NEWS

New Delhi: It is a moment to cheer about, the monsoon has covered the entire country, 17 days ahead of its normal onset date, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced it on June 29. The monsoon reached Sriganganagar, its last outpost in the country located in west Rajasthan. Its normal date to reach Sriganganagar was July 15.

“The monsoon today covered the entire country,” additional director general MritunjayMohapatra said on Friday.The monsoon covers the entire country by July 1 but West Rajasthan gets rainfall later, he said.

But this year, due to good easterly rains, it has taken the rain to the entire country early, Mohapatra added. The four-month monsoon season normally begins from June 1 and ends on September 30.

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Thursday said sacrifice of his party workers would not go waste and it would win 22 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. The BJP chief lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for "unleashing violence" on her political rivals.

Addressing a rally here, he said that if people of Bengal "want to stop the illegal immigration from Bangladesh then they have to dethrone the Mamata-led TMC government." Shah attacked the state government for unleashing violence in the state and said that the people who are used to listening Rabindra sangeet are now hearing the noise of bombs.

New Delhi: In the wake of US-Iran crisis, India has been maintaining that it only recognizes UN sanctions and will take up the issue with the US at appropriate fora. But the sound bytes emanating from Washington leave little doubt that India may have very little room for maneuvering and may have to stop Iranian oil flowing onto its refineries.

India appears to be bracing for life without Iranian oil and preparing Plan B after the US administration under President Donald Trump has declared zero tolerance against any country or entity that flouts its diktat to stop buying crude from Iran after November 4 + when the 180-day wind-down period ends.

New Delhi: External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar sought to put the speculation to rest by stating that every time a fresh passport was issued to Modi, his previous passport was "physically" cancelled. The MEA broke its silence on Thursday over the issue of Nirav Modi saying that at no stage did the fugitive hold more than one valid passport. It has been widely reported that Modi held 6 passports.

It was reported on Wednesday that MEA had written to select European countries asking them to help India trace Modi and that the diamond trader held only one valid passport at a time.

Apart from the point about the passport, Kumar made the following 3 points in an official briefing. First, all Indian missions were informed about the revocation of Modi's passport in February and that the Indian envoys conveyed the same to the respective countries they were serving in.