Jordan has evacuated almost 300 nationals from conflict-hit Yemen, where it has joined a Saudi-led coalition waging air raids on Shiite rebels, a foreign ministry spokesman said today. 

Nepal today appointed a veteran Nepali Congress leader and former minister Deep Kumar Upadhyay as its new ambassador to India, a critically important post that had been lying vacant for more than three years.

Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav appointed Upadhyay on the recommendations of the cabinet, along with Arjun Kumar Karki as ambassador to the US, according to a notice issued by the president's secretariat.

The decision to nominate Upadhyay was taken at a cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala in January. The post has been lying vacant for three-and-a-half years, after the then Maoist-led government recalled ambassador Rukma Shamsher Rana, also a Nepali Congress leader, in August 2011.

A central working committee member of the Nepali Congress and a staunch supporter of Koirala, Upadhyay has served as an assistant finance minister. Uphadhyay, who hails from Kapilvastu district in southern Nepal, does not have experience in foreign affairs or in any prior assignment in a diplomatic position.

A Swabhiman party leader in Bihar today filed a court case against Union minister Giriraj Singh for his racist remark on Congress President Sonia Gandhi, reports M I Khan from Patna. 

"I have filed a case in the chief judicial magistrate's court against Giriraj Singh for his racist remark against Sonia Gandhi and for insulting and hurting the sentiments of women," said Kaushalendra Narayan a Swabhiman party leader from Gaya district. He said he was deeply pained and hurt by Giriraj Singh's statement and approached the court to issue a directive to the police to register a case against the Bharatiya Janata Party leader.

Giriraj had kicked up a major storm with racist remarks asking whether Congress would have accepted Sonia Gandhi's leadership if she was not white-skinned.

"Had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have then accepted her leadership?," he told journalists last week.

NDTV reports: The BJP celebrated its 35th foundation day at its party headquarters in Delhi today -- but key founding member LK Advani was not invited to the event, said sources close to the veteran leader.

No message -- not even a text -- was sent to the 87-year-old, said the sources, for the event in Delhi which was led by BJP chief Amit Shah.

Advani refused the BJP president's request to address an important annual conclave held in Bengaluru this weekend. His speech at the conference has been a party tradition for 35 years.

Read the full report here

With its government under fire from Opposition over the land bill, the BJP president Amit Shah today asked partymen to vigorously counter the campaign of "disinformation and falsehood" launched by rivals and be prepared for sacrifice.

Addressing BJP workers and leaders at a function to mark its foundation day, Shah highlighted the "long tradition of sacrifice" in the party and asked the cadre not to aspire for position but work for nation-building.

"Today, on the party's Foundation Day, I appeal to you to work unitedly to make this government successful and take its work to people and counter disinformation and falsehood spread by the opposition," he said.

"If the opposition tries to create disinformation, then it is the responsibility of all party workers to tell the truth to the people," he said.

The BJP chief said the Modi government had laid a strong foundation and will take the country forward in a way that it becomes a world leader in the coming times. "I am confident that when we seek mandate for another term under Narendra Modi, we will get even a better one," he said. He, however, clarified that nobody in BJP hankered after power.

John Oliver grilled NSA leaker Edward Snowden about surveillance tactics and national security -- and also asked him about lighthearted topics -- in an interview that aired on yestrday's episode of the HBO satirical news show "Last Week Tonight.'

Oliver traveled to Russia for the interview, abcnews.go.com. 

During the segment, Oliver asked Snowden how many of the documents he actually read from classified information he leaked to the media.

Ive evaluated all of the documents that are in the archive, Snowden said.

Youve read every single one? Oliver said.

Well, I do understand what I turned over, Snowden replied.

Snowden admitted that he misses America. My country is something that travels with me, he said. You know, its not just a geography

Read the full report here

Rajeev Shukla appointed Chairman of IPL Governing Council. Shukla emerged as the front-runner for the post of IPL chairman. The Indian cricket board (BCCI) bosses decided on Shukla after a three-horse race failed to produce a clear winner. Shukla will replace Ranjib Biswal.

Lalit Modi tweets: So the clown @ShuklaRajiv is back as #IPLChairman Srini's stooge who allowed all the #matchfixing in #IPL IMportant to see his past record

A Turkish court has ordered blocks on Twitter and YouTube for sharing photos of a hostage taken during an armed siege last week. The blocks have been imposed because images of a deadly siege were being shared via the social networks. Read

I've just stumbled upon a small but significant and, I would add, critical discovery.

What the government proudly boasts of as visas on arrival is actually nothing of the sort. Even worse, we used to have visa on arrival for 12 countries but that's no longer the case. What's taken its place is an email visa, which has to be applied for a minimum four days before you reach India. Yet the government still calls it visa on arrival and that's not just untrue it can also be horribly misleading.

Karan Thapar on the Modi govt's 'visa on arrival'. Read

Shopian (J&K): Wreaths a laid over the coffins of the three policemen who were killed in a terror attack.

Jammu and Kashmir was hit by three terror attacks in three hours.

Unidentified gunmen shot at a civilian in Tral in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Monday. Rafiq Ahmad Bhat, a former militant of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, was shot at and critically injured by gunmen in the town, police said.

They said Bhat was rushed to Srinagar for treatment.

Earlier in the afternoon, three policemen were killed in a terrorist attack in south Kashmir's Shopian district. Militants opened fire at the three cops, one head constable and two constables in  the Amshipora village in Shopian district, nearly 55 km from Srinagar. He said the slain policemen were unarmed.

Another cop was injured in when terrorists boarded a moving bus in north Kashmir's Baramulla district.

The Karnataka government removes the three-month time frame for probe into IAS officer DK Ravi's death after CBI objects to restrictions.

This morning, the CBI turned down the request of the Karnataka government seeking a time-bound probe in the alleged suicide of IAS officer D K Ravi, saying there is no provision in law to complete investigations in a given period.

CBI sources said that a communication has been sent to department of personnel and training requesting for a fresh notification to takeover probe in Ravi's death.

They said once fresh notification is received, the agency will examine the matter whether to takeover probe or not in the controversial death which has snowballed into a major political controversy in Karnataka.

Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati has said the Centre will soon start fulfilling the promises made for cleaning up River Yamuna. Saying that the government is committed to the cause of cleaning up the river, the minister added that the plans for rejuvenation of river Ganga also include cleaning up of Yamuna as it is not possible to clean Ganga without cleaning Yamuna.

The DMK is constructing its Delhi party headquarters at a cost of Rs 15 crore. Construction of the four-storey building is in full swing.

The address of the DMK office will be Deendayal Upadhyaya Marg, named after the late Jan Sangh president, who was murdered in 1968. 

DMK officials are annoyed at the location, but can do little about it, a senior DMK leader -- a six-time
MP and a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee, V P Singh, H D Deve Gowda and Dr Manmohan Singh ministries -- says.

Remember the time the West Bengal government renamed the road on which the US consulate in Kolkata was located at as Ho Chi Minh Sarani? After the legendary North Vietnamese leader. And that was at the height of the Vietnam War. Delicious sense of humour.

Indian nurses stuck in Sana'a appeal to the government for help. They say they have no passport and have not been paid salaries for the past three months and don't have money to even board taxis to the airport.

India on Sunday evacuated 670 Indian nationals - including 488 from Sana'a by three Air India flights - from Yemen, taking the total number of Indians rescued from the war-ravaged nation to nearly 2,300. It is the "largest evacuation" by air in a day from the region.

Whistle-blower officer Ashok Khemka has been shunted again, in breach of rules by BJP government in Haryana. All actions of the previous Congress govt against him still stand even as the Narendra Modi government has chosen to keep away. Nitin Sethi reports. Read

Rolling Stone on Sunday apologized and removed an article it published about an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia (UVA) fraternity house, after an independent review outlined a "story of journalistic failure' at the magazine. Read more

So what's missing in this statement by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh?
"On 19th April 2015 Congress will hold a 'Maha Kisan Rally' which will be addressed by Sonia-ji with other leaders."

Mr G, of course. No confirmation yet, that Rahul Gandhi will finally make an appearance after his over-a-month-long sabbatical and join the rally.

