A combination of unfavourable atmospheric patterns have delayed the revival and further advance of the monsoon which has not moved to cover more of the subcontinent for over 12 days. While the monsoon had covered half the country by mid-June, its northern limit has not shifted since June 18. It is currently passing through Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Indore, Pendra, Daltonganj, Gaya and Muzaffarpur. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted last Friday that...

The Supreme Court on May 7 ruled that natural resources were national assets that belonged to the people and were ideally exploited by public sector undertakings. This obviously implies that local communities, including tribals, living on mineralised land, enjoy entitlements but not prescriptive ownership rights to such national assets. This is an important reiterative clarification defining mineral rights in Fifth Schedule areas that are currently in contention. Whether PSUs should...

Visitors making their way along the muddy track leading to the Gossainbarie tea estate in India's north-eastern Assam state will be greeted by huge mounds of cow dung, rotting water hyacinth, as well as and fish and meat waste. But this is no cause for alarm - the tea-estate has gone organic and is following the principles of India's ancient plant medicine Vriksh Ayurveda. "This is our fertiliser because we don't...

For years, they have been waking up early and starting late. But India's northeast, which sees sunrise almost two hours before Mumbai, has decided it's time to set the clock right. The region's demand for a separate time zone has never been more vociferous April is usually the cruelest month for India's northeastern states. Cyclonic storms lash the region with vengeance and rip apart homes and hopes. But in all...

Communist and opposition parties in India are holding nationwide protests against rising food and fuel prices. The Communist-governed states of West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala are likely to be worst hit by the 12-hour strike called by the parties. Air and train services have been disrupted in West Bengal, and attendance in offices across the states is reported to be patchy. Food prices in India have risen by as much as...