India received just 90.7 mm (3.6 inches) in the first 17 days of August, nearly 40% lower than the normal. The month's normal average is 254.9 mm (10 inches).
As Sumatra and Java face the brunt of the dry spell, experts predict that the intensity of El Niño will heighten in the later part of 2023 and early 2024.
The price of Indian rice exports has jumped 9% to a five-year high, following a hike of 7% last month in the price the government pays farmers for new-season common rice.
Average global temperature reached 17.01°C, surpassing August 2016 record of 16.92°C. Scientists said climate change, combined with an emerging El Nino pattern, were to blame.
The global body confirmed that the temperature soared after the emergence of the El Nino weather pattern in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years.
The WHO chief also warned that climate change is fueling the breeding of mosquitoes, and incidence of dengue has already risen sharply in recent decades, particularly in the Americas.
While they had initially suspected bird flu, the country's agriculture and environment ministries jointly concluded the most likely reason was warmer oceans resulting from El Niño.
At one point in the episode, Commander Deosthalee, who is the first Indian woman to command a naval warship, compared the three of them to a trishul—such was their synergy.
Finance ministry says the proposed revamp will focus on structural reforms, rate rationalisation & ease of living, & will be deliberated upon in the coming weeks.
The project is meant to be a ‘protective shield that will keep expanding’, the PM said. It is on the lines of the ‘Golden Dome’ announced by Trump, it is learnt.
Now that both IAF and PAF have made formal claims of having shot down the other’s aircraft in the 87-hour war in May, we can ask a larger question: do such numbers really matter?
COMMENTS