The heat wave is likely to impact parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal, the Met office said.
According to the officials, the three-storey coaching institute, surrounded by residential and commercial establishments, had permission to use the basement as a store room, but it was being used as library in violation of the rules.
India's recent move to remove additional 'retaliatory' duty on eight products from the United States (US), including apples and walnuts, would not have any negative impact on the domestic producers, the government clarified, even as the issue threatened to snowball into a political slugfest between the ruling and Opposition parties. The move would, in fact, result in competition in the premium market segment, ensuring better quality at better prices for consumers, especially for apples, a senior government official said. "There were certain concerns that were being raised on the mutually agreed solution that has come in, more specific to seven-eight agriculture products where we had levied additional import duties in retaliation to the steel and aluminum measures (imposed by the US)," Peeyush Kumar, additional secretary in the commerce department, told reporters in a briefing.
Amid rising air pollution caused by the burning of crop residue, the Bihar government has decided to identify farmers who are indulging in this practice and put up their names at the block offices, officials said on Saturday.
Heatwave conditions have been prevailing in Odisha since April 15 and the Gangetic West Bengal since April 17, according to the MeT department.
Renowned agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan and the driving force behind the nation's 'Green Revolution,' passed away in Chennai on Thursday.
Another partner or co-owner of the firm that operated the recreation facility has been nabbed which took the number of persons arrested in the case to five, officials said.
The government will formulate a strategy to make India self-reliant in edible oils by boosting domestic output of oilseeds and launch a comprehensive programme to support dairy farmers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday. India imports a large quantity of edible oils to meet the domestic demand. During the 2022-23 marketing year (November-October), the country imported nearly 165 lakh tonnes of cooking oils, valuing a whopping Rs 1.38 lakh crore.
Thousands of workers of every description -- from journalists to steel workers, from painters to New York cops, from auto to engineering workers -- marched for two hours down 5th Avenue one of Manhattan's most iconic thoroughfares, reports Jyoti Punwani.
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 48 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the relentless heat affecting health and livelihoods across large parts of northwestern and central India.
Temperatures in 17 locations breached 45 degrees Celsius on Monday, with the punishing heat affecting health and livelihoods.
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.
The protesting farmers' main demand to legalise the minimum support price (MSP) regime has divided opinion. One school of thought says it would lead to crop diversification and help India keep under check its burgeoning import bill on edible oils and pulses, while another says it would incentivise farmers to produce low-quality crops. Contrary to popular perception, India has a trade surplus in agriculture and allied activities, which stood at $18.65 billion during 2022-23 (FY23) against $15.92 billion in the previous year. However, the surplus was mainly on account of rice, wheat, sugar, spices, and buffalo meat.
Chaudhary Charan Singh, who on Friday was conferred with India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna, is popularly known as a champion of farmers.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar was given the finance and planning portfolio on Friday, nearly two weeks after he broke away from the original party and took oath as Maharashtra's deputy chief minister.
Kharif crops were sown in only 4.15 lakh hectares against the target of 28.27 lakh hectares till July 21 or only in 14.71 per cent of the arable land.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
To ensure immediate cooling of the body, the hospital has set up a first-of-its-kind heatstroke unit.
A peek into the life of a public-sector banker who did well professionally, but paid a price for it, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Shivakumar has got the all-important Major and Medium Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development, including the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
Ten to 20 days of heatwave are expected against the normal of four to eight days in the entire April-June period.
Bihar Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh Thursday said that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar could "sack" him for his perceived defiance but he will not step down unless asked to do so by the top leadership of his party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
Pakistan's deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is in China on a four-day visit, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi co-chaired the fifth round of the foreign minister-level China-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue.
The Met department blamed the malfunctioning of sensors kept at the Automated Weather Station for the gaffe.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has commissioned a quality check on MDH and Everest products. This follows complaints that several popular spice mixes of the two leading brands contained traces of ethylene oxide more than the permissible levels, official sources said. This move by FSSAI comes after Hong Kong and Singapore recalled variants of the two masala majors' products in their countries.
With different agencies showing divergent predictions regarding the southwest monsoon, the central government and states are gearing up to face adversity with various line ministries reportedly being directed to undertake mock drills and hold preparatory meetings. Around 56 per cent of the net cultivable area of the country is rain-fed, accounting for 44 per cent of foodgrain production. The June-September rains contribute around 73 per cent of the annual precipitation.
States have been told to prepare in advance to counter any impact of an adverse southwest monsoon.
To offer additional support at the low end of the income ranges, the Centre will consider a large-scale jump in exemption rates under the old income-tax regime in the vote on account, or interim Budget, according to a senior official in the know. Those will include an extension of the income tax exemption rates close to Rs 7 lakh and additional measures for women farmers.
Lakhs of voters will have to bear the searing heat when they step out to exercise their franchise in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday.
https://www.rediff.com/business/report/quality-control-orders-what-does-this-mean-for-domestic-industry/20240425.htm
"I have always felt that Lord Ram has been shielding me and my family from all the bad times and I strongly believe that it is him, who chose me for the auspicious task," Yogiraj, who has received effusive praise for his work, told PTI.
Rio also appointed 24 MLAs as 'advisors' to various departments in his opposition less government.
Saha has kept the home, health and family welfare and public works department with him while Ratan Lal Nath has been given the charge of power, agriculture and farmers' welfare, according to an official notification issued by Chief Secretary J K Sinha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield and peace efforts do not succeed in the midst of bombs and bullets even as he flagged concerns over a missile strike on a children's hospital in Kyiv.
'The prime minister took a meeting recently and he asked for suggestions and ideas for a plan till 2047.'
This is the fourth such recruitment drive proposed to be undertaken by the Narendra Modi government which had in 2018 initiated lateral entry.
The FIR was lodged against food inspector Rajesh Vishwas, Sub-Divisional Officer of Pakhanjore RL Dhivar and Sub-Engineer Chhotelal Dhruv, both from the water resources department, at the Pakhanjore police station based on a complaint of nayab tehsildar (revenue official) of the area, a police official said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
The 'Maharashtra Gau Seva Aayog' (Maharashtra Commission for Cow Service) will supervise the rearing of livestock and assess which of them are unproductive and rendered unfit for milking, breeding, and carrying agricultural works etc, said the animal husbandry department official.
Banks may become more cautious in extending loans, as more and more farmers may take loans, relying on the assurance that a debt relief commission will back them in the event of default.