 |
| Tuesday,
October 3, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Nation pays homage to Bapu, Shastri
‘Zail felt insecure during riots’ |
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DMK, PMK rift
widens Expand OSCE to include
India, China: Brzezinski PM undergoes tests AIR moves to woo listeners
Equal pay can’t be
denied for equal work: SC SC verdict boon to widow house owners Dilution of stand on Hindutva ‘cost BJP dear’ 72-year-old man volunteers for
ritual death Dry weather
in region
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Nation pays homage to Bapu, Shastri NEW DELHI, Oct 2 (PTI) — President K.R. Narayanan today led the nation in paying homage to the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of his 131st birth anniversary. Mr Narayanan, Vice-President Krishan Kant, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other leaders paid floral tributes to Bapu at his samadhi at Rajghat on the banks of the Yamuna. Mr Vajpayee stood in silence with folded hands before the spartan memorial for some time as representatives of different religions offered prayers. Both the President and the Prime Minister briefly attended the inter-religious prayer meeting. Former Prime Ministers V.P. Singh and I.K. Gujral, Home Minister L.K. Advani, Urban Development Minister Jagmohan, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Delhi Lt Governor Vijai Kapoor and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit also offered floral tributes to the apostle of peace and non-violence. Congress leaders Manmohan Singh, Oscar Fernandes, Ghulam Nabi Azad and members of the diplomatic corps were present on the occasion. Well-known classical vocalist Madhup Mudgal sang Gandhi’s favourite bhajans including “Vaishnava Janato” and “Ram Dhun” even as several men and women spun on charkha, which was a symbol of resistance during the freedom struggle. Later, the leaders offered floral tributes to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at his Vijay Ghat samadhi on the occasion of his 96th birth anniversary. Outside the Rajghat, about 100 Gandhians from across the country sat on a day-long fast to draw the attention of the people and the government towards basic issues such as education and health. The Sarva Seva Sangh, the National Alliance of People’s Movements and the Rashtriya Yuva Sangathan were among the organisations which participated in the fast. At another function, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, her Cabinet colleagues, MLAs, freedom fighters and other civil and police officials paid floral tributes at Gandhi’s statue at Old Secretariat. In Gujarat, an all-religion prayer meeting was held at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad which was attended by a large number of people from different communities. Besides prayer at Hrudaya Kunj at the Ashram, a meeting was organised where former Prime Ministers Chandrashekhar and H.D. Deve Gowda paid tributes to Gandhi. The main prayer meeting was held at Kirti Mandir, Gandhi’s birth place at Porbandar. In Pondicherry, Lt Governor, Dr Rajani Rai, Chief Minister P. Shanmugham and his Cabinet colleagues paid floral tributes at the Gandhi statue on the Beach road. In Sikkim, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling underlined the need for the importance of “value-based” politics in the society. “Politics without principle should not be desirable as knowledge without character,” he said while paying tributes to the Father of the Nation. Governor Chaudhary Randhir Singh said “Gandhiji was the main source of inspiration for whatever development we are seeing in the country today,” he said. |
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‘Zail felt insecure during riots’ NEW DELHI, Oct 2 — During the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the then President Giani Zail Singh, felt insecure to step out of Rashtrapati Bhavan, said an affidavit filed by a former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice R.S. Narula before the G.T. Nanavati Commission. “On November 1, I rang up Giani Zail Singh, the then President of India (who was personally known to me),and he advised me not to step out of my house as he did not consider even himself to be free from danger if out of Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Justice, Narula said in his affidavit. The helplessness of even persons holding office of power has been brought out in the affidavit of the former Delhi Chief Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana. “Giani Zail Singh called on me. He stated that it was not the President of India who was calling Khurana, but it was Khurana’s friend Zail Singh speaking,” the former Delhi Chief Minister said in his affidavit to the commission. Mr Khurana said he told him that “one of his relatives, Mr Virdi, had been killed in Patel Nagar and requested that I should help the family in getting the body of Mr Virdi to perform the last rites.” The Samata Party president, Ms Jaya Jaitly, in her affidavit has brought out the alleged connivance of police personnel and rioters during her visits to different parts of the Capital during those turbulent times. “We drove about 20 yards to the Safdarjung tomb crossing