New Delhi [India], March 19 (ANI): Delhi’s overall air quality entered the ‘very poor’ category on Friday as the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded at 311, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).
“The overall Delhi air quality is in the lower end of the Very Poor category. PM10 is the lead pollutant as long range transport of dust from the dry arid southwest regions continues to contribute,” informed SAFAR.
“Surface winds are moderate and west southwesterly. However, AQI is likely to marginally improve and stay in the lower end of the Very Poor to Poor category for tomorrow due to slow down of gusty transport,” it added.
Meanwhile, as per the Regional Meteorological Department in Delhi, the maximum temperature can go up to 35 degree Celsius.
Partly cloudy sky and mist in the morning are likely in Delhi, as per the Meteorological Department.
“There are no likelihood of rain throughout the day. The weather likely to remain dry,” said the India Meteorological Department (IMD). (ANI)

South 24 Parganas (West Bengal) [India], March 19 (ANI): BJP has fielded Bengali actor Srabanti Chatterjee from Behala West Assembly seat against heavyweight Trinamool Congress leader and state education minister Partha Chatterjee.
After her candidature was announced, she started door-to-door campaigning in her constituency.
“I am excited. When I got to know that BJP has given me a ticket from Behala West, I could not stop myself to come out. I am getting support from the people here,” Srabanti told ANI.
On March 2, Srabanti Chatterjee joined the BJP.
BJP on Thursday released a list of 148 candidates for the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth phases of the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections.
West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. Counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], March 19 (ANI): Representatives of the National Council for Transgender Persons (NCTP) on Thursday submitted a memorandum to Governor Ganeshi Lal, demanding that April 15 be celebrated as ‘National Transgender Day’.
Meera Parida, a representative of the National Council for Transgender of Persons (East Zone), said the Central government should declare ‘National Transgender Day’ on April 15 as the Supreme Court had recognised transgenders as the third gender on April 15, 2014.
“On April 15, 2014, the Supreme Court had recognised transgenders as the third gender. Now it is our demand that the Central government should celebrate ‘National Transgender Day’ on April 15. There are no celebrations on specific days for transgenders. We have submitted a memorandum to the Governor,” Parida told ANI.
“The Governor said he will take up the seriously and will forward the letter. The situation has changed after 2014. People have started giving respect to transgenders,” Parida added. (ANI)

Chandigarh [India], March 19 (ANI): The Haryana Recovery of Damages to Property during Disturbance to Public Order Bill, 2021 was passed in the state Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that the 2.5 crore people of Haryana have every right over the land and it is the responsibility of the State Government to protect it.
“This law should have been made long ago. It is the responsibility of the State Government to protect the property of the state, whether it is private or government. No one benefits from the loss of property, in fact, the loss of property leads to economic loss,” Khattar told reporters here after the end of the Vidhan Sabha budget session.
“In a democracy, everyone has the right to speak and protest peacefully, but no one has the right to damage property,” he added.
The Chief Minister said that this bill will determine the responsibility of those who damage property as well as ensure compensation to the victim.
In response to a question, Khattar clarified that this bill has nothing to do with the agitating farmers presently. He said that it is necessary to instill fear in the minds of those who damage property and this is our constitutional legal system. (ANI)

Kannur (Kerala) [India], March 19 (ANI): Just a day before the deadline for submitting a nomination in the Kerala assembly poll ends, C Raghunath filed his nomination as Congress candidate to contest in Dharmadam against CPI (M) strongman and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Though earlier, Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) was planning to support the mother of Walayar siblings who is fighting the polls as an independent candidate.
Later Congress state leadership and AICC decided to field their own candidate to take on Vijayan after the BJP and Left in their campaign alleged that ‘Congress does not even have candidates to fight Vijayan.”
K Sudhakaran, the face of the party in Kannur rejected the proposal to contest from Dharmadam after meeting with District Congress Committee (DCC).
Speaking to reporters in Kannur, Sudhakaran said that KPCC and the High Command had asked his opinion to contest in Dharmadam but he refrained from it.
“I have conveyed my decision not to contest in Dharmadam to the state leadership and also to the High Command. Since I have to campaign across the Kannur district, being working president of KPCC it’s not practical to be a candidate at Dharmadam. Also, there was hardly any time for enough preparation as it was asked to me two days back,” he said.
C Raghunath is Kannur District Congress Committee secretary and the nomination was filed before the official announcement by the party.
Meanwhile, the mother of Walayar siblings also filed her nomination papers on Thursday to fight against Kerala Chief Minister.
Vijayan who faced the last assembly polls in 2016 from Dharmadam won with a huge majority of 36,905 votes against his rival Mambaram Divakaran of Congress.
Earlier, Vijayan was elected to the Kerala Assembly in 1970, 1977 and 1991 from Kuthuparamba while in 1996 he was elected from Payyanur.
The election for 140-member Kerala Assembly will be held on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

Ludhiana (Punjab) [India], March 19 (ANI): Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) employees staged a protest in Ludhiana on Thursday against the government’s decision to raise the Foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector to 74 per cent and to bring an IPO of the LIC.
“There is a strike across the country. We are protesting against the proposal of bringing an IPO of the LIC. It is an attempt to push LIC towards privatisation. We demand the government to drop this idea. We are also against raising the FDI limit in the insurance sector to 74 per cent,” Ritu Aban, one of the protesters told ANI.
In February, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to amend the Insurance Act 1938 to increase the permissible FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in insurance companies and allow foreign ownership and control with safeguards.
During her budget speech, she said: “I propose to amend the Insurance Act 1938 to increase the permissible FDI limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in insurance companies and allow foreign ownership and control with safeguards.” (ANI)