MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, May 30 (Reuters): Monsoon rains hit India’s southernmost Kerala coast a few days earlier than expected on Thursday, the national weather office said, boosting prospects for bumper harvests that could spur farm and economic growth in Asia’s third-largest economy. Summer rains usually begin to lash coastal Kerala state around June 1 and spread across the whole country by mid-July, triggering the planting of crops such as rice, corn, cotton, soybeans and sugarcane. The monsoon, the lifeblood of the country’s nearly $3.5 trillion economy, delivers nearly 70% of the rain that India needs to water farms and recharge reservoirs

The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday directed the ED to file a response to the bail petition moved by former chief minister Hemant Soren. Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on January 31 in connection with a money-laundering case linked to an alleged land scam, filed the petition before the high court on Monday and requested an early hearing of the matter. Appearing on behalf of Soren before a bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay, senior advocate Kapil Sibal pleaded that the JMM leader was a victim of political conspiracy. Sibal said that Soren had been trapped in the

NEW DELHI, May 17 (Reuters) – Firebrand Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal has hit the ground running since his surprise release from detention in the midst of a contentious general election, energizing the opposition as it challenges Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Supreme Court gave 55-year-old Kejriwal, who is also the chief minister of the national capital territory of Delhi, bail in a graft case on May 10 and he wasted no time in getting on the campaign trail. “I have only one request from you, we all have to come together to save the country from dictatorship. I am fighting