where two to three taxis and one scooter were aflame. One car was upturned and burning at Amrita Shergill Marg. One policeman was directing traffic away from the Safdarjung flyover. We drove up to him and said a group of people just a short distance away were stoning cars and should be stopped. `They are only out after the Sardars’, the police told us. I asked whether that meant they should not be stopped to which the policemen said someone would be coming and that we should drive on,” Ms Jaitly in her affidavit said. Social activist Madhu Kishwar, who visited different parts of the Capital during those three days of riots, in her affidavit said, she interviewed a number of riot victims who gave graphic detail of the atrocities committed against them. “Numerous victims I interviewed gave graphic accounts of the atrocities committed on their husbands, their young sons and brothers, which they were compelled to witness before being sexually assaulted in full public view. Most of them saw their loved ones attacked, grievously wounded and burnt whilst still alive. In some cases, their menfolk were roasted alive, with burning tyres put around their necks by the miscreants,” she said. “It was clear from the behaviour of the rampaging mobs that they were not acting out of grief or anguish at the death of Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister. They were laughing away and enjoying their looting and burning spree. They jeered, abused and made all kinds of obscene gestures while they went on a rampage. Watching them, one saw no evidence or sign of any sadness or grief whatsoever,” Ms Kishwar stated in her affidavit. More than 2,000 affidavits have been filed before the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry set up by the Vajpayee government in May to probe circumstances and the people behind the 1984 riots. Senior Supreme Court advocate H.S. Phoolka, who is also a member of the November 84 riots committee, created to assist the Nanavati Commission, said they had moved an application before the commission for the consideration of the affidavits filed by different persons to the inquiry commissions set up by the previous government. The Nanavati Commission would hold its first sitting on October 3 to consider this application and also formulate and lay down the procedure of its functioning. The authorities have recorded 2,733 murders in Delhi itself with numerous reports of grevious injuries on thousands of others, besides arson and loot. As many as seven committees and one Mishra Commission of Inquiry appointed in the 1980s to probe the crimes in the Capital resulted in the conviction of several persons in the past 16 years. Of them, six were sentenced to life imprisonment and death penalty awarded to one butcher by profession was commuted to life in jail. |
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DMK, PMK rift
widens CHENNAI, Oct 2 (PTI) — Differences between the DMK and the PMK, both constituents of the National Democratic Alliance, further sharpened today with the PMK charging the DMK with attempting to “eliminate” it from the political scene of Tamil Nadu. PMK founder S. Ramdoss told a press conference here that PMK’s continuance in the DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu solely depended on the attitude of DMK President M. Karunanidhi. He said “Even if we went out of the DMK front in Tamil Nadu, we would continue in the NDA Ministry at the Centre. Mr Ramdoss charged Mr Karunanidhi with “instigating Dalit Panthers of India and Tamizhga Rajiv Congress chief Vazhapadi K. Ramamurthy to make “allegations and derogatory remarks” against him and his party. “I am at a loss to understand why Mr Karunanidhi is indulging in such acts. Either the PMK or me had not made any allegations against the DMK government like other parties”. He said his personal requests to Karunanidhi for convening a meeting of NDA constituents in the state had been ‘ignored and neglected’ by the DMK chief. He said instead of curbing the activities of Dalit Panthers and Mr Ramamurthy, who were indulging in a personal “hatred” campaign against him, Mr Karunanidhi seems to be encouraging them. Whenever he took up the subject with Mr Karunanidhi, the latter advised him to ignore it, he said. Mr Ramdoss said he had briefed Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and NDA coordinator George Fernandes about the political situation in the state and had requested Mr Vajpayee’s intervention to sort out the difference between the DMK and the political situation in the state and had requested Mr Vajpayee’s intervention to sort out the difference between the DMK and the
PMK. |
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Expand OSCE to include
