As the southwest monsoon is all set to withdraw, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the deficiency in the cumulative rainfall for the season as a whole saw a marginal increase from 20 to 21 per cent. In a press release, the Department said that the monsoon has started to withdraw from west Rajasthan.

The gap between demand and supply of power across the country is showing no improvements. Rather, it is set to increase further if the words of Power Ministry and Central Electricity Authority (CEA) are to be believed. Making the situation more critical, the withdrawal of monsoon has increased the demand from the Agriculture sector for energizing pumps and also demand is also coming from manufacturing and engineering sectors after the revival of economy.

The Congress party's remarkable success in Uttar Pradesh in the general elections of 2009 had many political pundits believe that the party would perform on a near similar scale in the Assembly by-elections. The premise was widely based on the perception that considerable life had been infused by the sustained and dogged campaigning of Rahul Gandhi in what had been dumped as a moribund party with a crumbling organizational set up.

After getting the Geographical Indication (GI) patent rights, pilgrims must have devoured upon the much famous Tirupati laddu. Yes, the sweet has made its space in the GI joining the ranks of Darjeeling tea, Madhubani paintings and Goa feni. Now, others will be barred from naming or marketing the sweet laddu preparation under the same name. This news came when TTD, which manages the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, had applied for GI with Chennai based Geographical Indication Registry in March last year to avoid the black marketing of laddu by hawkers and middlemen.

Soon, all 16, 000 police stations in our country will fall under a single network to counter terror challenges. It is expected that this Rs 2, 000 crore project will become operational by 2011-12. While inaugurating a conference on small entrepreneurship, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said that Multi Purpose National Identity Cards (MNIC) will also be issued to about 1.1 billion Indians after the completion of enumeration work.

Putting to rest speculations that India is moving away from Russia, President Pratibha Patil paid a weeklong visit to Russia and Tajikistan. The President's first visit to Moscow aimed at furthering bilateral ties. Coming a few months ahead of the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's trip to the country in December, it was also an attempt at boosting trade and economic exchanges between the two countries. India and Russia have enjoyed friendly relations since Soviet times. Last year was the Year of Russia in India and 2009 is the Year of India in Russia. Patil's visit, one of the features of the national theme year, was seen as the climax of the year's activities.

They say it is better late than never. Thus, acting on the directives given by the Supreme Court, the Union Home Ministry took several decisions on police reforms for Union Territories including the national capital Delhi. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram took decision to insulate cops from the political pulls and pressures thereby ensuring accountability at all levels. The decision also involved giving two year fixed tenures to key police functionaries, inspectors and above, except under some circumstances which would be recorded in writing.

It's good news for the people who often complain about the unnecessary security cover given to few VIPs. Their complaints have now been addressed thanks to the rational approach of Home Ministry. While doing an extensive security review of the Y category protectees, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has ordered immediate withdrawal of security personnel deployed around 51 VIPs including politicians, civil servants and police officers.