Tuesday, September 16, 2025
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NHRC takes suo motu cognizance of media reports on Delhi fire

New Delhi (NVI): The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports on the deaths of at least 43 people in the  Delhi’s Anaj Mandi fire yesterday morning.

The Commission has issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, Commissioner of Police, Delhi and the Commissioner of North Delhi Municipal Corporation and sought for a detailed report in the matter within six weeks along with action taken against the errant officials. The Commission has also sought a report on the relief and rehabilitation provided to the next of kin of the deceased and the injured persons.

The Commission observed that it seems the authorities have not learnt any lessons from the tragic incidents occurred in the recent past and incident like Anaj Mandi fire catastrophe was waiting to happen.

According to media reports the fire caused by a short-circuit and turned the five-story building in a lethal gas chamber where 100 to 150 people were sleeping, choking most of the victims to death.

The Commission took note of the media reports that stated that out of 43 victims 39 died due to asphyxiation.

A notice has also been issued to the Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India with the expectation that a Committee of Experts may be formed to look into the matters relating to the violation of norms by the building owners, who are conducting commercial activities in the residential areas by encroaching public roads in connivance with public officials of different agencies.

The Committee must look into the Master Plan of Delhi and to take all adequate and appropriate measures by examining all issues of illegal construction, misuse of rules and use of factory area for residential purposes, thoroughly and submit its report with their suggestions to streamline all the congested areas within Delhi to make it more save and worth living for the citizens. The response is expected within six weeks.

-sb

India, Australia for increased cooperation to counter terror

India + aus
3rd India-Australia Foreign & Defence Secretaries’ Dialogue

New Delhi (NVI): India and Australia today pitched for enhanced collaboration to counter the threat of terrorism and violent extremism through increased information-sharing.

Emphasis on intelligence-sharing to fight the menace was laid at the 3rd edition of Foreign and Defence Secretaries’ Dialogue (2+2) held here.

At the meeting, the Indian side was led by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar while the Australian delegation was headed by Frances Adamson, Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Greg Moriarty, Secretary in the Department of Defence.

The two sides welcomed the recent progress made in deepening bilateral, political, economic, security and defence cooperation, a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry said.

Discussing recent regional and global developments, the two sides exchanged views on achieving their shared objective of peace, prosperity and progress in the Indo-Pacific region. This assumes significance against the backdrop of China’s assertiveness in South China Sea, over which it lays an absolute maritime claim.

“The 2+2 meeting provided opportunities for the two sides to review the status of their bilateral relationship in the context of emerging scenarios,” the statement said.

 

BJP wins 12 seats in Karnataka bypolls

New Delhi (NVI): Of the 15 assembly seats up for grabs at the just concluded bypolls in Karnataka, the ruling BJP won 12 seats. With this win the ruling party has retained its majority in the state assembly.

BS Yediyurappa, the incumbent chief minister, needed to win at least six of those 15 seats to remain in office. It managed to win 12 assembly seats.

The Congress won in two constituencies. JDS supported independent candidate won in one assembly constituency while the JDS suffered the biggest setback as the party failed to win even a single seat.

Conceding defeat Congress leaders Siddaramaiah resigned as the leader of opposition in the state assembly, while Dinesh Gundurao quit as KPCC president.

During the last elections, the Congress had won in 12 of those 15 seats and the JDS has won the remaining three.

Fog engulfs Kashmir valley, affects normal life

Srinagar (NVI): Thick fog enveloped most parts of the Kashmir Valley today as well, forcing the authorities to order shut the primary schools. Cold weather conditions and poor visibility also affected the flight operations at the Srinagar airport.

From the past few days, foggy condition is prevailing in the entire valley. According to the meteorological department forecast there will be no let up in the coming two days – the foggy conditions will continue in the valley for the next 48-hours.

Due to a fresh western disturbance snowfall is also predicted in the Kashmir valley on December 12 and 13.

Meanwhile, in view of adverse weather conditions, concerned authorities tasked both public and private schools up to fifth class to remain closed today.

Since last four days flight operations have also been severely affected at the Srinagar airport. Today was no exception, no flights operated in the morning because of the poor visibility.

According to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials, fog disrupted the air traffic movement to and from the Srinagar airport.

-sb

India makes modest progress in Human Development Report

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Shoko Noda at the release of Human Development Report 2019

New Delhi(NVI): India ranks 129 out of 189 countries on the 2019 Human Development Index (HDI), marking incremental improvement from the previous year’s ranking 130 out of 189, an official report said.

According to the key findings of the 2019 Human Development Report, released today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),India’s HDI value increased by 50 percent (from 0.431 to 0.647), which places it above the average for countries in the medium human development group (0.634) and above the average for other South Asian countries (0.642).

South Asia was the fastest growing region (46 percent growth over the period 1990-2018), followed by East Asia and the Pacific at 43 percent.Indonesia and the Philippines both joined the ranks of countries with high human development.

UNDP India Resident Representative Shoko Noda said that for countries like India, which have shown great success in reducing absolute poverty, we hope that the 2019 Human Development Report sheds light on inequalities and deprivations that go beyond income.

“How we tackle old and new inequalities, ranging from access to basic services such as housing to things like access to quality university education, will be critical to whether we achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” she said.

“India’s development initiatives like the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (for financial inclusion) and Ayushman Bharat (for universal health care) are crucial in ensuring that we meet our promise to leave no one behind and fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision of development for all,” she added.

