RT @santimuthu: Sensex Ends Down 2.5% on Profit-Booking: India's annual monsoon rains are likely to be 25% below the 50-year.. http://bit.ly/JiGNr

chennai - Some signs of thunder cell formation over south-west

Sensex downfall was triggered by the reports that came out in television that the monsoon rains were almost 60 percent lower than normal .

sensex dropped today by 390 points close at 15514

RT @ETMarketNews: Delayed monsoon may take a toll on horticulture production in Haryana:... http://ping.fm/LaOH8

There'll be a Decrease in rainfall activity along the foothills of Himalayas and northeast India in another 48 hrs.

Monsoon is active over Coastal Karnataka, Agumbe recorded a heavy rainfall of 8 Centimetres on 4-Aug-09

chennai - Touched a Super high temperature of 38.5°C (1:13pm)

India Unveils the World's Largest Solar Cooker, Makes Lunch for 20,000

Pilgrims visiting the shrine of 19th century saint Sai Baba in Shridi, India have a new reason to stick around: The world's largest solar cooker. The $280,000 system, partially paid for by the Indian government, generates 3,500 kg of steam every day, or enough to make food for 20,000 people. The solar cooker can work without grid electricity--a key factor for developing countries--to run the water pump that generates power to create steam. Sai Baba's cooker will ultimately save 100,000 kg of cooking gas annually.

Thanks to government subsidies for solar cookers, India is also home to some of the other largest solar cooking systems in the world, including one that feeds 15,000 people in Andhra Pradesh and another in Rajasthan that serves 10,000 people daily.

While massive solar cookers may make sense for pilgrimage sites, smaller, cheaper cookers are ideal for individuals. The $5 solar-powered Kyoto Box, for example, uses only cardboard, glass, and foil to cook food and boil water. For the two billion people that use firewood as fuel, Kyoto Box-like solutions are more realistic than $280,000 systems.

Lightning strikes kill 11, injure 15 in eastern India

Officials say at least 11 people have been killed and 15 others seriously injured after being struck by lightning in eastern India.

The deaths occurred in two separate incidents Tuesday in Burdwan district in West Bengal state. The area is 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of the state capital, Calcutta.

Local government official Rajesh Singh says nine people, including four children, were killed as they ate lunch inside a room during a thunderstorm, and two others died as they worked in their fields the same afternoon.

He says the injured are being treated for burns at a local hospital.