This time, Delhi saw a sharp improvement in air quality just ahead of Diwali which can be attributed to intermittent rainfall on Friday and wind speed favourable for the dispersion of pollutants.
The city's average air quality index (AQI) stood at 220 at 12 noon, improving from 263 at 4 pm on Monday.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia also suggested why should there be any purchase under the minimum support price system from farmers who indulge in crop residue burning, irrespective of the fact that citizens and children were affected due to pollution.
The year was 2014. A small boy in his teens stood in front of Noida's most famous cricket coach Phool Chand's office room, and there was no parent accompanying him.
The total leasing of office space, which comprises demand for all grades of buildings, rose 93 per cent year-on-year in January to 3.2 million square feet across seven major cities, according to property consultant JLL India. However, the leasing fell 56 per cent, compared to December 2022, which had seen 7.4 million square feet office space absorption. In January 2022, the aggregate leasing activities stood at 1.7 million square feet.
Real estate developers are sitting on around 7.85 lakh unsold housing units across eight major cities and it will take them 32 months to clear these stocks at current sales velocity, according to PropTiger. However, in Delhi-NCR residential market -- which has been adversely impacted due to defaults of many big builders like Amrapali, Jaypee Infratech and Unitech -- it will take 62 months to sell over 1 lakh unsold housing units. Housing brokerage firm PropTiger.com data showed that unsold housing inventory has increased to 7,85,260 units as on September 30, 2022 from 763,650 unsold units at the end of previous quarter.
There are conflicting reports about the magnitude of the earthquake that shook Delhi and its adjoining areas. While the Indian Meteorological Department measured the quake at a scale of 4.9, the United States Geological Survey put the magnitude at 5.2 on the Richter scale.
The sky turned cloudy around 4:30pm and gusty winds swept the national capital.
In the coming days, unless Modi tones down the communal spiel, it will be clear that anxiety continues to drive his mind and clouds his judgment, observes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
An earthquake of magnitude 3.1 struck Faridabad in Haryana at 4.08 pm on Sunday, the National Centre for Seismology said.
After a bomb blast at the high court in Delhi on Wednesday, the national capital was rocked by a strong earthquake around 11.34 pm. The earthquake measured 4.2 on the Richter Scale.
In the five years in politics Priyanka Gandhi has undeniably emerged as a thorn in the BJP flesh, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. It is time that this thorn is twisted a wee bit more when the elections have become far more uncertain than what it was when the Election Commission announced the poll schedule.
If the BJP gets only 200 seats and wants to remain in power, Modi will have to make way -- either for a proxy of his choice, or for an internal rival, predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The charge sheet has been filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi and the court has listed the matter to be heard on January 16, the sources said.
Cinema owners elated with 'extraordinary' advance booking match screenings
Amid a spike in pollution levels in Delhi-NCR, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to ensure crop residue burning was stopped "forthwith", saying it cannot let "people die" due to pollution.
Squandering the relief due to rain, Delhi recorded a jump in pollution levels and a smoky haze returned on Monday after people flouted the ban on firecrackers on Diwali night.
Thousands of farmers from around 100 villages of Noida and Greater Noida on Thursday took to the streets seeking hiked compensation, bringing traffic to a standstill in several parts of Delhi-NCR as they made an unsuccessful bid to march towards Parliament.
Housing sales rose 36 per cent year-on-year to a record 120,280 units across seven major cities during the July-September period on robust demand amid stable mortgage rate, according to Anarock. Housing sales stood at 88,230 units in the year-ago period across the seven major cities. Releasing the data, real estate consultant Anarock said average housing prices across the seven cities grew 11 per cent annually in the July-September period this year.
