US Secretary of State John Kerry held a meeting with Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar at the Climate change conference in Paris on various bilateral efforts made to reach a deal for reducing emissions. He last night met Mr Javadekar for around an hour at the Indian office of the Conference of Parties, (COP21). <br/><br/>After the meeting, Mr Kerry said they had a very constructive and positive meeting and United States appreciates the good effort of the Indian delegation. <br/><br/>Mr Javadekar later said that they discussed various efforts made by both the countries to reach a just and ambitious climate change agreement. <br/><br/>Asked if the issues of equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities, CBDR were discussed, Mr Javadekar said, India's role is well known to the US and discussions were made on how to arrive at an agreement and where the shoe pinches. Earlier, India had come out very strongly against Mr Kerry's remark in which he had termed New Delhi as a challenge at the climate change conference.

In Tamil Nadu, the north east monsoon which has devastated Chennai and Cuddalore is now vigorous in the southern districts bringing in ravaging destruction. The districts including Tirunelveli Kannya Kumari and Thoothukudi are bearing the brunt as heavy rain lashes the state. <br/><br/>Continuous rain has led to flooding of rivers including Thamaraparani and Amaravathy affecting normal life. Tirunelveli is badly affected by rain as residential areas are flooded completely. The district administration is finding it difficult to manage the situation. There is fear of epidemic spreading as drain water is mixed with rain water in many places. <br/><br/>Farmers are affected, people are marooned, school college education is hit, the rain has not spared anyone. In delta districts including Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur rain water have submerged more than 75,000 acre samba crops. Livelihood of fishermen are affected as they are not venturing out into the sea for the past ten days. <br/><br/>More than 13000 people in the district are kept in 74 relief camps as rain water seeped into residential areas. The district administration in Tirunelveli is finding it very difficult to tackle the situation as excess water released from Papanasam Sevalaru dams into Thamaraparani is flooding residential areas.<br/><br/>No respite seems to be in sight for the people of the state as the Met office has forecast heavy rain for the next twenty four hours in coastal Tamil Nadu and some places in interior districts because of trough of low pressure in south west Bay of Bengal. Holiday has been declared for schools and colleges today in eight districts including Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram.<br/><br/>Though rains have subsided in Karaikal which has seen heavy downpour in the last two days, farm lands still lay submerged. Meanwhile Puducherry saw only mild showers in the last three days and life is returning back to normalcy.