Violence over CAA in Northeast Delhi: The national capital has been on the edge since violent clashes broke out over CAA on February 23 in the Northeast Delhi district. The death toll due to the ongoing violent clashes in Northeast Delhi has reached 22. In an urgent hearing on Tuesday night, the Delhi High Court directed the Delhi Police to ensure safe passage and proper medical assistance to all those who are injured in the violent clashes over CAA. Here are the top 10 developments:

1. Last rites of the martyred Delhi Police Head Constable Ratan Lal are being held at his hometown in Sikar, Rajasthan.

2. Delhi High Court said, "We cannot let another 1984 happen in this country; not under the watch of this court."

3. The High Court, further directed setting up helplines for the victims and providing private ambulances for safe passage. Court also directed setting up of shelters with basic facilities for rehabilitation.

4. Delhi Police has given out contact details of the officers to contact for victims and their families at various government hospitals such as Guru Teg Bahadur hospital, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash hospital, Maulana Azad hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, and Al-Hind hospital.  

5. 22 deaths have been reported till now. 21 deaths in Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and 1 death in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital.

6. PM Modi is monitoring the security situation in various parts of Delhi. Modi said that it was important that calm and normalcy was restored in Delhi at the earliest. In his tweet, PM also mentioned that the Delhi Police was working on ground to ensure peace and normalcy.

7. Congress President Sonia Gandhi held Amit Shah directly responsible for the violent clashes in Delhi and also sought his resignation. She also alleged that there is a conspiracy behind the violence.

8. All party meet was called by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at 12 pm today. The Lieutant Governor Anil Baijal and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal were present at this meeting.

9. Shah urged all political parties to exercise restraint and not spread rumours. Apart from this, Shah appealed to all political parties present at the meeting to help in dispelling any kind of rumours and fear among people.

10. News agency ANI quoted Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal as saying, "The situation in Delhi is alarming. Police, despite all its efforts, is unable to control the situation and instill confidence. Army should be called in and curfew should be imposed in rest of the affected areas immediately. I am writing to the Home Minister to this effect."

In  2019, the Delhi-National Capital Region saw a considerable improvement in air quality. Compared to the last four years, Delhi witnessed almost 50 per cent increase in the number of cleaner days annually, according to a report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

The development comes as a sigh of relief for the city as its Air quality index (AQI) mostly stayed in 'satisfactory' and 'moderate' zones in the bygone year. As per the index, the PM 2.5 levels in Delhi were under 'satisfactory' and 'moderate' categories for 120 days in 2019. There were only 68 such days in 2016. The pollution level under the 'very poor' category in 2019 lasted for only 72 days, while it extended for 125 days in 2016.  

The cleaner days in 2019, however, were majorly clustered in the summer and monsoon seasons only. The air quality breached severe levels in winters. Continued stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana added to the smog levels in November 2019, a significant rise from 2018. Although stubble burning contributed up to 30 per cent in Delhi's air pollution, vehicular pollution, domestic pollution, industrial emission, road dust, garbage burning and construction of infrastructure were other key contributors in the mayhem.

In such a scenario, the recent CSE report by Anumita Roychowdhury and Avikal Somvanshi, comes as a breath of fresh air for residents of the 'most polluted city on Earth'.

Here's how Delhi experienced cleaner days in 2019:

Between 1998 and 2003, a series of Supreme Court directives led to the eviction of big, polluting industrial units outside Delhi. Besides, replacement of diesel-run public transport with CNG buses, taxis, and autos; phase-out of old commercial vehicles and improvement in emission standards for vehicles were some of the first generation actions taken to curb pollution in the national capital. Initially, all these helped in stabilising the air, but some of these gains were subsequently undermined as the action slowed down and pollution kept increasing.

However, the momentum to take the air pollution problem revived seriously 2015 onwards. During this phase, several multi-sectoral and diverse actions were initiated. Between 2017 and 2018, the SC directed the government to notify a Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) for emergency intervention during smog episodes. The court also directed a Comprehensive Action Plan (CAP) for sustained short and long-term actions across sectors in Delhi-NCR.

