For the first time, the meteorological department will give probability estimates of drought and excess rainfall for the country as part of its much-awaited April forecast of the southwest monsoon. The department will continue to stick to a new technique it used last year for forecasting the monsoon though it led to predictions that turned out to be way off.

POLICE in the city are in an unenviable position as sandalwood trees continue to be the target of thieves who smuggle them to Kerala, from where they are taken to other states. This despite various measures taken by them to bust the smuggler gangs. Police sources said some time back there were factories in Kerala making oil from sandalwood smuggled from Tamil Nadu, but as the Kerala Government has banned production of sandalwood oil, the smugglers clandestinely transport the logs to other states through Kerala.

AGRICULTURE, food and civil supplies minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday frustrated attempts by the Congress Left-combine to put the blame for the current bout of inflation on opposition-ruled states.

The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala has declared a virtual war against the Centre for its failure to provide relief to the State reeling under the rain havoc of the last few weeks and the general price spiral.

When all goes well, thunderheads tower above India's southwestern state of Kerala in early June, drenching the region's vital rice fields and ensuring a bountiful harvest. From there the summer monsoon plods northward to soak the baking plains and irrigate vital breadbasket regions that feed 1.1 billion people before arriving at the foot of the Himalayas in August.

Once upon a time, houses made of wood inhabited real spaces and not the glossy confines of lifestyle magazines. The states of Kerala, Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh, blessed with abundant timber, were particularly known for their refined architectural traditions in wood.

The honeymoon is over for Mumbai Metro One Ltd, the entity that is to give the city the first phase of its Rs 19,500-crore, 146.5-km metro project. A PPP between Reliance Energy, the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and an international company, it isn't exactly off the tracks, but there's serious bad weather building.

With abysmal levels of penetration and awareness, how do you sell the concept of health insurance to the rural poor?

The Joint Water Regulation Board (JWRB) of the inter-State Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) agreement on sharing of waters between Kerala and Tamil Nadu will hold a meeting in Coimbatore on April 9

Exploited in their youth and physically abused when they are not able to work anymore, old elephants in Kerala can now look forward to a life away from the dreaded sharp hook of the mahout. The state's forest department is to launch an old-age home for elephants, the first in the country.