for 18 of the last 19 months.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Wednesday said it has secured a large contract to construct the country's longest road bridge across river Brahmaputra connecting Dhubri in Assam to Phulbari in Meghalaya. The contract was bagged by the company's subsidiary L&T Construction. As per the company, a large contract is worth Rs 2,500-5,000 crore.
Indian and Chinese militaries on Monday moved back their frontline troops to the rear locations from the face-off site of Patrolling Point 15 in the Gogra-Hotsprings area in eastern Ladakh and dismantled temporary infrastructure there as part of a five-day disengagement process.
The Janata Dal (United) has demanded action against BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla for his comments targeting an AAP leader, which the regional party said has caused deep displeasure among people from Purvanchal. The JD(U) said Poonawalla's remarks, made during a TV debate, were offensive and demanded action from the BJP leadership. The incident comes ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, where the AAP is facing a tough challenge from the BJP.
As the rains flood Mumbai, disrupting the flow of life and the momentum of traffic in the city that never sleeps, Mumbaikars will be relieved to know that the Powai lake, which supplies some of the city's water needs, is overflowing.
'I am determined now to celebrate all festivals together.' 'People don't respond much when you try to convince them by talking about principles of secularism etc. But if we revive our shared cultural practices, specially food, we may get a better response.'
