President arrives on a three-day visit

The Hindu Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy receives President Pratibha Patil on her arrival at the Thiruvananthapuram airport on Monday evening. She is on a three day visit of the State. Beside him is the Governor R.S.Gavai. Photo:C. Ratheesh Kumar President Pratibha Devsingh Patil arrived here on Monday afternoon on a three-day visit to the State.

Governor R.S. Gavai, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Mayor K. Chandrika, Chief Secretary P. Prabhakaran, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Air Command Air Marshal Satish Pal Singh and Director General of Police Jacob Punnoose received the President at the tarmac. Speaker G. Karthikeyan, Deputy Speaker N. Sakthan, Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala, senior officials and religious leaders were present at the airport to greet the President.

Soon after the reception, Ms. Patil left for Kollam by helicopter where she will stay overnight at a hotel and leave for Kottayam in the morning. She will address the valedictory of the centenary celebration of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam at noon. She will inaugurate the President's Trophy boat race in the Ashtamudi backwaters in Kollam in the evening..

The President will fly back to Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday morning and inaugurate the regional centre of the Indira Gandhi National Open University here. She will return to Delhi the same day afternoon.

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Monsoon arrives in Kerala three days before schedule (Lead)

Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi, May 29 (IANS) Three days ahead of schedule, the monsoon arrived in Kerala Sunday, with heavy rains being reported since Saturday night in the central and southern districts of the state, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

“The southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala today, May 29, three days in advance to the normal onset on June 1,” said a press release issued by IMD in Delhi Sunday.

It added that the onset of the monsoon "took place in association with an upper air cyclonic circulation over southeast Arabian Sea off the Kerala coast".

The monsoon has also advanced into most parts of south Arabian Sea and some parts of Tamil Nadu, south Bay of Bengal and south Andaman Sea, said the IMD.

Kumarakom, the pristine tourist destination in Kerala, has recorded the heaviest rainfall of 12 cm, an official said.

The IMD report said that conditions were favourable for the advance of the monsoon over some more parts of the Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, some more parts of Tamil Nadu, south Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea and some parts of Karnataka during the next two-three days.

From 2005, the IMD has been issuing a forecast on the onset of the monsoon over Kerala using an indigenously developed statistical model. The forecasts based on this model during the last six years have been correct.

The department has forecast that the monsoon is likely to be normal this year, with 98 percent of the expected rainfall.

As per the normal schedule, the monsoon reaches Delhi by June 29.

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