West Bengal Chief Minister Shubhendu Adhikari has directed police to take strict action against the use of loudspeakers beyond permissible sound limits at religious places and events across the state.
World Earth Day 2026 is celebrated on April 22 to promote environmental protection. Know its history, significance, theme, inspiring quotes, and why it matters more than ever today.
The Rajasthan High Court has banned night safaris and drone use in the Jawai Leopard Reserve to protect wildlife from disturbance due to unregulated tourism.
Police in Odisha have arrested 10 people for allegedly attempting to run over a tehsildar with a tractor during a raid on illegal soil mining operations in the Jajpur district.
Trinamool Congress MP Nadimul Haque criticised the Jan Vishwas (Amendment and Provisions) Bill, 2026, in the Rajya Sabha, questioning the government's approach to amending multiple central laws through a single piece of legislation and raising concerns about its impact on public health and federal funds owed to West Bengal.
'US and Iran have not annulled the ceasefire, and the possibility of continuing negotiations remains open.'
The human cost of rat-hole mining falls disproportionately on migrant labourers.
Both sides have now revealed a preference for escalation over strategic defeat, and each new provocation narrows the space for the next pause. The Touska seizure, Iran's refusal to negotiate under blockade, Israel's strikes on Iranian oil infrastructure -- all of these add up to an increasingly untenable situation. This makes the wild card -- Trump and his motormouth -- more consequential than ever, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) office on Wednesday launched a sweeping investigation into manufacturing and industrial practices in 16 economies, including India, citing concerns over what it calls 'structural excess capacity' that could distort global trade. Announcing the move on a White House press call, Jamieson Greer said the probe would be conducted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, one of Washington, DC's most powerful trade enforcement tools.
Residential areas now exist cheek by jowl with smokestacks, while convoys of heavy trucks rumble through narrow roads day and night, throwing up clouds of dust.
When missiles fly in this region, they are never just aimed at military targets.
Customs regimes can lead to labyrinthine legal disputes. Budget 2026 must recognise that an excessively defensive Customs posture can itself become a trade barrier, point out Mukesh Butani and Shankey Agrawal.
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has ordered the shutdown of 19 ready mix concrete plants in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region for violating environmental guidelines and contributing to deteriorating air quality levels.
The court asked the state government, forest department and Kaziranga National Park authorities to place on record the steps taken so far to control illegal fishing and to explain how such activities can be effectively prevented in future.
Satat Sampada, the organisation of climate activist Harjeet Singh and his wife, said the allegations made by the Enforcement Directorate against the firm and its founder were baseless, biased and misleading.
Among Indian states, Assam tops the list of elephant fatalities caused by train accidents, followed by Odisha, where 16 elephants were killed on railway tracks.
Indian Coast Guard ship Sarthak visited Chabahar port in Iran, marking the first such visit and underscoring India's growing maritime engagement in the region. The visit aims to strengthen institutional linkages and enhance mutual understanding in maritime safety and security.
Authorities in Bengaluru have sealed the studio premises hosting the Kannada reality show 'Bigg Boss' due to serious violations of environmental regulations cited by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).
Lahore, Pakistan, has once again been ranked as the world's most polluted city, with hazardous smog levels far exceeding WHO guidelines. The city is battling a toxic mix of vehicular emissions, industrial pollution, and crop residue burning.
AIIMS-Delhi reports a rise in eye injuries caused by carbide guns during Diwali, prompting calls for a ban on these dangerous chemical firecrackers. Doctors report severe chemical burn-like injuries and highlight the need for stricter regulations and awareness.
'Stray cows, which feed on leftovers discarded in plastic bags, consume plastic materials. This led to the animals' intestines getting blocked. If left unattended for long, they will die'
The Supreme Court has allowed certified manufacturers to produce green crackers, but restricted their sale in Delhi-NCR without approval. The court has asked the Centre to review the ban on firecracker manufacturing in the region.
The advisory features a ban on taking or sharing photos and videos of the sacrifice rituals on social media platforms.
The Interpol has issued its first Silver notice, at India's request, to track the global assets of former French Embassy officer Shubham Shokeen, who is wanted in connection with a visa fraud. The Silver notice, introduced in January this year, aims to track illicit assets across the globe. India is among 51 countries participating in the pilot project for the Silver notice, which will continue until November. The Interpol has issued two Silver notices on the CBI's request - one against Shokeen for allegedly facilitating Schengen visas for illegal gratification and another against Amit Madanlal Lakhanpal, who is wanted by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly creating a cryptocurrency without permission and defrauding investors.
'What we are witnessing is not a freak incidence or a freak occurrence, but a new climate reality where warming oceans, monsoon variability and local geography are combining to produce extreme events.'
Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, India's 52nd chief justice and its first Buddhist one, has played a key role in shaping the judicial landscape, penning about 300 verdicts, including landmark rulings on constitutional issues, liberty, and perhaps most important against the executive's 'bulldozer justice'.
Stock exchanges' levy of penalties, ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 12 lakh, on public-sector undertakings (PSUs) for lapses in board composition for the 2024-25 October-December quarter has brought forth issues of governance. Last month, 16 PSUs requested bourses to waive these penalties, arguing that these lapses were neither due to negligence nor within their control, as the appointment of directors is managed by the government.
As we brace for unprecedented rates of urbanisation, it is crucial to ensure that illegal constructions and unauthorised land use are curbed, asserts Amit Kapoor.
A consumer forum in Lucknow, India, has halted the construction of actress Sunny Leone's restaurant-cum-bar, citing concerns about "unauthorised activity" and potential security threats to the neighboring high court premises and the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan. The commission deemed the allotment of the society's community center to a commercial establishment as inappropriate and raised concerns about the Lucknow Development Authority's approval of the project. The matter has been listed for further hearing on February 19.
Nepal has sharply increased permit fees for climbing Mount Everest by 36 per cent and also introduced a slew of measures aimed at controlling garbage pollution on the world's tallest peak, officials said.
Air quality index (AQI) soared past 350 level in parts of Delhi on Thursday and experts cautioned that as weather turns colder it may breach the 400-mark ceiling and enter the 'severe' zone soon, notwithstanding the incidents of stubble burnings which have nosedived from 17,529 in 2020 to 4,262 this year.
Delhi's crime rate against women stood at 144.4 in 2022 -- the highest among all states and Union Territories.
Pitching for environmentally benign progress, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday favoured proper enforcement of regulatory standards to prevent green damage while making sure that there is no return to the license permit raj system.
'Days ago, India witnessed the horror of the brutal rape and murder of a woman doctor on night duty at the R G Kar hospital in Kolkata.' 'The crime was so outrageous that any self-respecting chief minister should have resigned, bearing moral responsibility.' 'But then the terms 'self-respect' and 'moral responsibility' do not exist in the modern Indian political lexicon,' argues Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta (retd).
The Delhi government has been following the practice of banning all kinds of firecrackers for the last three years.
'Today, environment has become an issue of political debate. It has become a media issue. I think that is a good development.'
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said pollution levels declined in the national capital due to government initiatives as he announced a 15-point winter action plan to curb pollution.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Delhi's 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) stood at 248 on Saturday.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
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