‘Not helping’
The statement didn’t provide details of talking points, but added that Hook “will engage our allies and partners on our shared need to counter the entirety of the Iranian regime’s destructive behaviour in the Middle East, and in their own neighbourhoods”.
From New Delhi, Hook will travel to Luxembourg, France and Belgium.
India signed an agreement with Russia last week for five S-400 systems despite appeals from the US that the air defence systems are a “focus area” of secondary sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which is aimed at punishing Russia for annexing Crimea and interfering in the 2016 US elections.
The Indian government has indicated state-owned refiners will continue buying Iranian crude after the second round of US sanctions kick in on November 5, specifically targeting oil, ports and banking. New Delhi had cut its purchases in anticipation of the curbs.
India has sought waivers, which the US has said it may consider on a case-by-case basis for countries that show a significant reduction in imports. But India has received no guarantees publicly yet. New Delhi also wants a carve-out for Chabahar, an Iranian port it has helped develop as a gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Russia is India’s oldest defence partner and supplied 62% of India’s military purchases during 2013-17. Iran is among India’s three largest oil suppliers and New Delhi will need time to look for and switch to other providers, a process in which the US has said it is helping out. A phased reduction in oil imports has been sought, as was the policy under president Barack Obama before the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015 that lifted UN-mandated Iran sanctions reinforced by those imposed by the US. to sexual harassment.
Aggrieved women can also mail the ministry or tweet to them with ‘#HelpMeWCD’, and the complaints will be taken up with the authorities concerned.
“I urge working women across all sectors to come out fearlessly and report cases of any form of sexual harassment and we shall ensure all possible assistance,” Gandhi added. countrywide at 97% of the long period average, but recorded a 9.4% shortfall in rain.
Srivastava said the process of formation of the EL Nino has been underway in the past few months, because of which rainfall was low during the end of the June-to-September monsoon period. According to him, the El Nino formation process was also responsible for higher temperatures in September and October. The low rainfall at the end of the monsoon was directly related to increasing drought-related conditions, he said.
Another scientist, DS Pai, head of the IMD’s Climate Prediction Group, said the effect of El Nino will be felt in the winter in India. “El Nino has not settled yet. Once it settles, it will show an impact by November/December,” he said.
Skymet, which accurately predicted that the south-west monsoon would be below-normal, doesn’t analyse the impact of El Nino on temperatures, restricting itself to how the weather phenomenon would affect rainfall patterns, said Mahesh Palawat, chief Meteorologist at the private forecaster.
Skymet, however, foresees Tamil Nadu and Kerala receiving more than average rainfall in November and December. “Both these states will get more than average rainfall during the return monsoon, which can create flood-like situation there,” Palawat said.