The Delhi high court has decided not to interfere with the Delhi government's odd-even formula. The scheme will thus run till Friday (January 15). The court did ask the Delhi government to take care of concerns mentioned in all the PILs against the odd-even formula of cars on roads. One PIL has questioned the exemptions being given to women and two wheelers and has also questioned the efficiency of the public transport system.
The court had earlier reserved its order on various petitions challenging the odd-even rule for vehicles enforced on the city roads since January 1, 2016, after the Aam Aadmi Party government defended the scheme, saying the per capita toxic gas emission had reduced as a result of less four-wheelers on the roads.
"More than 50 per cent drop in air pollution primarily caused by vehicular traffic has been recorded according to the latest ambient air data collected by mobile teams of Delhi Pollution Control Committee on Saturday at 18 locations, through mobile dust samplers on using the light scattering technique," the government said in a statement.

Sensex falls as global markets go negative
The S&P BSE Sensex opened over 300 points lower to trade below its crucial psychological level of 25,000 in trade on Monday, while broader CNX Nifty tested its key support level of 7,500. The indices fell tracking negative trend seen in Asian markets after People's Bank of China (PBoC) confounded analysts by guiding the yuan sharply stronger, a move that might calm concerns about a competitive devaluation but only added to market confusion as to Beijing's ultimate intent. Among Asian markets, China's Shanghai Composite was trading over 2 per cent down, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 2.45 per cent. Japan's Nikkei was ruling with a downtick of 0.39 per cent. On Friday, US markets closed about 1 per cent lower, ending the year's first trading week with sharp losses as concerns about China and global economic slowdown persisted.

BJP's fact-finding  team restrained in Malda
Three BJP parliamentarians sent by party chief Amit Shah on a "fact-finding" mission to West Bengal's Malda were stopped at the railway station in the violence-hit district this morning and were forced to take a train back to Kolkata. Lawmakers SS Ahluwalia, Bhupendra Yadav and BD Ram said the police asked them to leave citing prohibitory orders in the Kaliachak town of Malda. Violence erupted in Kaliachak on January 3 following alleged blasphemous comments by a right-wing leader in Uttar Pradesh in December.

Over a lakh Muslim activists  ransacked a Border Security Force (BSF) jeep, attacked a police station and burnt cars. One person was shot. The police say the violence started after the BSF jeep got stuck in a traffic jam caused by the procession. The BJP has accused the state's ruling Trinamool Congress of protecting those behind the violence. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said the violence was not communal but a clash between local people and the BSF. The BJP alleges that the Kaliachak police station was targeted by people who wanted to burn down crime records. Ahead of assembly elections, the police are expected to begin a crackdown on people with criminal records. Assembly polls are due later this year in Bengal, where almost 30 per cent voters are Muslim.

#Selfiewithdaughter sarpanch's wife loses poll in Haryana
The wife of Sunil Jaglan, who came into the news after prime minister Narendra Modi praised him for his 'Selie with Daughter' initiative, lost the election for the post of Bibipur sarpanch. Deepa Jaglan got 1,470 votes whereas her rival Deepika Sahoo got 1,555 votes. Sunil Jaglan, who is the outgoing sarpanch for the Bibipur village, could not contest this elections as the post is now reserved for women candidates.

Indira Gandhi's rule worse than British, says Bihar govt website
A Bihar government website has said that Indira Gandhi's rule was worse than that of the British. The Congress is a constituent of the ruling coalition in the state. The mention about "autocratic rule" of Indira Gandhi and "oppression" perpetrated during the Emergency has been made in a write up on Bihar's history. The write-up, while mentioning about contribution of Jay Prakash Narayan or JP to modern Indian history, says, "It was he who steadfastly and staunchly opposed the autocratic rule of Indira Gandhi and her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi.

"Fearing people's reaction to his (JP's) opposition, Indira Gandhi had him arrested on the eve of declaring National Emergency beginning June 26, 1975. He was put in the Tihar Jail, located near Delhi, where notorious criminals are jailed. "Thus, in Free India, this septuagenarian (JP), who had fought for India's freedom alongside Indira Gandhi's father, Jawahar Lal Nehru, received a treatment that was worse than what the British had meted out to Gandhiji in Champaran in 1917, for his speaking out against oppression." Angered over this, state Congress leader Chandan Yadav said the references are "totally unacceptable" and that his party will raise the issue with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Intolerance of criticism arising out of irrational faith: Hamid Ansari
Amid the intolerance debate in the country, Vice President Hamid Ansari on Sunday said there is "intolerance of criticism and questioning" resulting from irrational faiths and beliefs which are based on unscientific prejudices. He said while lack of scientific temper has often resulted in instances like individual dissenters being ostracised or killed, and banning or withdrawal of books from circulation. He rued that even scientists succumb to practises that derogate from scientific temper and noted that our education system was insufficiently equipped to inculcate this thinking in young minds.

India a tolerant country with few intolerant people: Taslima Nasreen
India is a tolerant country with a few intolerant people and it is time to focus not just on Hindu fundamentalists but on Muslim fundamentalists as well, Bangladeshi author has Taslima Nasreen said. “I think India is a tolerant country, but some people are intolerant. In every society, there are some people who are intolerant,” the self-exiled author said at an event in New Delhi, while referring to the recent violence in Malda in West Bengal. She said while there was talk about Hindu fundamentalists, one has to talk of Muslim fundamentalists as well. Nasreen said absolute freedom of speech was necessary even if it offended some people. “I think we should have freedom of expression even if that offends some people. If we do not open our mouths, society will not evolve. Of course, we should fight against misogyny, religious fundamentalism and all kinds of evil forces only to make the society a better one.”

AP's investment meet begins with a bang, 32 MoUs worth Rs 1.95 lakh cr signed
The Andhra Pradesh government has signed 32 MoUs with various companies involving an investment of Rs 1.95 lakh crore on the inaugural day of the three-day long partnership summit in Viskhapatnam. "We have signed 32 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which would attract investments to the tune of Rs 1.95 lakh crore in the state. Out of 32, 22 MoUs are in energy sector," Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu told reporters. He further said the total investment would create job opportunities for nearly 95,000 people. One of the examples which Naidu gave was of Anil Ambani led Reliance announcing setting up of a new ship building facility with an initial investment of Rs 5,000 crore in the state.

Deported from US, 16 students now hassled at Hyderabad airport
The ordeal of 16 students from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, who had gone to the US seeking admission in educational institutions there but were sent back from New York, continued despite landing back home as they alleged that they had been kept waiting for around six hours at the international airport in Hyderabad over some ticket issue. The students, who landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Saturday night, claimed they were stranded for around six hours at the airport due to some issue about the return ticket fares with the airline they travelled in. They also said that some authorities at the airport took longer time for checking their documents. On December 21 last year, Air India had stopped 19 students from boarding its flight to San Francisco at the international airport here on the grounds that the two universities to which they had been admitted were under “scrutiny”. On January 2, over 20 students, who had returned from the US to Hyderabad, had alleged that they were “ill-treated” and some of them were even handcuffed at the New York airport by the US authorities.