Sale of Apple's iPhone 15 is estimated to have registered a 100 per cent growth compared to that of the iPhone 14 series on the first day with high demand for made-in-India iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models, according to industry sources. Apple has for the first time made available the 'made-in-India' iPhone on the same day it started selling the devices in the country and other parts of the globe. "Till evening, 6 pm IST, the sales of iPhone 15 series have recorded over 100 per cent growth on Day 1 compared to the sale of iPhone 14.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Delhi police not to issue temporary licences for sale and storage of any kind of firecrackers, saying when the city government has banned all firecrackers no distinction can be made on the basis of whether it is green or not.
Farmers from Punjab clashed with Haryana police at two border points between the states on Tuesday, facing tear gas and water cannons as they tried to break past barricades blocking their protest march to the national capital. The police lobbed tear gas shells -- some of them dropped from a drone -- and tried to disperse groups of stone-pelting protesters in the face-off that last several hours at Shambhu border near Ambala in Haryana.
Purchase of three plots of land in Haryana in 2005-06 by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra from a real estate agent is being probed along with a land deal made by his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed in a recently filed money laundering case charge sheet.
Hyperlocal delivery platform magicpin experienced an overwhelming surge in demand at 9 am on Monday, causing its app to crash, leaving users temporarily unable to access the platform. The increased traffic came after the firm announced its "tomatoes @ Rs70" initiative last week in partnership with National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). This led to magicpin's tomato stocks depleting within the first 10 minutes, leaving many buyers struggling to order.
It is early to make out which way the wind is blowing, but there is no denying that challenges for the BJP, far outweigh the advantages in this region, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Shares of real estate firms have been outperforming over the past year. The rally, analysts say, may hit roadblocks in the near term amid stretched valuations, even as the long-term prospects for the sector remain ebullient. "Most of the positive news flow is already in the price. Hence, investors sitting on hefty profits may partially cash out at current levels," suggests V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Property prices will come down once there is a steady supply in the Delhi market, which could happen in the next three to four years.
Anger cannot be an end in itself to Rahul Gandhi's politics -- it must instead catalyse a new political strategy, argues Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
With a string of controversial videos made in Delhi Metro trains and premises going viral in the last several months, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chief Vikas Kumar has appealed to people to refrain from engaging in 'objectionable' activities and said steps were being taken to curb such incidents.
As the air pollution in Delhi-NCR ameliorated over the last two days, the Centre's air quality panel Sunday directed authorities to lift the ban on plying of non-BS VI diesel light motor vehicles in the region and the entry of trucks into the capital imposed under the final stage of the Graded Response Action Plan.
An improvement in the wind speed November 21 onwards might bring air pollution levels down.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested freelance journalist Vivek Raghuvanshi and former Navy commander Ashish Pathak for allegedly collecting sensitive information on defence matters and passing them on to foreign intelligence agencies, officials said on Wednesday.
A moderate earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale on Wednesday night jolted Delhi, National Capital Region, Chennai and parts of eastern and northern India including West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to properties.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
General insurance companies are likely to see a surge in demand for health insurance in the coming months due to falling air quality in the country. The health insurance segment has registered a strong growth after the pandemic due to higher awareness. In the first half of financial year 2023-24, the segment grew by 24.4 per cent to Rs 54,713.52 crore from Rs 43,981.54 crore in H1FY23, driving growth of the non-life insurance industry.
Delhi BJP vice president Kapil Mishra hailed people for defying the cracker ban.
With the number of start-ups reaching the unicorn level falling drastically in 2023, the Hurun Unicorn Index said it has demoted eight gazelles - start-ups that were founded in 2000 and have the potential to go to unicorn in three years - to cheetahs.
The government on Saturday imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of $800 per tonne on onion exports till December 31 this year with a view to increase availability of the vegetable in the domestic market and contain prices. The decision will come into effect from October 29. Besides, the government has also announced the procurement of additional 2 lakh tonnes of onion for the buffer, over and above the 5 lakh tonnes already procured.
Soon after the ad was put up, several people tweeted with the hashtag "HinduphobicSwiggy", urging people to boycott the food and grocery delivery service provider.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances