Tamil Nadu: The north-east monsoon, 50 per cent in excess in the State, claims over 200 lives and destroys crops and infrastructure.

A SERIES of weather systems, including a cyclone that missed Chennai narrowly, saw the skies open up over Tamil Nadu between November 4 and December 5, the period when the north-east monsoon is most active.

IT was coming, though the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) did not know when. Following the failure of both star-sensors and some power supply systems on board Chandrayaan-1 in mid-July, ISRO engineers and scientists predicted that the spacecraft might meet its end

Interview with M. Annadurai, project director, Chandrayaan-1 .

M. Annadurai:

An important task for four of the 11 instruments on board Chandrayaan-1 is to look for confirmation of the presence of water-ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the south and north poles of the moon, according to Dr. M.Y.S. Prasad, Associate Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

Interview with V. Irai Anbu, Secretary, Department of Tourism and Culture, Tamil Nadu.

Banana boats introduced by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation at Mudaliarkuppam Rain Drop Boat House on East Coast Road are a great hit with tourists.

DINESH KUMAR PANDE, Director (Exploration), ONGC, is a many-sided man. A petroleum geologist by profession, he joined the ONGC in 1976.

UNDER R.S.

THE Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), India's premier energy company, ranks first among the oil exploration and production (E&P) companies in Asia.

THE Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's Golden Jubilee Museum located in Dehra Dun is a big hit with schoolchildren and tourists.