NEW DELHI: At least 16 farmers have been arrested in India’s northern state of Haryana for illegally burning paddy stubble to clear fields, a practice that stokes air pollution in the region around New Delhi at the onset of winter, authorities said on Tuesday.
India’s national capital region battles pollution at this time each year as temperatures fall and cold, heavy air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke, much of which authorities say travels from the neighboring breadbasket states of Punjab and Haryana.
Delhi, ranked the world’s most polluted capital for four years in a row by Swiss group IQAir, has closed its schools and halted construction projects for brief periods in the past as it looks to tackle the problem.
Police in Haryana’s Kaithal region said that 22 complaints of stubble burning have been registered this year, and 16 people have been arrested.
“Those arrested have been released on bail since this is a bailable offense,” said Birbhan, a deputy superintendent of police, who uses only one name.
Investigations have been launched against almost 100 farmers across Haryana, while fines have been imposed on more than 300, local media reported.
Delhi recorded “very poor” air on Tuesday morning, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), with an air quality index (AQI) of 320. An AQI of 0-50 is considered good while anything between 400-500 poses health dangers.
It was the second-most polluted city in the world on Tuesday, a live ranking on IQAir’s website indicated, after only Lahore in neighboring Pakistan.
The environment ministry said Delhi’s daily average AQI was likely to stay in the ‘Very Poor’ category (300-400) in coming days due to unfavorable meteorological and climatic conditions.
To curb Delhi’s pollution authorities have ordered water sprinkling on roads to tackle dust, increasing public bus and metro services and higher parking fees to discourage car use.
Environmentalists say the measures are inadequate.
“These are only emergency measures ... This air pollution mitigation needs a long-term comprehensive solution rather than these ad hoc measures,” said environmentalist Vimlendu Jha.
Sixteen farmers arrested for burning crop waste as pollution rises in north India
https://arab.news/j7348
Sixteen farmers arrested for burning crop waste as pollution rises in north India
- Investigations have been launched against almost 100 farmers across Haryana, while fines have been imposed on more than 300
- Delhi is the second-most polluted city in the world on Tuesday, after only Lahore in neighboring Pakistan
Sixteen farmers arrested for burning crop waste as pollution rises in north India
- Police in Haryana registered 22 stubble burning complaints this year before making the arrests
- Investigations have been launched against nearly 100 farmers, and fines imposed on over 300
NEW DELHI: At least 16 farmers have been arrested in India’s northern state of Haryana for illegally burning paddy stubble to clear fields, a practice that stokes air pollution in the region around New Delhi at the onset of winter, authorities said on Tuesday.
India’s national capital region battles pollution at this time each year as temperatures fall and cold, heavy air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke, much of which authorities say travels from the neighboring breadbasket states of Punjab and Haryana.
Delhi, ranked the world’s most polluted capital for four years in a row by Swiss group IQAir, has closed its schools and halted construction projects for brief periods in the past as it looks to tackle the problem.
Police in Haryana’s Kaithal region told Reuters that 22 complaints of stubble burning have been registered this year, and 16 people have been arrested.
“Those arrested have been released on bail since this is a bailable offense,” said Birbhan, a deputy superintendent of police, who uses only one name.
Investigations have been launched against almost 100 farmers across Haryana, while fines have been imposed on more than 300, local media reported.
Delhi recorded “very poor” air on Tuesday morning, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), with an air quality index (AQI) of 320. An AQI of 0-50 is considered good while anything between 400-500 poses health dangers.
It was the second-most polluted city in the world on Tuesday, a live ranking on IQAir’s website indicated, after only Lahore in neighboring Pakistan.
The environment ministry said Delhi’s daily average AQI was likely to stay in the ‘Very Poor’ category (300-400) in coming days due to unfavorable meteorological and climatic conditions.
To curb Delhi’s pollution authorities have ordered water sprinkling on roads to tackle dust, increasing public bus and metro services and higher parking fees to discourage car use.
Environmentalists say the measures are inadequate.
“These are only emergency measures...This air pollution mitigation needs a long-term comprehensive solution rather than these ad hoc measures,” said environmentalist Vimlendu Jha.
Schools shut, tourists asked to leave as eastern India braces for cyclone
BHUBANESHWAR: Schools in some parts of India's eastern state of Odisha were ordered to shut and tourists asked to vacate the popular beach city of Puri, as authorities braced for a severe cyclonic storm that is expected to hit later this week.
Cyclone Dana, currently over the Bay of Bengal, is expected to strengthen into a severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds gusting up to 120 kph (74 mph), and is likely to make landfall late on Thursday, the weather office said.
Schools in 14 districts will be closed from Wednesday to Friday, and fishermen have been asked not to venture into the sea, a senior official from the Special Relief Commissioner's office, which oversees disaster management, told Reuters.
Tourists and pilgrims who frequent the coastal city of Puri, home to the famous Jagannath temple, have been asked to leave, officials said, while rescue teams were on standby.
Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in Odisha was likely in the next three days, the weather office said, and the ensuing storm could damage houses, roads, crops, and power lines, causing flooding and landslides.
Odisha is prone to cyclones, but has improved disaster preparedness over time, reducing damage and casualties.