India, China: Brzezinski NEW DELHI, Oct 2 — A former US National Security Adviser, Dr Zbigniew Brzezinksi has said that expanding Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to include major Asian powers will go a long way in boosting peace in this century. In his key-note address at the inauguration of “International Conference on Asia-Pacific and the global order,’ Dr Brzezinski said Eurasia would continue to be the principal arena of international politics but unlike the past 50 years when Western Eurasia was politically more dangerous, the threats to peace were now likely to emanate from Eastern Eurasia. Dr Brzezinski was presented a citation of honour by Prof M.L. Sondhi, Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), on the occasion. Asserting that the USA would remain the pre-eminent global power in the forseeable future, Dr Brzezinski said US role in the Asian startegic scenario would continue. Suggesting that the USA, the European Union, Russia apart from China, India and Japan could be the members of the restructured OSCE, he said that the word ‘Europe’ in OSCE could be easliy replaced with ‘Eurasia.’ He said that if the USA withdraws from its global role, mainly under influence of its people, the world could see a situation of anarchy. Speaking of future threats to peace, he said any deterioration in the relationship between the USA and China would lead to rapid militarisation by Japan and consequent military build up by China which would affect India also. Dr Brzezinski, who is also the Counseller at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, said Communist dictatorship in China, which is actively building capitalism is bound to face questions about the legitimacy of the political system there. Complimenting India on its successful democracy, he, however, said the economic weakness of India’s politically mobilised people could create its own set of problems. Warning against preconceived notions, Dr Brzezinski said while China should not be considered a source of instability, Islam should not be seen as fundamentalist. In his intervention, Mr Hari Jaisingh, Editor, The Tribune, said while Islam was part of India’s heritage the threat the country faced from the Talbanisation of Islam in the neighbourhood could not be ignored. He said India had the second largest number of Muslims in the world and the threat to Islamic values had to be countered. Mr Jaisingh, who also chaired the session on “the new global order” stressed a harmonious approach to the problems faced by Asian societies and called for a shift from politics to socio-economic issues. Suggesting elements for peace in Asia, he said the gap between the rich and the poor should be bridged and countries should cooperate to end the menace of terrorism. Talking of Indo-US relations, he said India should be accepted as a nuclear power and should not be equated with Pakistan. He said after years of suffering from a cold-war mindset, the USA had now begun to show an understanding of India’s concerns. Agreeing with Mr Jaisingh, other speakers including Dr Viktor Gobraev from the USA said India’s candidature for the UN Security Council seat should be fully supported. He even suggested making India a dialogue partner of G-7. Dr Bharat Karnad said India, potentially a big military power, should formulate its doctrine on Indian Ocean. Dr Young-Ok Park, former minister and Senior Adviser of the South Korean Institute of Defence Studies, spoke about the steps being taken to end years of hostility on the Korean peninsula. Mr V.A. Sadovnichiy from Russia emphasised preserving tradition in the age of new discoveries. Earlier, in his opening remarks Prof Sondhi said India was fast emerging as a global player and the government led by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was taking new initiatives in every field. Emphasising that Asia should break the barriers of the past, he hoped that a new stabilising order would emerge in the new millennium. The three-day conference, hosted by the ICSSR, is being attended by a number of reputed scholars from India and abroad. |
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Agriculture ‘sluggish’ in adopting technology NEW DELHI, Oct 2 — The Indian agriculture sector has failed to keep pace with technological changes and the efficiency and sustainability of the current approach remains doubtful, the Planning Commission has said. The commission in its mid-term review of the ninth Plan said the policy approach to agriculture, particulary in the 1990s, had been to secure increased production through subsidies in inputs such as power, water and fertiliser rather than through building new capital assets, irrigation and power. This eats into public sector investments in agriculture, besides inducing inefficient use of scarce resources, leading to low public investment in irrigation and poor maintenance of rural infrastructure, specially canals and roads, decline in investments in rural electrification and demand constraints. This further aggravates environmental problems leading to loss of soil fertility or groundwater, which reduces returns to capital. Farmers, therefore, demand further subsidies to maintain the same level of production. The government is then compelled to give higher minimum support price, which further reduces investible plan funds. “The net result is that the pace and pattern of technological change in agriculture has become sluggish and total factor productivity has gone down”, the commission has said. Though the production of foodgrains during 1949-50 to 1998-99 increased at the rate of 2.5 per cent per anum, compared to the 80s, there has been deceleration in the growth rate of production of foodgrain and non-foodgrain crops during 