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India's weather office forecasts good summer monsoon New Delhi (AFP) April 16, 2008 India's weather office on Wednesday forecast that the June-to-September annual monsoon rains that are key for crops and the rural economy would be better than average. Indian economic policymakers are depending on ample monsoon rains to help farmers produce more food grains to tame rising prices after inflation hit a three-year high at 7.41 percent last week as global food costs soar. The country's meteorological department said in its annual pre-monsoon forecast that the summer rains, which normally begin off the southwest coast on June 1 and head north to the Himalayas, would be above the long-term average. Around 40 percent of India's arable land is irrigated with the remainder of the farm population dependent on the skies to grow crucial crops such as rice, wheat and oil seeds. Agriculture remains the bedrock of the Indian economy with about 60 percent of the population of more than a billion relying on it for a living. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Weather News at TerraDaily.com
Laser Triggers Electrical Activity In Thunderstorm For The First Time Washington DC (SPX) Apr 15, 2008 A team of European scientists has deliberately triggered electrical activity in thunderclouds for the first time, according to a new paper in the latest issue of Optics Express, the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal. They did this by aiming high-power pulses of laser light into a thunderstorm. |
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