-The Hindu In 2020, 84% of all monitored countries observed air quality improvements Delhi remained the most polluted capital city in the world but India, on the whole, had improved its average annual PM 2.5 (particulate matter) levels higher in 2020 than in 2019, according to a report from IQ Air, a Swiss air quality technology company, specialising in protection against airborne pollutants, and developing air quality monitoring and air cleaning products. Delhi’s...

-The Hindu No ‘biometrics or documents’ will be collected, says Home Ministry report. The Centre will allow residents to fill columns in the National Population Register (NPR) forms on their own through online mode, a month before door-to-door enumeration by Census officials starts. After filling the form online, residents will get a reference code that they could mention to the field enumerator at the time of her/his visit, according to a senior...

-The Hindu A NITI Aayog paper has recommended reduction in National Food Security Act coverage. Once the new census data is available, the Centre may consider revising the number of people who get subsidised foodgrains under the National Food Security Act, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said on Friday. He insisted there is no proposal under consideration as yet, but said the Food Ministry was having conversations on a NITI Aayog paper on...

-The Hindu Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra are the top States registering a rise in the number of COVID cases India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin from Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotechis now authorised for emergency use on a par with Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield, NITI Aayog’s member (health) V.K. Paul said on Thursday. India is now seeing a rise in the number of active cases after touching lowest mark in mid-February. Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,...

-The Hindu Its analysis says recontesting MLAs’, MPs’ assets went up by 39% An analysis of MLAs who switched parties and recontested elections from 2016 to 2020 has found that the BJP was the biggest gainer, while the Congress accounted for the most MLAs who quit to join another party. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report released on Thursday analysed the election affidavits of 443 MLAs and MPs who switched parties and...