LEAD

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Delhi government over its affidavit citing reasons for the rising air pollution in the national capital.

The central government, in an affidavit filed before the Apex court, cited a scientific study to say that stubble burning accounts for only 4 per cent of Delhi's air pollution (PM 2.5) in winters and 7 per cent in summers.

Reacting to the affidavit, Justice DY Chandrachud remarked, "In fact, now the cat is out of the bag, the farmers' stubble burning contributes to 4 per cent of the pollution as per the chart. So we are targeting something which is totally insignificant."

A deadly ambush near the Myanmar border in Manipur that killed five soldiers, including a colonel, his wife and their eight-year-old son, has brought China’s possible support to insurgencies in India’s Northeast back in focus, and the neighbour may be plotting to foment trouble in the region amid border tensions, China watchers and security officials said on Sunday.

This is not the first time that Chinese links with insurgent groups have come under scrutiny. Questions about Beijing’s involvement have been raised previously too including in October 2020, when China’s propaganda machinery warned India against a trade pact with Taiwan, saying Beijing could retaliate by supporting Northeast separatists and stop recognising Sikkim as a part of India.

“The possibility of China fuelling insurgency in the Northeast exists. Insurgent outfits in the Northeast, including Manipur, have links with armed groups such as Arakan Army and United Wa State Army in Myanmar from where Chinese weapons are finding their way into the Northeast,” a senior official said.

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced various emergency measures, including closure of schools for a week, ban on construction activities and work from home for government employees, to deal with the pollution crisis faced by the city.

The Supreme Court earlier on Saturday termed the rise in air pollution in Delhi-NCR an "emergency" situation and asked the Centre and the Delhi government to take emergency measures to improve the air quality. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said the situation of pollution is so bad that people are wearing masks inside their houses.

"Everybody has the passion of blaming farmers. Have you seen how crackers are being burnt in Delhi for the last seven days? It is an emergency situation, multiple measures are needed to be taken on the ground level," the bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant, said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday told nearly 700 BJP workers in Varanasi in over an hour-long address that the BJP’s win in the Uttar Pradesh elections is “very important for the nation” and the victory in 2022 will pave the way for the party’s victory in 2024 general elections.

BJP state chief Swatantra Dev later said that Shah had given the mantra to win the 2022 elections in Uttar Pradesh after showing the way to the party in UP in 2014, 2017 and 2019.

“Booth Jeeta toh UP Jeeta — Shah got everyone to take this resolve. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have given corruption-free and fear-free governance to Uttar Pradesh. People kept asking us why we do not tell the date of Ram temple’s construction in Ayodhya but it is during the BJP government’s tenure that the temple is being built and the Kashi Viswanath Corridor in Varanasi is being built,” Singh later told media-persons.

The World Health Organisation warns that we could soon experience a global syringe shortage, with a deficit coming close to nearly 2 billion.

Reported first by AFP, this is due to the global COVID-19 vaccine campaign that has administered over 7.25 billion doses -- nearly twice the number of standard vaccinations given in a year.

Lisa Hedman, WHO senior advisor to the Division of Access to Medicines and Health Products, revealed that around 6.8 billion people needing two doses of the novel coronavirus vaccine between now and 2023. The global manufacturing capacity is only of six billion immunisation syringes in a year.