During this period, all coal-based power plants in Delhi were shut down. Ban on dirty fuels, including pet coke, furnace oil, and coal was notified to the industry and power sector officials. Further, measures were taken to ensure a substantial number of industrial units replace coal and other dirty fuels with natural gas. Small-scale industrial recycling units in places like Mundka saw a significant reduction in the burning of plastic waste.

In the transport sector, massive court interventions were made to control emissions from heavy vehicles. For instance, eastern and western expressways were built to divert truck traffic. An Environment Compensation Charge (ECC) was imposed on every truck entering Delhi and the entry of 10-year or older and overloaded trucks was banned. Through these initiatives, heavy vehicles entering Delhi through its 13 key points reduced to 2,000 in 2019 from 15,000 in 2015.

In 2018, BS-VI (Bharat Stage VI) fuel norms were introduced to further control pollution. The phasing out of 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles, and environmental pollution charges on big diesel cars and SUVs were also introduced.

The CNG programme also added to the cause. A blend of hydrogen and CNG was piloted as fuel for buses during this period. Now, it has been further scaled up for nearly the entire commercial vehicle fleet of the city. Pollution charge based on the 'polluter pays principle' was enforced in yet another effort to control pollution.  

TARGETS TO ENSURE CLEANER DAYS AHEAD:

While these measures saw a significant increase in the number of 'clean air' days in Delhi NCR, the capital has a long way to go in order to ensure a pollution-free city for its residents.

Avikal Somvanshi said, "The key problem is the government's Comprehensive Action Plan (CAP), that focuses on strict parking policy and on upgradation of the public transport system. Unfortunately, the plan has not been implemented fully." However, the development of Delhi Metro rail services, BS-VI emission norms, introduction of CNG technology in vehicles had largely given decent results in the battle against air pollution, Somvanshi added.

Somvanshi told BuisnessToday.In about the stark contrast in pollution level during Delhi's summers and winters. He stated, "The AQI was under 'moderate' category for 68 days in 2016, which increased to 120 such days in 2019 but all these days were during the monsoon and the summer.  Winter pollution remains equally bad as it was in 2016. So, winters have not become cleaner." He added, "We need to figure out which model has contributed the most in cleaning Delhi's air in order to reduce pollution even during the winters."

Bharati Chaturvedi, Director of Chintan Foundation stated a few clean days were not good enough for public health, because the slightest exposure to polluted air could result in severe consequences. Chaturvedi praised North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) for making Ajmal Khan road in Karol Bagh a non-motorised zone. Chaturvedi also suggested replicating the Ajmal Khan road model in other parts of Delhi.

"In terms of traffic decongestion, the Ajmal Khan road in north Delhi has significantly improved the quality of air in that area. We need to learn from the NDMC. Ajmal Khan model must be replicated and scaled up in more places in the city." She also said Delhi should introduce a congestion tax like London.

On Delhi's air pollution in winters and stubble burning, Chaturvedi said, "Pollution is not a winter problem, it is a chronic year-around problem. The burning of paddy will not make AQI 900. It will be bad for a few days but it won't go to that level. Stubble burning affects us because our air is already serious."

Chaturvedi also advised the government to discontinue sports events in the national capital. "Delhi government should completely stop promoting sponsored sports. We don't want cricket matches or sports marathons in Delhi."

Chaturvedi added that risk to life was higher while running in polluted air. Recently, Delhi had also lost the right to conduct the Under-17 Women's Football World Cup due to its poor air quality.

China on Friday denied any delay in allowing a special Indian flight to the coronavirus-hit Wuhan city to deliver medical supplies and evacuate remaining Indians from there, saying the concerned departments of both the countries were in touch to finalise the schedule.

India on February 17 announced that it would send Indian Air Force's largest plane C-17 Globemaster with medical supplies to Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus, and bring back its nationals as well as citizens from all neighbouring countries who were still stuck there on the return flight.

The special flight to Wuhan is reportedly awaiting clearance from China. India evacuated 647 Indians and seven Maldivians by operating two Special Air India flights to Wuhan earlier this month. Asked why there is a delay in granting permission to the third Indian flight, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told an online press briefing on Friday that China had assisted India earlier to evacuate a large number of Indians from Wuhan and Hubei province.

