Delhi

Chandigarh, Nov 10 (PTI) The Centre has invited Punjab farmer bodies protesting against its farm laws for talks on November 13 in Delhi.

An invite from the Secretary, Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, has been sent to farmers' organisations for talks with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal said farmers' organisations have received an invitation.

New Delhi, Nov 10 (PTI) Delhi woke up to a grey morning as an apocalyptic smog blotted out the sun from the sky and smudged landmarks from view with air quality inching closer to emergency levels on Tuesday.

Air quality monitoring stations at Mandir Marg, Punjabi Bagh, Pusa, Rohini, Patparganj, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Najafgarh, Sri Aurobindo Marg and Okhla Phase 2 maxed out as air quality indexes hit the 500 mark, Central Pollution Control Board data showed.

New Delhi, Nov 9 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday imposed a total ban on sale or use of all kinds of firecrackers in the National Capital Region (NCR) from the midnight of November 9 to the midnight of November 30.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel clarified that the direction will apply to all cities and towns in the country where the average of ambient air quality during November (as per available data of last year) fell under the 'poor' and above categories.

Chennai, Nov 8 (PTI) Former IAS officer S Sasikanth Senthil, who had resigned from service last year alleging that democracy was being "compromised," on Sunday announced his decision to join the Congress party.

The 2009 Karnataka-cadre officer had quit the IAS last year and has since participated in many protests against the government, including the anti-NRC/CAA agitations.

He was the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district when he resigned in September 2019.

New Delhi, Nov 9 (PTI) The national capital's air quality remained severe for the fifth consecutive day on Monday, with calm wind speed exacerbating the effect of stubble burning.

V K Soni, the head of the India Meteorological Department's environment research centre, said a major improvement in Delhi-NCR's air quality was highly unlikely in the coming days.

New Delhi, Nov 8 (PTI) Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has sought a capital support of about Rs 1,000 crore from the government in order to create buffer for any exigency, a top official of the bank said.

The state-owned lender, which has posted profit for the last three consecutive quarters, expects to continue the trend in the remaining part of the current fiscal year with increased focus on recovery and business pick up.

Mumbai, Nov 7 (PTI) Haj pilgrims will have to submit COVID-19 negative report 72 hours prior to their journey to Saudi Arabia in 2021, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday.

After holding a meeting with the Haj Committee and other stake-holders, the minister for minority affairs told reporters that December 10 is the last date for submitting applications for Haj pilgrimage 2021.

New Delhi, Nov 7 (PTI) With the exit polls for Bihar out, the Congress on Saturday said Bihar has voted for change.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said exit polls are interesting as they provided employment to some people who use small samples, but people speak up at the end.

"We are confident that Bihar has voted for a change and Bihar will vote for the change," he told reporters.

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) WhatsApp on Friday said it is rolling out its payments services in India after receiving nod from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

In 2018, the Facebook-owned company had started testing its UPI-based payments service in India, which allows users to utilise the messaging platform to send and receive money. The testing was limited to about a million users as it waited for regulatory approvals to come in.

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) The Supreme Court Friday asked the Centre to ensure there is no smog in Delhi-NCR as it was informed that the commission for air quality management will start functioning from today.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian posted the pleas related to air pollution for hearing after the Diwali vacation.

The Centre on Thursday appointed former Chief Secretary of Delhi M M Kutty chairperson of the Commission for Air Quality Management (AQM) in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas.