India Faces World’s Worst Power Crisis

• Power Out. Following the Monday, July 29 blackout which affected 300 million people in northern India, on Tuesday, July 31, the country suffered its second crippling power failure, said to be the world’s worst power outage as it affected over 600 million people across 20 states and union territories. The northern, eastern, and north-eastern regions were plunged into darkness when their respective grids collapsed leading to disrupted rail and air services. Experts attributed the grid failures to the demand-supply mismatch of 14,000MW. [Hindustan Times]

• Exporting Ketamine. According to a report by the US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics, India is the biggest exporter of the party drug Ketamine to Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, and North America. Indian drug enforcement agencies have estimated that about four to five tonnes of ketamine go missing every year from annual production. Ketamine, a general anesthetic, sells for Rs35,000 per kilo, but illicit export can fetch up to Rs10 lakh for the same quantity. [The Times of India]

• Extended Date. The government on Tuesday, July 31, extended the date for filing income tax returns for the year 2012-2013 from July 31 to Friday, August 31 on account of the power failure. [The Times of India]