90s, from 3.54 per cent to 1.8 per cent and from 4.02 per cent to 3.17 per cent per annum, respectively. The commission noted that only about 37 per cent of net sown area is under irrigation and the remaining 67 per cent is still rainfed. The rainfed areas are still having very low yield per hectare and irony is that most of the rural poor live in these rainfed areas. Therefore, special urgent attention has to be paid for increasing productivity in the rainfed areas through ground water development and watershed management. Exploitation of ground water potential, especially in eastern Region, where vast potential remains untapped is sub-optimal. Seed replacement rate for the major crops like rice and wheat remain below 10 per cent as against the desired rate of 20 per cent. Besides the imbalanced use of fertilisers with NP and K ratio of 8.5:3.1:1.0 against the desired ratio of 4:2:1, the deficiency of micro-nutrients has increased especially in high productivity areas, where fertiliser use continues to be low in low productivity high risk-prone areas largely dependent on rainfall. Yields in high productivity areas have reached a plateau and the extension has not only become outmoded but totally ineffective. Gross capital formation in agriculture (GCFA) as a percentage of total domestic gross capital formation has declined sharply to 9.4 per cent in 1996-97 from 19.1 per cent in 1979-80, at 1980-81 prices. At 1993-94 prices, the GCFA has come down from 6.3 per cent in 1996-97 to 5.5 per cent in 1998-99. The GCFA in public sector has registered a decline from 15.3 per cent in 1980-81 to 4.9 per cent in 1998-99. These declines are far too sharp. The contribution of agriculture in country’s export has remained quite significant though it has marginally come down from 20.4 per cent in 1996-97 to 18.5 per cent in 1998-99. The commission said there was a need to address some of the major reforms and structural issues like rationalisation of subsidies on inputs, institutional reforms relating to rural credit, opening of lease market in land, popularisation of integrated pest management and integrated nutrient management, strengthening of post harvest handling prodcessing, and cold storage among other things. The commission said the research mandate and curricula have also to undergo a change to meet the second generation problems including the one thrown up by the liberalised World Trade Organisation system. |
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AIR moves to woo listeners new delhi, oct 2
(pti) — Forced into relative oblivion after the advent of the television and subsequent proliferation of cable tv channels, sound broadcasting in India is staging a comeback with a vengeance. Banking on the virtues of Information Technology and privatisation, the state-owned All India Radio (air) is slowly trying to win back listeners by upgrading programmes as also expanding reach. “Major policy-decisions are in the pipeline,” says Mr Ayappan Pillai, Deputy Director of the air research and Development Unit here. air auction of almost 100 fm stations in 40 cities across the country attracted several big private media organisations like the Bennet and Coleman Ltd and Zee tv’s associate New Media Broadcasting. The officials cite the runaway success of Times fm as the basis for their reliance on private operators saying that their entry would transform the braodcasting scenario in the country. Nearly 90 lakh hits were registered after the site was expanded including news, views, music and links to other Indian sites, said Mr Pillai. “Ninetyfive per cent of the visitors are non-resident Indians who are keen to keep in touch with their motherland” said Mr O.K. Goel, Assistant Engineer with air’s internet unit. “We are also attracting good amount of advertisements as the site, which was launched a couple of years ago, has a highly educated and affluent audience with extremely high purchasing power,” said Mr Goel. The Delhi AIR has launched a ‘Radio-on-demand’ service, which its research development unit has indigenously developed. “Overwhelmed by the programme’s success, the air proposes to start the service in other metro cities as well,” said Mr Goel. Words of appreciation have been received from nris across the Atlantic, with whom the refurbished site is a favourite draw. The fm radio privatisation has, in fact, opened up a plethora of opportunities. Radio would soon come out of the interiors of cupboards, observed media analysts at a recent conference here. “Need-based programmes for target audience and participation of listeners themselves would be given impetus henceforth,” said Mr Pillai. A recent study in the USA showed that radio outperformed television in terms of audience retention. A nationwide survey in February this year found that the medium is still popular among 58 per cent of the rural and 48 per cent of the urban population. But the cause for concern was that revenue from commercials had dropped from Rs 93 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 60 crore in 1999-2000. |