"Narasimha Rao's place in history will be among the makers of modern India. He was undoubtedly the architect of India's policies in the new unipolar world. It is heartening to see that a grateful nation is finally giving him his rightful place," says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan. Read

If you haven't read Aakar Patel's column for Rediff.com today, do. He writes, "Modi deliberately chose such unhinged people because they said what he wanted to, but couldn't." Read

Nearly half of the British public thinks that Prince Charles' wife Camilia should become Queen when the Prince of Wales succeeds Queen Elizabeth II to the country's throne, according to a new opinion poll.

The survey, released before the couple's 10th wedding anniversary this week, shows how public opposition to Duchess of Cornwall, has softened as she has become one of the key figures of Britain's royal family.

When the couple married a decade ago, 7 per cent of people polled by YouGov thought that the 67-year-old should one day be Queen.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) former president Javed Hashmi on Sunday said that former ISI chief Gen Shuja Pasha was the brain behind PTI's 126-day protest in Islamabad. Read more

A new cabinet secretary is likely by mid May to coincide with the completion of a one-year term of the BJP Government.

So, who's in?

The race is between Dr P K Sinha, the present Power Secretary (a 1977 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS  officer), and Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, (a 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer).

Prime Minister Modi is believed to have spent two to three hours with each of these two officials to gauge who will fit the bill.

The PM has also shared his understanding about these two officials with his two senior cabinet colleagues.

The change will be made in May primarily because of the completion of formalities related to the budget in Parliament.

In case Modi chooses Mehrishi as cabinet secretary, Ajit Seth will finally be shown the door as he has not only overstayed his tenure but also because civil service rules do not permit him to serve beyond the age of 65.

In fact there were many rumblings when Narendra Modi chose to retain Ajit Seth as cabinet secretary even though it was the policy of the Modi government to remove those who were loyal to the UPA.

Remember the nine governors who were abruptly thrown out?

But Modi retained Ajit Seth as cabinet secretary and it is believed he primarily did so to get a hang of what the UPA did or did not do via officials who served the earlier regime.

Watch this space.

Also read: Why Modi chose Rajiv Mehrishi as the economic affairs secretary

The Congress on Monday said another 'Mahabharata' would be fought over proposed amendments in the land acquisition Act in which parties like BJD must prove their commitments towards farmers and tribals.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is behaving like Duryodhan of Mahabharat and ready to sacrifice interest of farmers and tribals to appease the corporates which invested in the public issue (Modi) during elections. Investors now want dividends in the form of land,' former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

Having a bad day at work? Take it on the chin. And here's why you have one (a chin, not a bad day).

Scientists may have solved the mystery of why humans are the only animals to have chins - and it all comes down to the invention of cooking.

A number of different explanations have been put forward for the apparently useless bony projection, including the idea that it helps humans attract a mate.

Now, a new research at the University of Florida suggests the chin began to emerge as a consequence of major changes six million years earlier.

The arrival of cooking and softer food meant humans no longer needed big teeth and powerful jaws, and over the next two million years both got smaller and the chin was born, 'The Independent' reported.

Omar Abdullah invites you to Kashmir. "More from the Tulip Garden in Srinagar. Come and re-enact that famous song from Silsila & live your Bollywood dreams."

Image: One of the pictures of the garden he tweeted.

With CBI turning down Karnataka government's request for a time-bound investigation in the alleged suicide of IAS officer D K Ravi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said his government would again request the investigating body to probe the case.

"They have sent it back, saying that do not put the condition like that. Again we will send it to the CBI," Siddaramaiah said.

CBI has turned down the request of Karnataka Government seeking a time-bound probe in the alleged suicide of IAS officer D K Ravi, saying there is no provision in law to complete investigations in a given period.

ANI news issues a correction: Visuals of IAF fighter plane crash near UP-MP border in Chitrakoot district (UP) not verified.

Former J-K CM Omar Abdullah tweets his condolences on the three terror strikes in the state today. "Grim reminder of the challenges in Kashmir, while we celebrate the colours of spring and try to attract tourists three brave policemen are killed. My condolences to the families of the 3 police personnel killed in the line of duty in #Shopian today. May their souls rest in peace."

And Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit (former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit's son) sets the cat among the pigeons. Asked about Rahul Gandhi's continued absence for over a month, Dikshit said, "There have been a lot of discussions going on with regard to whether there will be a change in Congress leadership. Mr Gandhi (Rahul) is a capable leader, but when I have to make a choice at a time that is delicate, Soniaj-i will remain our best general. I sincerely believe that Mrs Gandhi is the only and best leader most capable of leading party." 