"The competent departments on the two sides are still in communication on the arrangement for the remaining 80 people that India plans to fly home. There is no such thing as China delaying giving flight permissions," he said. Geng said the Chinese government attached high importance to the lives and health of all foreign nationals in China. A Chinese official on Thursday said 29 foreign nationals in China were infected with the novel coronavirus and 18 of them had recovered.

"We have offered them all necessary help they need and will continue to do so. At present, China's prevention efforts have been proved to be effective," he said, referring to Chinese health officials' observation that the cases of the virus had started declining.

"We hope that relevant countries will respect the reasonable recommendations given by the WHO and avoid overreacting. China will continue to work with the international community to fight against the epidemic and promote the global cause of public health," he said. Meanwhile, the death toll in the novel coronavirus in China has risen to 2,236 with 118 more casualties reported, mostly from the hard-hit Hubei province, while the overall confirmed infection cases have climbed to 75,465, Chinese health officials said on Friday.

The rupee declined by 27 paise to hit 71.81 against the US dollar at the lowest level recorded on Thursday, amid rising international oil prices and lacklustre trade in domestic equity markets. After starting the session at 71.75 against the greenback, the rupee slipped to as low as 71.80 in the first half of the day. Concerns about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China on world economy and sustained foreign fund outflows kept the rupee under pressure, say analysts. 

At 11:03 am, the rupee traded at 71.63 against the greenback, down nine paise compared to its previous close of 71.54. By then, the currency had moved in a range of 71.62-71.81 during the session.

Domestic equity market benchmark indices S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty turned flat in afternoon trade amid lacklustre trade, a day after they jumped more than 1 per cent following four straight days of losses. 

Forex advisory firm IFA Global expects the rupee to move in a range of 71.55-71.85 in the near term with an upside bias. "Crude prices have risen on account of supply concerns from US sanctioning Rosneft trading for maintaining toes with Venezuela and due to deepening political crisis in Libya," IFA Global said in a note.

China reported a large drop in new cases of coronavirus but that came together with a jump in infections in South Korea, two apparent deaths in Japan and researchers finding that the virus spreads more easily than previously believed. 

China had 394 new cases on Wednesday, the lowest since Jan. 23. More than 2,100 people have died from the coronavirus in China, with eight deaths in other countries but not including the two from the quarantined cruise ship in Japan.

More than 2,100 people have died from the coronavirus in China, spreading to more than two dozen countries, and governments around the world are trying to prevent it from becoming a global pandemic.

China cut its benchmark lending rate on Thursday, as anticipated, adding to a slew of measures in recent weeks aimed at cushioning the virus' impact on the economy.

Crude oil prices added to overnight gains with benchmark Brent last seen trading 0.27 per cent lower at $59.28.

Domestic forex markets remained shut on Wednesday, February 19, for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti, and will also be closed on Friday for Mahashivratri.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 190.66 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional data from the NSE.

Arvind Kejriwal, in his third stint as Delhi Chief Minister, has again refused to take charge of any ministry. He will stay the only minister in his cabinet without a portfolio, as he has been since 2015.

This time, he has not even kept the water ministry, which he had taken over in 2017 as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sought to deliver on its promise of cheaper water to every household.

"Many people are asking me why I haven't kept any ministry. The answer is that my first and complete commitment is to the people of Delhi. They have given me a huge responsibility and it is to fulfil that responsibility properly that I have not kept any portfolio," Arvind Kejriwal told reporters after a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah.

"This way I can keep an eye on all ministries and the big picture. If you get too entangled in a ministry and petty details then the rest of the work suffers," the Chief Minister explained.

He said he had discussed with Amit Shah working together for Delhi. This is the first time the two leaders met after an acrimonious campaign for Delhi, in which Mr Shah and the BJP were accused by AAP of trying to polarize voters with hate speeches.

Mr Kejriwal was sworn in for the third time on Sunday, days after his AAP won an outsized victory in Delhi, almost repeating last time's sweep. He has retained all his ministers.

During his campaign, Mr Kejriwal had offered citizens a guarantee card with 10 promises. At a Delhi cabinet meeting, it was decided that these promises would be tackled within a set time-line.