India captain Rohit Sharma assured BCCI boss Sourav Ganguly that his team is ready to play Sunday's opening T20 International against Bangladesh despite growing concerns about severe air pollution.
Once called India's garden city, this upper middle-class residential area in Bangalore has India's most toxic air, says Devanik Saha, IndiaSpend.com.
With CPCB saying that the air quality is not severe now, the SC partially lifted its ban.
Bursting firecrackers is not a matter of religion, it affects people's lives, Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday and urged the Opposition not to jeopardise the well-being of children and the elderly for political ambitions.
Delhi, labelled the world's most polluted city in a 2014 World Health Organization survey, alone makes up about 7 per cent of total Indian auto sales.
Air quality in the national capital deteriorated alarmingly a day after Diwali as pollution levels spiked more than five times higher than normal leaving many at the risk of respiratory problems.
The countries' biggest cities -- Delhi and Lahore -- are fighting a common enemy: Smog.
Delhi high court on Friday rejected a plea against exemptions granted to women and two-wheelers in the odd-even car scheme, scheduled to resume from April 15, terming it "premature".
Delhi will become the first such city in India to have such a scheme and the only one after Beijing in Asia.
Six weather stations across Delhi recorded over 100 mm of rain in a single day, the India meteorological department (IMD) said on Thursday, categorising it as an "extremely intense spell".
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the 24-hour average concentration of lung-damaging fine particles known as PM2.5 in Delhi-NCR shot up from 243 micrograms per cubic metre at 6 pm on Thursday (Diwali day) to 410 micrograms per cubic metre at 9 am on Friday, around seven times the safe limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre.
Other Graded Response Action Plan measures like ban on diesel generators, hot mix plants, stone crushers and brick kilns, however, continue to remain in place.
If the air pollution is not brought under control, tourism to Kashmir will be affected, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd), who has been visiting the valley for 50 years.
According to the Indian Fireworks' Manufacturers' Association, the ban would wipe out sales of around Rs 600 crore during the upcoming Deepavali season.
In a gross violation of a Supreme Court order, people in several cities burst firecrackers until at least midnight, two hours after the 10 pm deadline. Loud bangs rent the air in New Delhi.
As visibility remained poor and the city choked due to a haze, the Centre for Science and Environment asked the Delhi govt to roll out stringent plans for controlling winter pollution.
While Delhi boasts of one of the best metro systems in the world and decent infrastructure, reckless construction, legalising unauthorised colonies, and the worsening water and air quality dent its image of being a robust cosmopolitan city.
Sunil Bharala, the chairman of the state Labour Welfare Council, said stubble burning is an 'age-old practice'.
With pollution reaching alarming levels post Diwali, what is the best way to cope?
'Petrol cars, which constitute the majority, do not contribute to the 2.5 PM emissions as petrol used in the country is of higher quality.'
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari tweeted about Kejriwal's trip on Friday night hitting out at him for leaving the city at a time when Delhiites were facing air pollution crisis.
The Delhi government sources said the chief minister was scheduled to leave for the summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, at 2 pm on Tuesday, but could not take the flight as the MEA denied him the political clearance to attend the meeting.
Experts find it hard to convince government and sometimes even people about the dangers of pollution because those who want to dodge the issue say that people are dying "for thousands of reasons."
Anti-pollution masks hog limelight, again
Production, storage and sale of firecrackers in the capital will be punishable with a fine of up to Rs 5,000 and three years jail under Section 9B of the Explosives Act, the minister told a press conference in New Delhi.
Congress leader Ajay Maken has written to party president Mallikarjun Kharge, expressing his unwillingness to continue as the in-charge of Rajasthan, sources said on Wednesday.
Airlines must ensure that all check-in counters at the Delhi airport are fully staffed to minimise passenger inconvenience as smog has started affecting the flight operations, Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu directed on Wednesday. The minister gave this direction during a meeting with representatives of major airlines, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
Authorities alerted people to avoid staying outdoors and L-G ordered to halt all civil construction activities across the city till Sunday.
'Working in collaboration is beneficial and more rewarding in the long run.' 'Competition may bring personal glory, but is very short lasting.' 'Work with people who are interested in working with you instead of competing with you.'
Despite the national capital recording its best air quality on Diwali day in eight years, pollution levels may rise due to low night temperatures and sporadic burning of firecrackers though there is a ban on their manufacture, storage, sale and use within the city.
Sunday's opening T20 International against Bangladesh can't be cancelled at the last minute despite deteriorating air quality in the capital, said BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.
There are many good arguments that the Aam Aadmi Party's odd-even response is not the best solution. But we have to do something, because we care about our collective quality of life.
Plants like aloe vera, spider plant and neem act as the natural air filters.
The minimum temperature settled at 2.6 degree Celsius at the Safdarjung observatory, four notches below the season's average, and humidity was 100 per cent. The visibility recorded by the Safdarjung and Palam observatories stood at zero metres at 8.30 am. It was recorded at 100 metres at Safdarjung and zero at Palam at 5.30 am.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta also directed the Delhi government and the Central Pollution Control Board to place before it the data of pollution in Delhi from October till November 14 this year. The bench also directed them to submit pollution data from October 1 to December 31, 2018.
The India Meteorological Department on Wednesday issued an orange alert for Delhi, predicting 'heavy' to 'very heavy' rainfall in parts of the capital with winds gusting up to 60 kilometers per hour.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly confirmed the match will go on as planned in the national capital.
The Delhi government's decision to allow odd-even number cars to ply on alternative days from next month came in for sharp criticism on Monday from Opposition in Rajya Sabha, which dubbed it as "impractical and weird" and called for its reconsideration.
A chat with employees at Paharpur gives you a brief glimpse into a happy and energetic workplace.
The BJP may win more seats in the February 5 assembly election, but not enough to trump AAP, notes Ramesh Menon.