Rahul Gandhi, who is on a long sabbatical, is likely to return on April 15 ahead of Congress proposed Kisan rally in New Delhi on April 19 against the Land Acquisition Bill brought out by the Narendra Modi government.

The Congress has insisted that he has been granted leave of absence to introspect over the party's affairs following a string of electoral reverses starting with its rout in Lok Sabha elections.

He skipped the first leg of the crucial budget session of Parliament, inviting sharp criticism from the opposition parties with even senior Congress leader like Digvijay Singh finding fault with the timing of his leave.

Third terror attack in Kashmir. Unidentified men open fire at a civilian in Tral in Kashmir. The victim has been injured.

This is the third attack in around three hours in the state. Three cops were shot dead and one cop was injured in two separate attacks this morning.

Just in: IAF fighter plane crashes in UP's Chitrakoot district. Two pilots seen ejecting seconds before the crash, say TV reports. Details awaited.

Exactly a month ago, A Jaguar fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed close to Shahbad town in Haryana's Kurukshetra district, with the pilot ejecting safely.  An IAF spokesperson said the pilot gave a distress call before ejection.

Image: The actual picture of the crash sourced from ANI

A High Court judge in Chandigarh dived into the local Sukhna lake to save a teenage girl from drowning after she allegedly attempted suicide, police said.

The incident took place on March 30 when Justice M Jeyapaul (60) of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dived into the lake to save the 15-year-old girl after he noticed her drowning while he was on his routine morning walk. His security officer also jumped into the lake and the duo managed to save the girl.

Kenyan air force bombs al-Shabab bases in Somalia following the militant group's deadly onslaught on Garissa University. As many as 147 students were killed after an Islamist group attacked a university in northeastern Kenya, last week.

All four AK-47 carrying gunmen were shot dead.

This is the country's deadliest attack since the American embassy bombings in 1998. More than 500 students have been rescued. The school has 815 students.

Just in: PM Modi assures the Muslim community about their safety and security after 11 senior Muslim leaders met him today and appraised him of their concerns. 

The Bombay high court, which on Monday heard a clutch of petitions filed against the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act that bans the slaughter of bulls and bullocks and criminalises the possession of beef, has postponed the hearing to April 20. The court also declined to grant any interim relief in the matter.

Salman Khan hit-and-run case: Prosecution makes closing statements. 

Another terror strike in J-K today. Three policemen were shot dead in the a terror strike in Ashimpura in the Shopian district of Kashmir. Earlier in the day, another cop was injured in when militants boarded a moving bus in north Kashmir's Baramulla district. The injured cop (pictured) has been hospitalised.

In a huge blow for the Karnataka government, the Central Bureau of Investigation has returned its order into the investigation in the death of IAS officer DK Ravi.

According to sources, while returning the order, the CBI has said that the scope of investigation cannot be decided by state the state government.

It is also said to have claimed that a time-bound investigation can only be ordered by High Court or the Supreme Court. CBI sources have also claimed that the probe may be restricted to family only or may go up to the government or land mafia.

Facing pressure from all quarters, the Karnataka government had handed over the probe into the case to CBI. Speaking in the Assembly, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said that nobody's death should not be politicised.

"Opposition is making a mockery of a death. I have decided to hand over the probe to CBI. We respect even the CBI. We are not like BJP. I am placing a status report before the Assembly but can't reveal CID report due to the HC order," he said.  Read more

Shah Rukh Khan's son AbRam is the youngest celebrity to join PM Modi's much-hyped Swacch Bharat campaign. SRK seems keen on teaching his youngest son the merits of cleanliness from an early age.

The superstar shared a picture of AbRam holding a broom and tweeted: "Starting him young to believe in Clean India'. Green India & maybe a round or two of Quidditch!!"

For muggles who don't know Quidditch (where have you been?) it's a competitive sport in Harry Potter's wizarding world where teams use broomsticks to grab a snitch.

Militants shot at and critically wounded a policeman in a moving bus in north Kashmir's Baramulla district late this morning, reports Rediff.com's Mukhtar Ahmad from Srinagar.

A senior police officer said the bus was on its way from Srinagar to north Kashmir's Sopore town in Baramulla district when two militants boarded the bus near Mirgund and fired at the cop identified as Ghulam Mustaffa, a state armed police constable.

