Indian Sub-continent

New Delhi, Nov 6: A group of people on Tuesday gathered outside the office of the Environment Ministry to protest against the alarming rise in the pollution level that has raised health concerns.

The protesters held placards displaying messages like 'Delhi air is poisonous', 'breathing is killing me', 'My Right to Breathe' and 'Unbreathable  India' outside the Indira Pariyavaran Bhawan.

The protesters also sang songs and asked the government to stop the stubble burning going on in the surrounding states of Delhi.

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) Communist Party of India general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy Tuesday described the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to rename Faizabad district to Ayodhya as a ploy to cover up its failure in governance.

The decision, which was announced by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Tuesday, also reflects the "anti-Muslim" sentiments of the BJP, he said.

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday said that the BJP remembers Ram temple when elections are near and alleged that the ruling party is just interested in seeking votes in the name of Lord Ram.

The Ram temple has been used by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for political opportunism and it is still doing it, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told a press conference here.

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) Keeping up the heat on the RBI, the government will continue to press the central bank to relax norms to boost lending and transfer at least a third of its Rs 9.6 lakh crore reserve, sources familiar with the discussions said.

In recent weeks, the rift between the RBI and the government has been widening over various issues.

Recently, the government cited never-used before provisions of law that gives it powers to issue directions to the RBI on mattes of public interest to resolve certain issues.

Ahmedabad (Guj), Nov 6 (PTI) Hours after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced the renaming of Faizabad district as Ayodhya, the Gujarat government Tuesday said it was keen on rechristening Ahmedabad as Karnavati, if there were no legal hurdles.

Speaking to reporters in Gandhinagar, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was willing to change Ahmedabad's name if it gets past the legal hurdles and receives required support.

Lucknow, Nov 6 (PTI) Skipper Rohit Sharma's record-breaking fourth T20 International hundred powered India to a comprehensive 71-run win over West Indies in what turned out to be another one-sided series victory for the hosts.

India, thus, took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20 series. The last T20 will be played in Chennai on November 11.

The legend of Rohit in white ball format continued to grow exponentially as his unbeaten 111 off 61 balls helped India score 195 for 2 after being put into bat.

Lucknow, Nov 7 (PTI) Young pacer Khaleel Ahmed, who convinced his skipper to hand him the new ball in the second Twenty20 against the West Indies, says he thrives on responsibility and never lets pressure affect his performance.

Khaleel pegged the West Indies back with two early wickets and according to India's stand-in captain Rohit Sharma it was the 20-year-old who insisted on bowling with the new ball along with seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) Indian Bank said Wednesday that it has raised Rs 110 crore through bonds.

The Basel III Compliant Tier 2 bonds, with a coupon rate of 8.85 per cent per annum, were raised on Tuesday. The bonds have tenor at 10 years and call option after completion of 5 years on private placement basis, an Indian Bank statement said.

According to the statement, the credit rating assigned to these bonds is "CRISIL AAA/Stable" and "CARE AAA".

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced that Faizabad district will now be known as Ayodhya.

This announcement comes three weeks after the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj.

“Ayodhya is a symbol of our ‘aan, baan aur shaan’, said Adityanath.

A town named Ayodhya already exists close to Faizabad.

Rahul Gandhi has alleged that PM Modi needs Rs 3.6 lakh crore from RBI surplus to fix the ‘mess his genius economic theories have created’.

Gandhi’s comment came after Finance Ministry sent a proposal to RBI seeking the transfer of a surplus of Rs 3.6 lakh crore, more than a third of the total Rs 9.59 lakh crore reserves of the central bank, to the government.