With the country all set to welcome United States President Barack Obama for the Republic Day in New Delhi, the 'Modi-Obama' kites are the flavour this season in Gujarat for the upcoming Makar Sankranti festival.
Heavy rains triggered by a deep depression in the weather system claimed as many 38 lives in Gujarat on Wednesday.
With intermittent disruptions in the supply chain of raw materials from China, the Indian pharma industry has braced itself with bigger inventory. Even smaller drug makers are now carrying a month of buffer stock of key raw materials, said industry insiders. The lockdown in various Chinese provinces, including Shanghai, is likely to delay shipments by two weeks to a month, said domestic players. Shipments are critical for the Indian drug industry, which imports 70 per cent of its raw material from China.
Suburban services were disrupted with trains on all the three lines -- western, central and harbour -- running late.
The southwest monsoon season concluded on Saturday with India receiving 'below-average' cumulative rainfall -- 820 mm compared to the long-period average of 868.6 mm -- in an El Nino year.
"I had no government as the seat of the establishment was wiped out by the worst floods in over a century," Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday, recalling the nightmare of the disaster that hit his state six days ago.
"Today is the birthday of Capt Sathe'smother. He had last met his parents in March and was constantly in touch with them over phone since then. They had last spoken a day before yesterday," his nephew Dr Yashodhan Sathe told PTI.
'Where is the remote control in the BJP? When I become president, the remote control will stay with me'
Sajid Piludia of Morbi's biggest graveyard for Sunni Muslims said nearly 40 members of the Muslim community lost their lives in the incident.
Kolkata Knight Riders will be desperate to press the reset button and snap their three-match losing streak when they face Chennai Super Kings in the IPL match in Kolkata on Sunday.
In his counter-affidavit, Radhey Shyam, who was recently released by the Gujarat government on remission, said that none of the petitioners are related to the case and are either political activists or "third party stranger".
CM Stalin has a procedural problem. Nominating new ministers would entail his having to seek formal permission from governor R N Ravi. Stalin does not want to interact with the person of this governor, as far as possible, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Navy has has kept five flood teams and three diving teams on stand-by in Mumbai, the official said. These teams, trained and equipped for rescue operations, are stationed at various naval areas across Mumbai and can provide early response over a larger area, he said.
The prime minister further alleged that the work of Congress while in power was mere pretentiousness.
'When he was offered B R Chopra's Zameer, many advised him against playing Saira Banu's father, pointing out that a decade ago, he had been her hero in her debut film, Junglee.' 'When he asked me, I pointed out that he was an actor first, so nothing should stop him from playing any role.'
The temples committee has already posted a request to devotees on its website to contribute towards the rebuilding.
Five-time MLA Parshottam Solanki, who is also known as 'Bhai' among his followers, has been winning Bhavnagar-Rural with a comfortable margin.
'The wife will not only abuse her husband for giving her less money, but also abuse the government.' 'Look at the price of a cooking gas cylinder, it is Rs 1,200.'
As heavy rains batter several parts of west and south India, the meteorological department on Friday said isolated extremely heavy falls are very likely over Konkan, Goa and central Maharashtra in the next two days.
Temperatures in March will be critical to determining the impact of any unusual heatwave conditions on this year's wheat crop in North India. It is that time of the year when the crop enters its vital grain-filling stage, say meteorologists and crop experts. So far, the high day temperatures in the North are not believed to have any significant impact on the final yields since the crop hasn't entered a stage where heat affects yields.
Cyclone Tauktae weakened into a 'depression' and lay centred over south Rajasthan and adjoining Gujarat region on Wednesday morning, the India Meteorological Department said.
The prime minister recalled the innumerable every day adversities that his mother encountered and successfully overcame.
The state government asked the local administration to shift people from low-lying areas in Vadodara if needed as water entered into houses in several localities.
Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi sharpened his attack on Nitish Kumar, saying the Janata Dal-United leader's "arrogance" and "ambition" to become prime minister drove him to split from BJP, and compared the socio-economic conditions of Muslims in Gujarat and Bihar to claim he practised "true" secularism.
Some youths started shaking the bridge intentionally, making it difficult for people to walk.
'I placed the tub on my head and walked through five feet-deep water for 1.5 km to take her to a safer place'
A helicopter carrying pilgrims from Guptkashi to Kedarnath crashed on Tuesday amid poor visibility and seven people on board are feared dead.
Pruthviraj Jadeja, the policeman, braved fierce current floodwaters and strong winds to save the children. The cop also earned the praise of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani who shared the video and lauded the officer on Twitter.
'Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train will not begin to address any of the many problems Indian Railways faces.'
In Uttar Pradesh, the death toll due to lightning strikes rose to 42.
Rediff.com brings you monsoon images from across the country
Ahmedabad is home to the strangest of cuisines and is a city of contrasts, if you look beyond the tourist places.
The two western states, already battling a raging pandemic, which has put their health infrastructure under severe strain, opened new fronts to tackle the fallout of the storm which is expected to make a landfall close to Mumbai on Wednesday. They are likely to be impacted most by the cyclone.
The Uttarakhand government will not allow any state to make unilateral efforts to evacuate its citizens stranded in the hill state, a move that comes in the midst of war of words on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's claim that he had rescued over 15,000 people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote a blog dedicated to his mother as she entered the 100th year of her life on Saturday, highlighting her sacrifices and various aspects of her life which 'shaped' his mind, personality, and self-confidence.
The IMD has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, warning of very heavy rains at isolated places with strong winds on Monday as the very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae is likely to pass close to the Mumbai coast towards Gujarat.
Heavy rains had battered the metropolis on Sunday and Monday as well.
Overall, this is one of the best monsoon India has had in five years with the rain deficit at just 2 per cent. However, in East and the Northeast India, the overall rainfall deficit is as high as 21 per cent.
Regional films may have prevailed over the country, but regional leaders still have far mountains to climb to reach Delhi, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
Union minister Anurag Thakur said that "one should take complete information and sometimes many issues come up that are far from truth..."
