NEW DELHI: In what may be bad news for India’s farm sector and rural economy, IMD on Monday predicted a ‘below normal’ southwest monsoon (June-Sept) in the country amid growing risk of El Nino, which is linked to depressed summer rainfall over India. “Quantitatively, the seasonal rainfall over the country is likely to be 92%…
Around 70% of all El Nino years since 1980 have corresponded with poor summer monsoons, showing that the link between the Pacific condition and the country’s June-Sept rains is one of the strongest among global weather phenomena impacting India’s rainy season. The link assumes importance in light of latest forecasts from US and European weather…
NEW DELHI: Ten days after ED carried out searches at several premises in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai of officials of Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) – a political consultancy firm whose clients include TMC and DMK – the agency on Monday arrested one of its directors and co-founder Vinesh Chandel here. He will be…
NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over what they described as “opaque and non-consultative manner” in which govt is bringing bills related to women’s reservation and delimitation in the upcoming three-day special session of the Parliament, a group of social and women’s rights activists, academics and retired civil servants have urged the Centre to place the draft…
JALPAIGURI: BJP’s Dhupguri candidate Naresh Roy came under fire from Trinamool Congress on Monday after a video went viral showing Roy allegedly making derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi, reports Pinak Priya Bhattacharya. Roy said his comments had been misinterpreted. The authenticity of the video could not be verified. The video, shared by Trinamool Congress on…
KOLKATA: Election Commission has designated 837 out of the 1,835 booths under the Kolkata North parliamentary constituency as ‘super sensitive’, citing concerns about possible trouble-mongering. On hundreds of these booths, 150 or more names were deleted from the electoral rolls in the SIR exercise. “The EC apprehends residents left out of the voter list might…
MALDA: NIA has made its first arrests over the April 1 siege of judicial officers involved in SIR verifications at Mothabari in Malda, picking up two members of Congress and one of ISF. Congress’ Sahadat Hossain and Asif Sk were taken into custody on Sunday alongside ISF’s Golam Rabbani. Sayem Choudhury, the local Congress candidate,…
NEW DELHI: In a setback to Lalu Prasad, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to quash FIR against him in the land-for-jobs case but granted him exemption from appearance before the trial court and also allowed him to raise the issue of requirement of sanction during the trial. “We do not say anything about the…
NEW DELHI: Access to quitting aids like nicotine gums and lozenges may soon be tightened, raising concerns among experts it could become harder for smokers to quit. The trigger is a recommendation by the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) to restrict over-the-counter (OTC) access to most nicotine replacement products. The proposal exempts only unflavoured 2-mg…
NEW DELHI: Government on Monday hinted that ethanol blending in petrol can be increased to 21% from the current 20%, considering the tolerance level of vehicles.Responding to a question on whether discussions have started to increase the ethanol blending in the light of ongoing conflict in West Asia, heavy industries additional secretary Hanif Qureshi said,…
