Rainfall during the remaining two months of the monsoon season is likely to be 10 per cent below normal, weather scientists said today, predicting monsoon behaviour that they say “has the potential to hurt crops in some places”. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said rainfall over India during August and September is likely to be 90 per cent of the long period average, after a copious 111 per cent rainfall in...

With the August 16 protest deadline drawing closer, the Anna Hazare team has taken its referendum on the Lokpal bill online to mobilize support and create awareness. The team has already done surveys in various parts of the country including the Chandni Chowk parliamentary constituency. The results for the Delhi poll will be announced on Monday. "We have hosted an online questionnaire to mobilize support for the Jan Lokpal Bill. The...

-The Hindu   NCRB's 2009 report puts number of those abducted at 8,945 RTIs filed by an NGO in 2009 show an average of 60,000 children are reported missing annually in the country. However, the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) annual report on Crime in India (2009) puts the number of abducted children at 8,945. Time lapse, insufficient information database and an ineffective tracking system minimises the missing children's chances of coming...

As the world watches peaceful protests of villagers against land acquisition for Posco project in Orissa, a silent protest is brewing in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh against number of small hydro projects in the Saal valley of the district. Since April this year the villagers from eight panchayats have prevented the construction of small dam hydro projects on Hull river, a tributary of river Ravi. “We have been sitting on a...

This essay describes and compares Parliament and the Supreme Court and examines the relationship between them. Parliament may still be a great institution, but its members are no longer great men. How long can a great institution remain great in the hands of small men? The SC has held its place in the public esteem rather better than the Lok Sabha, despite the occasional allegation of financial impropriety. Parliament, the...