Heat unlikely to be a deterrent on poll day

September 27th, 2009 ALWAR - Even as the winter season is around the corner in the country, Rajasthan's Alwar city is reeling under intense heat wave conditions. The mercury is touching 43 degrees, making life difficult for local people here.

July 29th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Though many parts of the country are witnessing rains, people in Kashmir are faced with heat wave for the last three weeks. It has increased demand for refrigerators, coolers and air conditioners here.

July 7th, 2009 AGRA - Soaring temperature has made life miserable for people in Uttar Pradesh's Agra city, as the city continues to reel under intense heat wave situation on Tuesday. People who were earlier hoping to get some respite from the monsoon showers are now upset as there has been scanty rainfall in the region.

May 30th, 2009 JAIPUR - A large number of Rajasthani people are drawn to tie heavy turbans around their head as shield from the blazing summer heat here. Residents are of the view that turbans help them to avoid sunstroke in the scorching heat and sweltering temperature.

May 22nd, 2009 LUDHIANA - Rising mercury levels are breaking several old records in India as many parts of country experiencing extreme heat wave conditions. The temperature has crossed the 43-degree mark and the scorching heat has forced the residents in to covering themselves with cloth before venturing outdoors.

May 10th, 2009 PATNA - Temperature touching close to 45 degrees made life miserable for people of Bihar. In Patna, hot winds and high temperature have made the residents take desperate measures like covering themselves with cloth to escape from scorching sun.

May 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Poll officials were hopeful that more residents of the capital would come out and vote in large numbers Thursday with the mercury at 38 degrees Celsius around noon, three notches below the average maximum for this time of the year. According to the meteorological department, the minimum temperature will hover around 24.8 degrees Celsius.

May 7th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia does not plan to cut budget spending on the development of the country's nuclear weapons despite the ongoing economic crisis, the defence minister said. The government has reviewed overall defence expenditure under the 2009-2011 federal budget, cutting spending on defence programmes by 5.8 billion rubles ($177 million) from 1.5 trillion rubles ($46 billion).

May 4th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Tribal women in Gujarat displayed a substantially higher inclination to vote this Lok Sabha poll than their counterparts in the urban areas of the state, despite intense heat wave conditions April 30, a poll official said. The turnout of tribal women on polling day in Gujarat as per the final calculations stand at 48 percent compared to 43.37 percent of urban women, he said.

May 2nd, 2009 CHANDIGARH - The Election Commission now agrees that holding polls in an Indian summer can sometimes be too hot a task to handle. Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, who was here to review election arrangements in Punjab and Haryana Saturday, said district authorities had been instructed to ensure that facilities are on standby for voters to cast their franchise in the fourth and fifth phase of polling May 7 and 13.

May 1st, 2009 At least 18 dead in severe heat wave in IndiaNEW DELHI — At least 18 people have died in a scorching heat wave that has swept through more than a dozen Indian states, the weather department and officials said Friday. The highest temperature of about 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.5 Celsius) was recorded Thursday at Khandua in the central Madhya Pradesh state.

April 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With the sun beating down mercilessly, two Gujarat polling officials were rushed to the hospital Thursday after suffering heat strokes. The presiding officers at two polling booths in Manavdar and Mangrol Port, both in Junagadh district, complained of dizziness and unease.

April 23rd, 2009 BHOPAL - The Election Commission Thursday said that four officials on poll duty have died in Madhya Pradesh. Though the exact reason for the deaths are not known, the officials blamed the heat wave.

April 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With Goa sizzling at an unnatural 40 degrees Celsius, the heat appears to be getting to everybody. The Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) locked horns with the north Goa district administration after Collector K.S.

April 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Tapping waste heat from industries could cut down fossil fuel use and improve efficiency of countless manufacturing processes, says a study. According to Lihua Zhang and Tomohiro Akiyama of Hokkaido University, Japan, heat waste from industrial processes, such as combustion and electricity generation, is sometimes of low energy and diffuse and capturing this low-quality heat for re-use elsewhere on an industrial plant is usually not practical.