Supreme Court summons Delhi Chief Secretary over air pollution
The Supreme Court on Tuesday summoned Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev and termed the situation due to air pollution as “shocking state of affairs”. The court said that there cannot be large-scale exodus and people cannot be evacuated from the capital. The apex court also summoned the Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh over the matter.
President rejects petition seeking disqualification of 11 AAP MLAs
President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected a petition demanding disqualification of 11 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs for allegedly holding office of profit by being co-chairpersons in district disaster management authorities. The President’s decision was based on the Election Commission’s opinion that there was no remuneration in holding the office of co-chairperson of a district disaster management authority.
Monitoring activities in J&K will now be easier: Army Chief Rawat
Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday said that as Jammu and Kashmir has become a Union Territory, it will be easier to monitor activities in the region. Rawat said, “In the Kashmir valley, everybody is working together.” He added, “Army doesn’t work in isolation. Army is working along with the other central police forces and the state police forces.”
CBI searches 187 locations in 42 new bank fraud cases worth ₹7,200 cr
The CBI on Tuesday said it had registered 42 new cases of bank fraud amounting to about ₹7,200 crore after conducting searches in 187 places across the country. The agency said of the 42 cases, four involved a fraud amount of more than ₹1,000 crore each. The fraud cases were detected at 15 banks, including the country’s largest lender SBI.
Mohandas Pai calls for govt control over social media giants
Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai has called for legislatures worldwide to draw up norms to exercise control over social media and technology giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter. “[Such] platforms have become big monopolies and are trying to…monitor what is happening,” Pai said. He added that privacy and the collected information cannot be protected by contracts with these firms alone.
Kids cab service PiggyRide raises ₹7.5 crore seed funding
PiggyRide, a startup that provides cab services for children aged 2-18 years, has raised ₹7.5 crore in seed funding led by JAFCO Investment Asia Pacific. The round’s angel investors included InMobi CEO Naveen Tewari, Livspace Co-founders Ramakant Sharma and Anuj Srivastava, and Goldman Sachs MD Niladri Mukhopadhyay. PiggyRide was founded in 2019 by Koovs Co-founder Manish Tewari and Rohan Kaushal.
Unlike instant noodles, science needs patience: PM on Chandrayaan-2
Speaking about India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that science was not like preparing instant noodles and people should not expect immediate results from scientific researches. He added, “Everything didn’t go as planned but the mission was successful.” The lunar exploration mission had created curiosity about science among the youth, PM Modi said.
Sea levels to continue rising after Paris accord pledges expire
A new study has reported that sea levels will continue to rise around the world long after current carbon emissions pledges made through the Paris climate agreement are met and global temperatures stabilise. Researchers found that emissions released during the initial 15-year period of the agreement would cause sea levels to rise by about 20 centimetres by the year 2300.
Trump urges Mexico to wage war on drug cartels after 9 killed
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged Mexico to wage a war on drug cartels operating in its territory and “wipe them off the face of the earth”. Nine members of a US-Mexican Mormon family were killed on Monday for which Trump held cartel members responsible. The victims were three women and six minors while five minors were reportedly injured.
Greece rescues tourist floating in Aegean Sea for two days
A 47-year-old woman floating in a dinghy in the Aegean Sea for nearly two days has been rescued, Greek coastguard officials said on Tuesday. The woman, holidaying on a sailboat near a Greek island, had boarded the inflatable boat on November 1 to get supplies and went missing. “I was blown away…in my dinghy,” the woman said after being rescued.
I was always categorised as dark-skinned in B’wood, faced bias: Malaika
Actress Malaika Arora, while appearing on ‘#NoFilterNeha Season 4’, revealed that she faced bias due to her complexion when she entered the film industry. “I came at a time in the business when this whole thing about dark-skinned, fair-skinned was so prevalent,” she added. “I was always put into the dark-skinned category…so yeah that bias was always there,” said Malaika.