The injured cop has now been shifted to hospital and his condition is stated to be critical.The militants later disembarked from the bus as it neared Sopore and escaped.

Goa Court grants anticipatory bail to FabIndia Candolim store manager Chaitrali Sawant.

The first of the six Scorpene Submarines (Project 75) undocked in the presence of the defence minister Manohar Parrikar at the Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai today. The minister will be commencing the floating out of the first project 75 (Scorpene) submarine on pontoon at MDL, said an Indian Navy official.

Congress senior leader Digvijaya Singh slammed the BJP government and PM Modi for his five-star activist statement, and said that by making this statement PM raised a serious question on the integrity of the judiciary.

On Sunday, calling upon the judiciary to have an internal mechanism for self-assessment and introspection, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Chief Justice of India H L Dattu and other judges to reflect if "five-star activists' and "perception' were driving the judiciary today.

Addressing a joint conference of chief justices and chief ministers from across the country in New Delhi, Modi said it was time the judiciary evolved an internal mechanism of self-assessment, since judges were "not as lucky as politicians', who are under "constant scrutiny'.

1 policeman injured in a militant attack in Patan area of Baramulla district in J&K.

Yemeni Shiite rebels, making an aggressive bid for power in the impoverished Gulf state, arrested more than a hundred members from a rival Islamist Sunni political party, including two leaders, the party said in a statement Sunday.

The Islah party, the Muslim Brotherhood's branch in Yemen and a traditional power player in Yemen, had declared its support for the Saudi-led coalition bombing campaign against the rebels and their allies.

The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, have been joined by security forces loyal to the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh '" whose loyalists control elite forces and large combat units in Yemen's military.

In Delhi, Congress protest outside the MCD office over uncleared garbage.
Maken who is a Congress MP from the Delhi constituency sets a picture of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on fire.

Shattering the image of "Swachh Bharat', huge piles of trash in Delhi paint a depressing picture, all thanks to the standoff between the Aam Aadmi Party government and the Municipal Corporation department employees. The strike began on March 1.

The residents of Delhi are not just facing huge traffic jams due to heaps of garbage lying on the roads, but are also facing a harrowing time due to the stink in the air.

Goa Minister Dipak Dhavalikar's wife Lata has waded into controversy after she asked parents not to send their children to convent schools even as she urged women to desist from aping Western culture, saying it has led to rise in incidents of rape.

Lata, who is a functionary of controversial right wing organization Sanatan Saunstha, was addressing a convention in Margao yesterday, when she made this statement.

"Hindu men, while leaving from home, should sport a tilak, while women, kumkum. Always celebrate Gudi Padwa as the Hindu New Year and not January 1. Don't send your children to convent school... say 'namaskar' instead of 'hello' when answering a phone call," she said.

"It's time we took pride in our rich ancient Indian culture. Now it has become trendy among Indian women not to wear 'kumkum' on forehead; wearing tight and revealing clothes, trimming hair and sporting weird hairdos.

"Incidents of rape are on the rise, largely owing to the fact that women have adopted western culture," Lata felt. When contacted, her husband Dipak Dhavalikar refused to comment.

Hit-and-run case: Salman Khan arrives at Sessions court in Mumbai.

Amid growing concern across the world over aviation safety, it has come to light that two pilots of an Air India flight were allegedly involved in a fight inside the cockpit just before the plane took off.

As per reports, the incident happened inside the AI 611 flight which was preparing to fly for Delhi from Jaipur on Sunday evening.

The co-pilot of the Airbus A-320 took offence and beat up the captain after the latter asked him to write down critical figures that are noted before the take-off.

The flight, however, departed for Delhi after the captain decided to operate the same "in the interest of the airline", sources said, as per a leading English daily.

The airline, however, brushed aside the incident as a minor argument and 'nothing more'. Reports however claimed that both the pilots have been de-rostered for now.

PM Modi who has always had a combative relationship with the press has mellowed since he took over the reins of government nearly a year ago.  Today, at the presser launching the India's air pollution index for 10 cities, the PM lent a helping hand to a cameraman who seemed to have lost his footing. Smiles and bonhomie all around.  

It is anomalous that European youth, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, should be attracted to the violent ideology of the Islamic State.