The report which was entitled “Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today: inequalities in human development in the 21st Century” states that China leads the world in installed bandwidth, and India’s share in the world’s installed

But tertiary education rates lag significantly behind wealthier countries, with only 24.5 percent of the tertiary school-aged population in India and 44 percent in East Asia and the Pacific enrolled in higher education.

And although millions throughout the region have escaped multidimensional poverty – none more so than in India, where 271 million were lifted out of poverty from 2005-2006 to 2015-2016 — the incidence of multidimensional poverty varies enormously across countries and is till high.

Out of the 1.3 billion multidimensional poor, 661 million are in Asia and the Pacific, which shares almost half of the multidimensional poor living in 101 countries of the world. South Asia alone shares more than 41 percent of the total number of multidimensional poor. Despite India’s significant progress, it accounts for 28 percent of the 1.3 billion multidimensional poor.

The report also finds that despite progress, group-based inequalities persist on the Indian subcontinent, especially affecting women and girls.

The HDI reveals that India is only marginally better than the South Asian average on the Gender Development Index (0.829 vs 0.828), and ranks at a low 122 (of 162) countries on the 2018 Gender Inequality Index.

The report also notes that more Indian men and women were showing biases in gender social norms, indicating a backlash to women’s empowerment.

HDRO Advisory Board Chair and Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that the report gives us a much broader understanding of the factors shaping unequal life chances, from birth and through life. That wider picture is critical to mitigating inequality on a lasting basis, and achieving fair and inclusive growth.

-sb

Climate change increasing dengue risk: WHO

Dengue
New Delhi (NVI): Climate change is increasing the risk of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

 
The global body said warmer temperatures are expanding habitats for mosquitoes and putting millions more people at risk of these diseases.
 
While emphasising that climate change is a health problem, it said the direct cost of climate change to health is estimated to be between USD 2-4 billion per year by 2030.

“Today, less than 0.5% of international finance for climate change is allocated to health,” the WHO said.

“We can do a lot to protect ourselves, our families and our future generations,” the global health body said.
“Our transport systems are inefficient, polluting and drive CO2 into the atmosphere, which directly harms the environment and our health.The same can be said of our energy and food systems. The livestock sector is responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions,” it said.
It added that cleaner, more efficient energy choices will go a long way in reducing emissions.
The WHO said burning fossil fuels is the main driver of climate change and it causes air pollution that kills 7 million people every year.
While warning that climate change is “already threatening our health”, it said “We must” move to cleaner energy sources, transport and agricultural systems.

DSGMC will open stores for economic empowerment of 1984 Survivors 

Gurdwara Bangla Sahib. File Photo

New Delhi (NVI): Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) will set up exclusive departmental stores in all 10 historic Gurdwars in the national capital for economic empowerment of 1984 anti Sikh violence survivors under the brand name ‘1984 Stores’.

DSGMC President Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that the objective of these store is to enable thousands of Sikh families who are victims of the ‘heinous genocide’ in 1984 which took place after the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

According to DSGMC these stores will run on the co-operative store model and will be  managed by  1984 Anti Sikh  Violence Survivors family members. The profits earned from the stores will be utilised for the welfare, advancement and development of 1984 anti Sikh survivors to ensure dignified livelihood to the victims families, DSGMC President said.

The first such departmental store in the series will be opened in the premises of the historic Gurdwara Bangla Sahib by the end of  this month  which will be one-stop-shop for customers for groceries items.

The second store will be opened in Gurdwara Rakab Ganj in January 2020 and the model will be replicated in all other Gurdwaras in the National Capital and ensure optimum benefits to the survivors.

“The departmental store will also sell articles of Sikh faith such as Sikh turbans, kangha, kara, kachera and Kirpan and Sikh Religion Books, Literature,” Sirsa said.

Sirsa further said that DSGMC will tie up with prestigious manufacturing companies, business houses and corporate sector like Verka, Nafed, Markfed for procuring these items on highly competitive prices so as to provide them to customers on reasonable rates to achieve the sole objectives of  benefiting  Survivors through business enterprise.

Around 3,000 Sikhs were massacred, around 11000 houses were burned damaged and 4000 commercial properties damaged or destroyed and around 3000 Sikhs members were seriously injured in 1984 Sikh massacre.

-sb

Markets opens marginally higher

BSE

Mumbai (NVI): Sensex and Nifty opened marginally higher today.

The S&P BSE Sensex index was up 2.40 points or 0.01 per cent at 40,447.55. It fell as much as 108.59 points to hit 40,336.56 on the downside.

It opened at 40,527.24 from its previous close of 40,445.15.

The NSE Nifty was also trading on a flat note. The broader index was up 8 points or 0.07 per cent at 11,929.50.

It declined to as low as 11,888.05, down 33.45 points from the previous close.

However, the markets recovered most of those losses in the first few minutes of trade.

Meanwhile, Indian rupee opened on a cautious note and fell 7 paise to 71.27 against the US dollar in early trade.

-sb

Delhi air quality still ‘very poor’

New Delhi (NVI): The overall air quality in Delhi remained in the ‘very poor’ category as cold weather and calm winds allowed accumulation of pollutants.

According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital stood at 355.

The SAFAR forecast suggests a slight deterioration of AQI for tomorrow but within the higher-end of very poor category.

Fresh western disturbance is predicted. It will likely affect the northwest India by December 11. Scattered rainfall is also expected on December 12.

The AQI in Chandini Chowk was in the ‘very poor’ category with PM2.5 of 304. At Mathura Road the PM2.5 was 367 while the neighbouring Noida recorded a PM2.5 of 414 which falls in the ‘severe’ category.

-sb

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