COVID-19, Air pollution, Diwali 2020, PM Modi,

9 November 2020

• Firecrackers banned in Agra amid alarming air pollution 

  Agra district magistrate P.N. Singh on November 9 banned firecrackers in Agra. Licences for the sale of firecrackers given for 12 identified spots in the city were also cancelled and the police have been told to strictly enforce the ban. The National Green Tribunal earlier had banned firecrackers in the whole NCR.  

  National Green Tribunal bans firecrackers in all districts under the National Capital Region, all cities across the country with "poor" or worse air from November 9 to November 30.  

• UP CM to launch a portal for virtual 'Deepotsav' 

  The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will launch a website this Diwali for a virtual 'Deepotsav', enabling people to participate in the event by lighting a virtual 'Diya'. "The virtual 'Deepotsav' will be no less real than the actual one and thus, this platform will enable a real experience. The portal will comprise a portrait of Lord Ram before which the virtual lamps will be lit. The portal will have a facility to pick up the lamp-stand of one's choice -- steel, brass or any other material," a UP government statement said. 

• Massive asteroid 'Apophis' may hit Earth in 2068 

  Astronomers have revealed that large asteroid named 'Apophis' expected to pass extremely close or may hit the Earth in 2068 due to a phenomenon called Yarkovsky effect. Researchers at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA) in the US have announced the detection of Yarkovsky acceleration on the near-Earth asteroid Apophis. This acceleration arises from an extremely weak force on an object due to non-uniform thermal radiation. 

• COVID 19: Delhi overtakes Maharashtra, Kerala as the highest contributor to new COVID cases 

  Union health ministry on Monday said that 79 per cent of the 45,903 fresh coronaviruses (COVID-19) cases logged in the last 24 hours are from 10 states and Union territories (UTs). 

  It added that Delhi has overtaken Maharashtra and Kerala by recording 7,745 cases in a single day to become the largest contributor towards the daily COVID-19 tally of the country. The national capital had overtaken Maharashtra and Kerala on November 7. 

• Bihar assembly election 2020: Election Commission increases vote-counting stations to ensure social distancing 

  The counting of votes that were polled for the election of a new government in the state will begin at 8 am on Tuesday. The polls to the 243-seat assembly were held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7. 

  “This year we have 55 counting stations compared to the usual number of 38, which corresponds to the number of districts, in the state. This has been done to increase social distancing,” Srinivasa SAID.  

•  Modi inaugurates & lays foundation stone of various development projects in Varanasi 

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various development projects in Varanasi today through video conference. The Prime Minister today launched 16 schemes worth Rs 220 crore and informed that the work has already begun on 14 schemes worth Rs 400 crore in Varanasi. 

• Bombay HC rejects Arnab Goswami's interim bail plea 

  Bombay high court on Monday rejected Arnab Goswami's plea for interim bail in an alleged abetment to suicide case. “No case is made out for the release of the petitioner under extraordinary jurisdiction," said the HC bench of Justices SS Shinde and MS Karnik.