That non-Muslim European youth should be beguiled by such an inhumanly violent ideology is baffling. Read

Goa Police will quiz two top officials of Fabindia tomorrow in connection with the voyeurism case filed against the outlet's staff after Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani alleged that the store had a CCTV camera focusing at the trial room.

The state crime branch has issued summons to Fabindia's Chief Executive Officer Subrata Dutta and Managing Director William Bissell asking them to remain present for the investigation.

"Both of them have informed us that they will remain present before the investigating officer tomorrow," Superintendent of Police Kartik Kashyap said today.

Goa Police had yesterday said all the persons involved in the voyeurism case, registered following the complaint by Irani, would be brought to book and "other victims" too would be called for recording their statements. Irani, who visited a Fabindia store at Candolim last week, alleged that it had a CCTV camera focusing at the trial room.

The CBI has issued a notice to the Trinamool Congress asking for a list of who bought West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's paintings and for what amount. The agency sent a notice to this effect to the TMC Bhavan in Kolkata today, reports Rediff.com's Indrani Roy from Kolkata.

This comes after a CBI's probe into the Saradha scam secured details from the income tax department on the purchase of one of Mamata Banerjee's paintings by Sudipta Sen, promoter of the now-bust chit fund company, for Rs 1.8 crore.

In 2011 Banerjee's collection of 95 paintings were sold out within three days and fetched crores.

The buyers include industrialist Harsh Neotia, Jay Mehta, co-owner of IPL franchisee Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

Mamata had said (and we wholeheartedly agree) "I am not a painter. I am just a commoner, I don't know how to paint."

Congress senior leader Ajay Maken took a dig at AAP claiming the party has become a party of VIP and VVIPs.

This is what he tweeted yesterday: "Just passed through the Talkatora Stadium- Look at the pictures- How in just 50 days AAP became a party of VIP & VVIP?"

The Aam Aadmi Party re-launched the 1031 anti-graft helpline from the Talkatora Stadium in Central Delhi on Sunday and had put up hoardings of VIP and VVIP parking at many gates of the venue.

The party has slammed the VIP culture of the capital and its chief Arvind Kejriwal has always claimed that he was an ordinary man.

Image: The picture was tweeted by Ajay Maken

There have been persistent efforts to mislead people on tribal, forest land; such campaign must end, says PM on land bill.

"We are moving in the direction of solar and wind energy, we also need to stress upon solid waste management.

"If we take a pledge that towns situated on banks of Ganga will not pollute the river, you yourself will witness the change. The towns and cities located on banks of river Ganga are closely linked with clean Ganga campaign."

"We have no right to exploit nature. This is not a part of our culture.

"We must think of developing ways in our lifestyle with which energy can be conserved, such environment should be created in schools.

"Our contribution to level of pollution one of the lowest in the world.We had found God in plants even before Jagdish Chandra Bose discovered life in plants as mentioned in the Gita and Mahabharat.

Pic: A boy swims in the polluted Yamuna river in New Delhi

Modi at environment meet:

The world thinks India is not bothered about environment.

If we bring changes in lifestyle as minor as not using street lights on a full moon night, it will save substantial amount of energy

Recycling of products was a part of lifestyle of our ancestors. Until we actually bring a change in our lifestyles, all the other efforts will go in vain.

"World is tackling with the challenge of global warming, but they still haven't been able to find a way.

"More we are sensitive towards the nature and environment, lesser chance the world will get to raise question on us.

PM Narendra Modi speaking at inauguration of two-day conference of State Environment & Forest Ministers in Delhi. PM Modi launches the national air quality index to monitor pollution level in 10 cities.

Modi says India should have taken the lead on climate change.

The index will inform the public about the level of pollution in the air on a daily basis in real-time. The AQI is a global standard used to understand air quality.

It takes various parameters available in our national air quality standard and presents it as a cumulative on a 6 colour coded scale.

Dark green denotes the cleanest and maroon denotes the most polluted.

A World Health Organization study shows that 13 Indian cities figure among the 20 most polluted cities of the world. The project's aim is also to enhance public awareness and involvement in efforts to improve air quality.

According to environment minister Prakash Javadekar, the service will be expanded to 46 cities with a population of 1 million or more each and 20 state capitals in the next couple of years.