Kenya court to hear challenge to deputy leader’s impeachment
- Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was impeached by the Senate on Thursday on five out of 11 charges leveled against him
- The impeachment was the culmination of a public falling out between Gachagua and President William Ruto
NAIROBI: A Kenyan High Court is due Tuesday to hear an appeal by impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over his ouster in an unprecedented Senate vote last week.
In fast-moving political drama, the court on Friday ordered the impeachment to be put on hold, only minutes after parliament had approved his replacement, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki.
Gachagua was impeached by the Senate on Thursday on five out of 11 charges leveled against him, including stirring ethnic divisions and undermining the judiciary.
The embattled 59-year-old had been admitted to hospital with chest pains ahead of the Senate session, but the upper house rejected an appeal by his lawyers for the process to be delayed.
The impeachment was the culmination of a public falling out between Gachagua and President William Ruto.
And after being released from hospital Gachagua on Sunday lashed out at his boss as “vicious” and claimed there had been attempts on his life in the past.
Gachagua said his security had been withdrawn and his entire staff sent on compulsory leave.
A three-judge bench at the High Court in Nairobi is due to start hearing Gachagua’s impeachment appeal on Tuesday.
“The petition and application raise monumental constitutional issues,” the High Court said in its ruling on Friday.
The order effectively blocks Kindiki, a 52-year-old lawyer turned heavyweight politician, from taking office.
Ruto — who had chosen Gachagua as his running mate for the August 2022 election — has not yet given any public comment on the impeachment.
Harris and Trump push for every vote with just 14 days to go
- Both campaigns pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into a final push for any wavering, undecided voters who could tilt the balance in their favor
- Polls appear to be giving Trump a slight edge recently, but all within the margin of error
WASHINGTON: One of the tightest US election races of modern times enters its final, two-week stretch Tuesday, with Republican Donald Trump making a special pitch to Latino voters as Democratic rival Kamala Harris sits down for a national network interview.
Both campaigns are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into a final push for any wavering, undecided voters who could tilt the balance in their favor, with polls consistently showing their candidates in a dead heat ahead of Election Day.
Whatever the outcome, Americans will make history on November 5: they will either elect the first woman president in the world’s leading superpower — or they will put the first convicted felon into the White House.
Polls appear to be giving Trump, who at 78 is the oldest nominee from a major party in US history, a slight edge recently — but all within the margin of error, making them little comfort for a former president making his third consecutive White House run.
Vice President Harris — who only threw herself into the race in July, when President Joe Biden made the stunning decision to drop out and endorse her instead — will give a television interview to NBC on Tuesday.
The 60-year-old, who celebrated her birthday over the weekend, will also deploy one of her party’s most popular emissaries back into the field: Barack Obama.
The former Democratic president will hold a series of rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan, two of the seven most hotly contested swing states in the election which, under the US system of indirect universal suffrage, are likely to decide the outcome.
Trump, whose anti-migrant rhetoric is becoming coarser and more extreme by the day, will take part in a roundtable discussion with Latino voters at one of his Florida properties.
The Republican will then fly to North Carolina, another swing state where he also campaigned on Monday, for an event that is supposed to be devoted to the economy.
He rarely sticks to the topic at his rallies, however — instead, he has been criticized for a tumultuous few weeks that have featured rambling monologues and threats about weaponizing the military against Democrats who he calls “the enemy from within.”
One recent televised town hall veered into a surreal, impromptu music session as Trump abandoned discussion of the election to play his favorite hits while swaying on stage.
The Harris campaign has begun to hammer at his mental and physical fitness to serve.
But a tide of MAGA-capped supporters continue to flock to his rallies, convinced that he is the victim of political persecution, or that Democrats are instigating threats against him.
Democrats are also seeking to woo moderate Republicans turned off by Trump’s ominous rhetoric and scandals.
Harris has sought to frame herself as a “joyful warrior” seeking to turn the page on Trump’s years of outrage and move into a new generation of American political leadership.
More than 15 million Americans have already voted by mail or in person, according to the independent organization Elections Project, representing around 10 percent of the total turnout in 2020.
Uganda condemns 16 opposition members for ‘treachery’
KAMPALA: A Ugandan military tribunal Monday convicted 16 members of an opposition party of “illegal possession of explosive devices and treachery,” according to a defense lawyer, who said the proceedings were suspect.
The prosecution alleged that the 16 members of the National Unity Platform, as well as others still on the run, were found in possession of explosives between November 2020 and May 2021, while elections were underway.
“Circumstances surrounding their plea of guilty to the charges they had denied previously was questionable,” Shamim Malende, a defense lawyer, told AFP.
Former singer and opposition figure Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, claimed the group had been forced to plead guilty and seek a presidential pardon.
Journalists were barred from attending the session.
The 16 have spent four years in jail, and will appear in court Wednesday for their sentencing.
Uganda has been ruled since 1986 by Yoweri Museveni.
The last presidential elections in 2021 were marred by fraud, and demonstrations against yet another arrest of Bobi Wine were violently repressed by the police, resulting in at least 54 dead.
“Whatever Museveni’s government is doing, one day all those under him including himself will be called to account,” Bobi Wine told AFP, saying the accused had been “blackmailed by state agents.”