Chimpanzee smokes cigarette allegedly thrown by tourists at Chinese zoo
A viral video showed a 15-year-old female chimpanzee smoking a cigarette allegedly thrown by tourists inside the animal enclosure at a Chinese zoo. The video was taken at the Hefei Wildlife Park in eastern China’s Anhui. The zoo’s director claimed the video wasn’t taken recently, adding that the zoo has three keepers to look after the chimpanzee and her family.
IPL 2020 to have exclusive umpire to monitor no-balls: Reports
The IPL Governing Council is planning to introduce an exclusive umpire who will be assigned specifically to check “no-balls” in IPL 2020. “The concept sounds weird, but this was among the issues discussed in first IPL Governing Council meeting,” a senior official said. “We want to use the technology…The [no-ball umpire] will not be third or fourth umpire,” he added.
All policemen injured in Tis Hazari clash to be given ₹25,000 compensation
Satish Golcha, Special Commissioner of Police Delhi, has said that all policemen who were injured in the Tis Hazari clash with lawyers will be given a compensation of at least ₹25,000 by Delhi Police. At least 20 policemen were injured in the clash which erupted following a parking dispute. Thousands of policemen surrounded Delhi Police Headquarters today to protest.
Newborns ‘smoking’ 25 cigarettes a day due to pollution: Delhi chest surgeon
Dr Arvind Kumar, Chairman, Centre for Chest Surgery in Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said that living in the capital where air quality index was over 600 and PM 2.5 was over 500 was like smoking over 25 cigarettes. Kumar added, “Every newborn who’s born in Delhi is smoking 25 cigarettes from the first day of his or her life.”
Telangana district gives 6 eggs for 2 kg plastic to curb its use
Kamareddy District Collector N Satyanarayana in Telangana has launched the ‘sensitise -incentivise’ campaign, where half a dozen eggs are given to residents in exchange for handing over 2 kg of plastic waste in a bid to reduce single-use plastic. The campaign comes after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao announced that the state would ban the use of single-use plastic.
Delhi Police should take stand, stay firm come what may: Kiran Bedi
Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi has asked Delhi Police to remain firm on its stand on Saturday’s police-lawyers clash at Tis Hazari Court come what may. She said she faced a similar situation in 1988 when a lawyer arrested for theft was brought to Tis Hazari Court in handcuffs and lawyers sought suspension and arrest of policemen for handcuffing him.
AIIMS wasn’t ready for Sushma’s surgery, she refused to go abroad: Husband
Late former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj insisted on undergoing a kidney transplant at AIIMS, Delhi even after doctors said they weren’t ready for it, her husband Swaraj Kaushal tweeted on Tuesday. “She said ‘if we go abroad, people will lose faith in our doctors and hospitals’,” Kaushal tweeted. Swaraj, who died in August 2019, underwent the transplant in December 2016.
Policemen in Delhi call off nearly 11-hour protest over assault by lawyers
Delhi Police has ended a nearly 11-hour-long protest after assurance by senior officers to redress their grievances. Thousands of policemen had surrounded Delhi Police Headquarters to protest after two attacks on their colleagues by lawyers, one at Tis Hazari Court and the other at Saket Court. No departmental action will be taken against protesting policemen, a senior police official said.
Pak PM ready to accept all Opp’n demands except resignation: Report
Pakistan PM Imran Khan on Tuesday reportedly said that the government is ready to accept all the “valid” demands by the opposition except the demand for his resignation. A large number of protestors in Islamabad, led by cleric-cum-politician Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and opposition parties, have demanded Khan’s resignation. The protests have been dubbed as the ‘Azadi March’.
I quit my job to avoid shaking hands with Syrian Prez: Ex-UN envoy Ex-UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said he resigned from his post because he didn’t want to shake hands with Bashar al-Assad after Syrian President won the “territorial” civil war. The civil war in Syria lasted for over eight years and began with anti-government protests in 2011. Mistura had served as the UN envoy from 2014 to 2018.