PM undergoes tests NEW DELHI, Oct 2 (PTI) — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today visited All-India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS) for pre-operative evaluation ahead of his knee-joint surgery scheduled for October 10 at Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital, a PMO spokesman said. Vajpayee underwent “certain necessary tests” at
AIIMS. The Prime Minister is expected to leave for Mumbai on October 8 for the surgery, which would be carried out by New York based orthopaedic specialist Dr Chittaranjan
Ranawat. He is likely to remain at Breach Candy Hospital for five days and thereafter stay at Raj Bhavan for a couple of days before returning to the Capital. Mr Vajpayee was examined by Dr Ranawat in New York on September 11 and advised knee-joint replacement surgery of the left knee as he is suffering from
osteoarthritis, which has troubled him for months. |
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All-party meeting
on kidnap drama today BANGALORE, Oct 2 (pti) —Concerned at the dragging Rajkumar kidnap drama which entered the 65th day today, Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna has convened a meeting of opposition parties here tomorrow amidst indications that the state government might adopt a new strategy to resolve the crisis. The meeting will be followed by another with mps from the state, which has fuelled speculations that their help would be sought to put pressure on the Centre to help end the crisis. Official sources said Mr Krishna would take opposition leaders and mps into confidence on the issue and the next strategy would be worked out only after his meeting with Tamil Nadu counterpart M.Karunanidhi which would be held soon. The all-party meet, which would be the fifth since the Kannada thespian was kidnapped by Veerappan on July 30, comes in the wake of journalist-emissary R.R. Gopal returning empty hand after his fourth mission and a hostage Nagappa Maradagi escaping from the forest brigand’s custody, which the emissary said gave a “setback” to his negotiations to end the crisis. |
Equal pay can’t be
denied for equal work: SC NEW DELHI, Oct 2 (PTI) — The Supreme Court has ruled a casual labourer cannot be denied equal pay for equal work done by employees appointed on regular basis. Upholding a
Calcultta, High Court order, a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice
D.P. Mohapatra in a recent judgement said the appeal filed by the appellant Food Corporation of India (FCI) “is misconceived and deserves to be dismissed with cost, quantified at Rs 10,000”. The Calcutta High Court had said, “Since some casual workers appointed directly by the appellant and some employed by contractors are working in the same godown and on the same work there could not be any scope for making any difference and to deny equal pay for equal work”. The high court had said, “The wages will have to be paid regularly to the respondents at the same rate at which it was paid to the regular employees of the appellant doing identical work which has to be worked out on daily rate basis from March 1989”. |
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SC verdict boon to widow house owners NEW DELHI, Oct 2 (UNI) — In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court has ruled that a petition for eviction filed by a widow under Section 14-D of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, should not be frustrated by granting leave to the tenant to raise any plea refuting the claim. “The provision is intended to serve a social need to help a widow in getting possession of the premises required for her personal occupation and to sub-serve that purpose she has been included in the special class of landlords who are entitled to recover the possession of the premises let out by them when they require the same for self-occupation,’’ the apex court said. “Unless a real and substantial case is made out on the averments made in the affidavit by the tenant in support of the petition filed under Section 25-B of the Act, the proceedings should not be dragged on unnecessarily and should be disposed of with due expedition’’, the court observed. The ruling by a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Mr Justice D.P. Mohapatra dismissed an appeal of a tenant with a cost of Rs 5,000 which had challenged a judgement passed by the Delhi High Court dismissing his revision petition and confirming an order of the Additional Rent Controller, Delhi directing his eviction from the premises. Mrs Mohider Kaur Uppal, a widow, and her son filed a suit under Section 14-D read with Section 25-B of the Act for eviction of J. Chatterjee from the ground floor of their Kailash Colony premises on the ground of personal requirement. “On a plain reading of Section 14-D of the Act, it is clear that it is in the nature of a special provision, meant for the benefit of a widow who requires the premises for her own residence. The provision also vests a right in a widow who has let out more than one premises to choose any one of them for her occupation. Section 25-B makes provision regarding the special procedure for the disposal of applications for eviction on the ground of bona fide requirement,’’ the court observed. Analysing the provisions of Sub-Section (1), Section (4), (5) and (8) of Section 14-D, the court said in a case where a petition for eviction was filed under this Section, such