The tea industry, hit by rising costs, falling prices and political unrest in the North Bengal plantations, is especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 lockdown.
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
The IMD, in its onset date forecast on May 15, had said the monsoon is likely to hit the southern state on June 5, four days after its normal arrival.
Stressing that there is a need to strengthen the collective efforts to curb the spread of the virus, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said ramping up testing and vaccination, healthcare infrastructure planning, following Covid-appropriate behaviour and effective clinical management are among the measures to be taken by these states.
A round-up of Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy matches played on Thursday.
'Every single Indian dish is a jewel.'
The Sri Lankan cricket team, led by veteran pacer Lasith Malinga, arrived in Guwahati on Thursday for the three-match T20 series against India amid tight security after the city witnessed widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The Sri Lankan team headed straight to the team hotel amid a thick security cover. The members of the Indian team are expected to arrive in batches on Friday for the series opener on Sunday.
Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the Left Democratic Front were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.
The implementation of the NRC as nothing but a political vendetta of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, she told the assembly.
China, the Ukraine crisis and Quad will dominate the discussions, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
'They say when they come in front of me they feel happy and like they are not sick.' 'As long as I am alive, I will do this work.'
All eyes will be on the opening fixture between defending champions Saurashtra and record 41-time champions Mumbai in Ahmedabad with Rahane and Pujara on either side, aiming to make the big scores that have deserted them at the Test level for a while.
Delhi was just one riot. Add Bengal, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and you can count a few scores dead. It could, regrettably, be just the beginning of a very long, dark phase for India, notes Shekhar Gupta.
There was no stopping the Indian juggernaut at the 12th South Asian Games with the country's swimmers, wrestlers and weightlifters continuing their dominance in the competition to fetch a bulk of the gold medals, in Guwahati, on Sunday.
Share your special recipes for the festival season.
'Everyone wants to get involved when there is success.' 'But what about guaranteeing it?' 'Making sure girls have the opportunity to succeed all the time?'
Re-polling would be held on Thursday in six polling booths of three of the five Lok Sabha constituencies which went to polls on April 7.
The party is better at winning elections than at governance and it remains intent on pushing ahead with its trademark social and political agenda observes T N Ninan.
Poor dam management was considered as a major reason for the 2018 floods in the state that led to a loss of around Rs 50,000 crore and claimed as many as 483 lives, reports Shine Jacob.
The HMO said it will amend the rules to increase the time limit of filing of appeals in foreigners tribunals from 60 to 120 days for those who would be excluded from the final NRC.
Police also seized the country boat that has been used by the ULFA to ferry explosives and arms to Guwahati from Western Assam areas by dodging strict vigil by the police and the army on all land routes leading to the state's capital city.
'The Himmatsinghji Report is still 'missing'.' 'It is a great loss for the knowledge of India's borders.' 'It would have an immense value at a time China is bound to shift its attention to other border fronts in the Himalayas,' notes Claude Arpi.
A summary of all things football.
Rain or thundershowers have also been predicted in south interior Karnataka and at a few places over Coastal Karnataka and North interior Karnataka.
'You are to train three Bangladeshi pilots to fly this Chetak helicopter. Your task begins now.'
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
In the second phase on April 18, 97 seats,spread across 13 states and one Union Territory, will go to the polls.
'There's also a possibility of the cyclonic system changing its course, thus avoiding a landfall in Odisha'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal over phone and discussed about the prevailing condition on Monday.
Hitting out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's 'Didi-Bhaipo' jibes, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday challenged him to contest an election against her nephew Abhishek Banerjee and then think of fighting her.
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
The quality of Indian tea had lately come under scrutiny in major export markets, due to the presence of pesticides and chemicals beyond permissible limits.
Raphael AVL Malchhanhima said, "The thought of my friend being buried far away from his home troubled me. My father, a preacher, also encouraged me to accompany the mortal remains of my friend withstanding the difficulties of the journey."
Scanty rainfall, last year's lockdown, growing competition from Nepal and the disaster of the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation are steadily weakening exports and sales of Darjeeling tea.
During the proceedings, counsel for Imam said, "From the impugned speech, there is nothing which per se causes any kind of religious animosity. We cannot lose sight of the context. What Sharjeel Imam says, in relation to CAA-NRC, is that in much as it affects one community directly, what kind of support is to be elicited from the majority community."
The senior officials of the health ministry apprised the minister on various improvements that have been made to make the pan India dry run glitch free, such as number of telephone operators has been increased to answer every possible query from the teams on the ground conducting the dry run.
The 9.5-km long bridge inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi on May 26 is India's longest bridge.
"If it is said Indians are argumentative, I will agree. But if it is said Indians are intolerant, I refuse to agree," said the president at the inaugural ceremony of the 'Namami Brahmaputra' festival in Guwahati.
'China wants to change the status quo of India's Northern Border and proves that it can do whatever it wants in what it perceives as its own territory,' states Claude Arpi.
The BCCI had invited applications for positions of head coach, batting coach, bowling coach and fielding coach and had set July 30 as the deadline.
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