Amid several analyses of Kerala’s devastating floods earlier this month pointing to lack of preparedness escalating the impact of the extreme weather event, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) Madhavan Rajeevan said a ‘red alert’ issued by the IMD for several districts of Kerala two days ahead of the August …

After a muted Onam, Kerala woke up on Sunday to the enormity of rehabilitation and restoration of normal life devastated by the unprecedented floods in the central districts of the State. According to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who held a review of the relief and rehabilitation work on Sunday, 4,62,456 …

Mr. Syed Hasan Imam, president-elect of the special session of the Indian National Congress, arrived here [Bombay] this afternoon [August 26] and was given an enthusiastic reception at the station. Alighting from the train Mr. Imam was received by the members of the Reception Committee headed by the Hon’ble Mr. …

With a view to remedy social evils in Calcutta, the police are prosecuting a large number of people for trafficking in minor girls. Several people, men and women, had been convicted on charges of kidnapping, wrongful confinement and other charges. At the last sessions of the High Court Mr. Justice …

“You are on your way to a concert. At an intersection, you encounter a group of people, all staring at the sky. Without even thinking about it, you peer upwards too. Why? Social proof,” writes novelist and entrepreneur Rolf Dobelli in The Art of Thinking Clearly. It is flawed decision-making …

The tragedy in Kerala has highlighted the dangers of excess water accumulation in dams. More than 20 dams released water that cascaded down the hills, leaving behind a trail of destruction. The opening of the gates of the Idukki dam, for instance, caused the Periyar river to swell rapidly and …

If there was any real benefit in having a Legislative Council, all States in the country should, and arguably would, have a second chamber. The fact that there are only seven such Councils suggests the lack of any real advantage, apart from the absence of a broad political consensus on …

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech last week at the conference for central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming was a strong defence of the current gradual approach to raising interest rates. With the American economy growing at a strong pace, inflation being close to the Fed’s 2% target and …

It was heartening to read all the glowing tributes to veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar and his relentless fight for a free press. The irony is that some of those who do not value the importance of a free press are celebrating his resistance to the Emergency. In the mid-1970s, the …

The new data on GDP have raised a political storm, with the back series for GDP growth since 1993-94 becoming available. Its importance lies in the fact that in 2015, a new series was announced which showed India’s GDP growing faster than the earlier series had shown. This was politically …