petition shall be dealt with in accordance with the special provisions prescribed under Section 25-B. From the provisions of Sub-Section (4) and (5), it was manifest that the Controller could grant the tenant leave to contest the application for eviction only if the affidavit filed by the tenant disclosed such facts as would disentitle the landlord from obtaining an order for the recovery of possession of the premises on the ground of personal requirement as provided in Section 14 (1) proviso (E) to Section 14-A. Sub-Section (8) of Section 25-B bars an appeal or second appeal against an order for recovery of possession of any premises made by the Controller under the Section. The proviso to Sub-Section (8) vests a supervisory jurisdiction in the high court for satisfying itself that the order made by the Controller under that Section is according to law. Coming to the order of eviction passed by the Additional Rent Controller which had been confirmed by the high court, the judges were not satisfied that the eviction order suffered from any serious illegality which the high court failed to notice in exercise of the supervisory jurisdiction vested in it. |
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Dilution of stand on Hindutva ‘cost BJP dear’ KANPUR, Oct 2 (UNI) — The VHP said today the BJP would face dire political consequences if it continued to “keep its distance from the path and policy of “Hindutva”. At a news conference here, VHP General Secretary Praveen Bhai Togadiya attributed the ruling BJP’s defeat in the recent panchayat and local bodies elections in Gujarat to a “change” in its earlier policy on “Hindutva”. While the Congress captured a two-third of the seats in the elections, the BJP was restricted to only a one-third, Dr Togadiya said, adding that the “hot issue of Hindutva” was one of the main reasons for the party’s defeat “despite its good governance in the state”. The Congress, though not seen as advocates of “Hindutva,” scored an advantage over public displeasure with the ruling party, he said. Dr Togadiya claimed a stand against “Hindutva” was bound to cause reverses for any political party, and not just the BJP alone. Dr Togadiya said the Ram temple issue would “never lose its importance for his organisation and supporters.” In reply to a question, he said the VHP had supported any party which favoured the Ram mandir and other related issues, and that it could “even support the Congress” if its President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, announced her party support to the construction of the temple and abolition of Article 370. |
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72-year-old man volunteers for
ritual death BHOPAL, Oct 2 —Uttamchand Jain, 72, is quietly waiting for his death at Bhaddalpur, a Jain pilgrimage place in the lowlands of Udaigiri mountain in Vidisha district. A resident of Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, Uttamchand, had for some time been suffering from an incurable fever. In August, he decided to call it a day and approached the Jain monks at Bhaddalpur with his wish for “Sallekhana” (voluntary death) which has the sanction of the Jain religion. His wife Vidya Devi, elder son Prasanna Kumar and daughters Meena and Nikita accompanied him. Jain Muni Pramana Sagar took him into his guidance, tested him according to the rituals prescribed by the tenets and found him fit for “Sallekhana”. Then he gave him the new name of Ullas Sagar. Uttamchand has been subsisting on buttermilk and water since September 1. He was 60 kg on August 5, when he started the rituals for Sallekhana. Today, he is around 30 kg. His fever has gone and he is said to be in high spirits. Hundreds of devout Jains are visiting the place every day to have the “darshan” of Uttamchand Jain, alias Ullas Sagar, who has now attained the status of a saint. According to Vidisha Sakal Jain Samaj president Hridayesh Jain, this is a rare event and there is a great enthusiasm in the community. People in large numbers have started coming from distant places to have “darshan” of Ullas
Sagar. |
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Dry weather
in region NEW DELHI, Oct 2 — Rainfall: Weather was mainly dry over the region. Temperature: Past 24 hours change: Maximum temperatures rose in Himachal Pradesh and changed little elsewhere. Departures: They were markedly above normal in east Rajasthan, appreciably above normal in Himachal Pradesh and west Rajasthan, above normal in the hills of west Uttar Pradesh and normal in the rest of the region. The highest temperature in the region was 41.3 °C recorded at Barmer (Rajasthan). Past 24 hours change: Minimum temperatures changed little. Departures: They were below normal in Punjab and normal in the rest of the region. The lowest temperature in the plains was 17.4 °C recorded at Chandigarh. Forecast valid until the morning of October 4: Rain or thundershowers are likely at isolated places in east Uttar Pradesh. Weather will be mainly dry in the rest of the region. Farmers weather bulletin for Delhi forecast valid until the morning of October 4: Sky will be mainly clear. Outlook for the subsequent two days: No large change. |
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