Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday expressed anguish over not being allowed to learn Hindi in Tamil Nadu as a student and was even mocked on the streets for attempting to learn the language.
India is likely to witness normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon season this year, the India Meteorological Department said on Thursday. Rainfall will be 96 per cent to 104 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) of 87 cm of the 1971-2020 period, it noted. Earlier, the IMD used to consider the LPA of 88cm of the 1961-2010 period.
Climate scientists warn that climate change is intensifying heatwaves in India, with the cooling effects of La Nia potentially becoming less effective in a warmer future. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts an early summer with above-normal temperatures and intense heatwave spells, following an unusually dry winter and the warmest February since 1901. Experts emphasize the role of human-caused climate change, along with natural climate drivers like El Nio and La Nia, in shaping weather patterns. While La Nia typically brings cooler temperatures, scientists suggest that under climate change, its ability to mitigate heatwaves may be diminished.
Heavy rains packed with gusty winds lashed Odisha and parts of southern West Bengal as the landfall process of the severe cyclonic storm Dana was complete on Friday morning with no loss of life.
India has received 20 per cent less rainfall since the start of the monsoon period on June 1, with the rain-bearing system making no significant progress between June 12 and 18, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Israeli jets carried out "intense" airstrikes on targets in Gaza on Sunday afternoon.
A 25-year-old man in Jharkhand's Khunti district allegedly strangled his live-in partner to death and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area. The accused, Naresh Bhengra, was arrested after stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village. Bhengra had married another woman without informing his partner and took her to the forest to kill her after she pressured him to return to Khunti. The incident has sent shockwaves in the region, recalling the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022.
The analysis revealed abrupt changes in temperatures occurring in late winter across north India.
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
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'The Dravidian movement was started for the Hindus who were rejected by the upper castes.'
'Usually the average rainfall per day is around 8 mm and India is receiving 10 to 11 mm per day since the last one week.' 'July seems to be very good for the entire country.'
India recorded around 16 per cent more rainfall than normal in August, with rainfall over Northwest India recorded at 253.9 mm, the second highest in August since 2001, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the custodian of Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple, has barred 18 employees from participating in all religious activities for allegedly partaking in non-Hindu activities. The decision has been defended by the Andhra Pradesh government, citing the need to protect the religious sentiments of Hindu devotees. The move has sparked debate, with some supporting the TTD's stance and others criticizing it as discriminatory.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistan-born Canadian national and close associate of David Coleman Headley, is set to be extradited to India from the US. Rana was involved in the planning and execution of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which killed 166 people, including six Americans. He assisted Headley in obtaining a visa for India, established a front company in Mumbai, and helped in reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and New Delhi. Rana was convicted in the US for providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and sentenced to 14 years in prison. His extradition to India will allow authorities to question him about his involvement in the Mumbai attacks and potentially uncover new information about the role of Pakistani state actors.
Sheeja Anand, a native of Payyavoor in Kannur district of Kerala, was injured in the missile strikes on Ashkelon, a coastal city in the southern part of Israel on Saturday, while she was on a video call with her husband, her family said.
The head of Syria's main opposition group abroad Hadi al-Bahra Syrian said that Damascus is now "without Bashar al-Assad" according to Reuters.
'Probably revised guidelines will come, and then the real picture will emerge.'
Over the medium and long term, the BJP hopes to devour the AIADMK, they having identified the party as 'ideologically not as sound as the DMK', predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The IMD said that rainfall over India in August and September would be around 106 percent of the long-period average of 422.8 mm.
Among urban users, 57 per cent mentioned a preference for accessing Internet content in vernacular languages.
While the TN Government Railway Police sleuths are questioning five passengers, the commissioner of railway safety commenced inquiry over the mishap in Madurai.
Indians have topped the number of illegal immigrants from Asian countries caught at land, sea, and air checkpoints of the US since 2022.
The Indian government's announcement of 10,000 additional seats in medical colleges next year, part of a plan to add 75,000 seats over five years, has been welcomed by education experts and stakeholders. The move aims to address the shortage of medical professionals and reduce the outflow of Indian medical students to other countries. The budget also includes infrastructure expansion at five new IITs to accommodate 6,500 more students and an allocation of Rs 500 crore to set up a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for education.
'The Kuki-Zo are aware of this rich resource in their areas and feel the Meitei push for ST status is because of this reason'.
'Over the next 20 years, we would be adding almost 10 million people to the workforce every year!' 'And we won't be able to give employment to even 2 million out of the 10 million every year.' 'Don't forget, it keeps adding every year.'
The plan to relieve NSG from VIP security tasks has been in the making since 2012 when NSG commanders foresaw an event where simultaneous terror attacks could be witnessed at one time on multiple centres in the country and the commandos will have to be rushed in different directions.
The mesmerising Ring Nebula through the eyes of the James Webb Space Telescope captured by the astronomers of The University of Manchester.
'We are facing a brutal war here and everything is being destroyed and bombarded in a matter of seconds'
The monsoon onset over Kerala marks the commencement of the four-month rainfall season in the country.
According to the authorities, tragedy struck near the border town of Metula on Thursday morning when a rocket fired from Lebanon slammed into an apple orchard, claiming the lives of five people.
With 7 per cent economic growth, India is not creating enough jobs as reflected by the number of applicants for vacant posts in some states, Reserve Bank's former governor Raghuram Rajan said and suggested the government needs to focus on promoting labour-intensive industries to generate employment. Rajan further said some Indians, especially those at upper level, are comfortable and have high incomes, but consumption growth from the lower half of the country has still not recovered to pre-pandemic level.
While Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has made his national ambitions amply clear, even rechristening his party to aid the process, his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin insists he is already in the national scene and used his birthday rally on March 1 to not only strongly pitch for the Congress as a force to reckon with in the efforts to dislodge the Narendra Modi-led dispensation at the Centre, but also sought to shoot down the prospects of a Third Front.
The US is currently Earth's most powerful country and a certain latitude of understanding -- a world view -- is popularly expected from its leadership. From a country identified with freedom, constitution, debate, democracy and the likes of Abraham Lincoln even as it had the most powerful military around, the US, following Trump's actions, seemed repositioned as militarily powerful with other qualities secondary, observes Shyam G Menon.
India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China over its so called 'standard map' laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin, and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.
Sixteen fire engines were deployed to douse the flames.
Farmers from different parts of Uttar Pradesh demanding adequate compensation for their lands acquired by the government marched towards Delhi on Monday but were stopped at the Noida-Delhi border where they sat on a dharna.
Daily life was partially affected in West Bengal on Wednesday due to a 12-hour shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party, protesting the police action against demonstrators during a march to the state secretariat.
'...to think apna time aa gaya after the 2024 election.'
As the heavy rains continued on Wednesday also, Orange alert was sounded in 12 of the 14 districts of the state for the day.
