The government on Friday scrapped a minimum price threshold that it had set previously for exports of onion as it looked to pass on the benefit of international glut to Indian farmers. The government had previously fixed a $550 per tonne as the minimum export price (MEP), which essentially meant farmers could not sell their produce overseas at lower than this rate.
Around 200 schools in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday morning received a hoax bomb threat via email which led to widespread panic among parents and students, prompting authorities to suspend classes and ask parents to pick their wards from the school.
With Delhi recording air pollution levels seven to eight times above safe standards on Monday, the city government announced the return of its flagship odd-even scheme after four years anticipating further deterioration of air quality post-Diwali.
In a statement, the department of consumer affairs said about 18,000 kg of tomatoes were sold across Delhi-NCR to retail consumers.
Polling in 25 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held on May 7.
Security agencies searched over 100 hospitals and malls in the national capital after they received bomb threat emails on Tuesday. However, it turned out to be a hoax as nothing suspicious was found, officials said.
'Developers are into profit-making. And there's not too much money in the affordable segment.' 'So, they don't do affordable housing.'
SIAM also said the ban, which is in effect since December 16, has resulted in production loss of around 11,000 units
Air quality in Delhi and its suburbs dropped to the severe category again on Wednesday morning, with smoke from post-harvest paddy straw burning in neighbouring states accounting for one-third of the air pollution in the national capital.
Justice Subramonium Prasad said though police have filed a status report listing the standard operating procedure for bomb detection and disposal squads and the guidelines to deal with bomb threats in schools, they have not submitted data on several key aspects.
Experts say you should be certain of living in a city and locality for a long time before purchasing a home.
Indian real estate market remained buoyant in January-June this year, with housing sales hitting an 11-year high at 1.73 lakh units and office demand at a record 34.7 million square feet across eight major cities, according to Knight Frank. On an annual basis, housing sales rose 11 per cent to 173,241 units while leasing of office space grew 33 per cent to 34.7 million square feet during January-June this year across eight major cities. Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing director, Knight Frank India, said, "India's real estate market has been buoyant in the last few quarters owing to the strong economic fundamentals and stable socio-political conditions."
The city's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 420 at 8 am on Thursday, compared to 426 at 4 pm on Wednesday. The AQI map prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board showed clusters of red dots (indicating hazardous air quality) spread across the Indo-Gangetic plains.
In line with most of the exit poll predictions, bookies in Delhi feel the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get more than 340 seats in the Lok Sabha polls while the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) may secure around 200 seats.
As a consequence of prominence given to the brutality during those few days, a very important aspect of that episode got almost glossed over. This was the intervention by a very significant section of people who restored faith in humanity, and conveyed the message that only a small section of Indians, that too politically backed, were consumed by anti-Sikh majoritarianism. The overlooked facet of the events of 1984 was the story of significant sections of the city's populace, public figures and nondescript ones, stepping out hand-in-hand, to first stand with little but bravery in hands, in the way of attackers, and thereafter to provide immediate relief to those who lives were uprooted and who lost family members in the violence, recalls Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Supreme Court on Friday said that crop residue burning in Punjab and some other states adjacent to Delhi have to be stopped and solution has to found to reduce the pollution level in the national capital region (NCR).
The threshold for a heat wave is met when the maximum temperature of a weather station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, 37 degrees in coastal areas, and 30 degrees in hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 notches.
The poisonous haze has been causing significant problems for people with existing respiratory issues, according to doctors.
There's a hint of new competition riding into a sector that has attracted attention for being in a duopoly-like situation. Rapido, a commute app known for its budget-friendly bike-taxi services, on Tuesday announced its entry into the cab market, which is currently dominated by marquee brands Uber and Ola. Rapido's cab foray will be enabled by a software as a service (SaaS)-based platform.
In a statement, the UNAU Tribal Women's Forum, Delhi-NCR, said the mothers of the Kuki-Hmar-Zomi community of Manipur, represented by the group, are "deeply hurt and appalled" by the remarks made by the solicitor general in the Supreme Court on August 1.
The Union government has reduced prices of subsidised tomatoes to Rs 70 per kilogramme from Thursday from Rs 80 per kg now to provide relief to common man from high retail prices. The Centre is selling tomatoes to people at a subsidised rate of Rs 80 a kg in Delhi-NCR and some other key cities through the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). The all-India average retail prices of tomatoes is ruling at nearly 120 per kg, although the key kitchen item is selling as high as Rs 245 per kg at some places.
IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that inducing artificial rain can only be attempted when there are clouds or moisture available.
With Atishi at the helm it will not be easy for the BJP to continue using the LG's office and the bureaucracy as political instruments to hinder governance and thereby provoke the electorate's ire against the AAP, expects Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Authorities alerted people to avoid staying outdoors and L-G ordered to halt all civil construction activities across the city till Sunday.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
High-end apartments, penthouses, and bungalows boasting amenities like swimming pools, expansive driveways, and premium interiors are becoming highly sought after.
Mother Dairy hiked milk prices by Rs 2 per litre in the Delhi-NCR market effective Tuesday, citing an increase in its procurement rate of raw milk from producers. This is the fifth increase in milk prices since March, with the cumulative hike now totalling up to Rs 9 per litre, or 16 per cent, by Mother Dairy -- one of the leading milk suppliers in Delhi-NCR with volumes of more than 30 lakh litres per day. When contacted, R S Sodhi, MD of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets milk under Amul brand and is a major player in Delhi-NCR, said that there is no plan to increase its milk prices in the near future.
Preventive measures are in place and the forecast suggests further improvement, said the statutory body responsible for forming air pollution reduction strategies for the region and their implementation.
Housing sales rose 8 per cent annually during the April-June period to 80,250 units across eight major cities, mainly on increased demand in Mumbai and Pune, according to PropTiger. Sales stood at 74,320 units in the year-ago period across primary (fresh sales) residential markets of the top eight cities. The housing brokerage firm on Wednesday released its Real Insight Residential - April-June 2023 report, stating that housing sales rose in three cities Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad but declined in other five major cities -- Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.
The Centre on Monday directed cooperatives NCCF and NAFED to sell tomatoes at a reduced rate of Rs 50 per kilogram from Tuesday in view of the decline in prices in the wholesale markets. Since July, both NCCF and NAFED have been selling tomatoes at a discounted rate on behalf of the consumer affairs ministry in Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar to boost domestic availability and contain price rise. Initially, the ministry had asked the two cooperatives to sell tomatoes at a subsidised rate of Rs 90 per kg and later reduced the price to Rs 80 per kg. Further, the price was cut to Rs 70 per kg.
The clarification by the top court, which had in 2018 banned the bursting of conventional firecrackers to curb air and sound pollution, will have ramifications across the nation.
The Centre will sell tomatoes at Rs 80 per kg from Sunday, as against Rs 90 per kg earlier, to provide relief to people from high prices of the key kitchen item in retail markets.
NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty, arrested in a case filed under the anti-terror law UAPA following allegations the portal received money for pro-China propaganda, were sent to seven days of police remand, officials said on Wednesday.
The air quality is expected to improve further due to wind speed favourable for the dispersion of pollutants.
Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 248 on Saturday.
Four earthquakes, the strongest being of magnitude 6.2, jolted Nepal in quick succession with tremors reverberating through parts of north India including Delhi-NCR, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said on Tuesday.
Bracing for another agitation by farmers, police are fortifying the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh and Delhi-Haryana borders with barricades and deploying more than 5,000 security personnel, a senior police officer said here on Friday.
Tomato prices in the retail markets of the national capital declined to an average Rs 150 per kg on Monday from Rs 178 per kg on Sunday, according to the government data. However, e-commerce players such as Amazon, Big Basket and Otipy are selling tomatoes at Rs 170-190 per kg in Delhi-NCR. Blinkit is selling at Rs 138 per kg. The Centre is selling tomatoes at a subsidised rate of Rs 80 per kg in Delhi-NCR and some other cities through the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).
In the event of the BJP's poor performance in the assembly polls this year and in early 2025, Modi's hold will get further weakened because he will no longer remain the invincible electoral persona tightly controlling the machine at his disposal, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
A high-velocity dust storm hit the national capital and regions of Haryana and Rajasthan. The storm, with a wind speed of 70 kilometres per hours, hit Delhi around 11.20 pm on Monday, an official at the Safdarjung observatory said. Here's a glimpse of the storm and all that it brought along with it.