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Morning briefing: GRAP guidelines for Delhi-NCR schools revised; Andhra CM announces rural roads privatisation plans
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The air quality in Delhi slightly improved but remained in the severe category on Wednesday as a thin blanket of smog covered parts of Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and other areas of the National Capital Region. The 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI), recorded daily at 4pm, stood at 419 on Wednesday, down from 444 on Tuesday, after touching nearly 500 in the “severe plus” category earlier on Monday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) bulletin. The CPCB said that Monday's reading was the second-worst air quality recorded since AQI tracking began in 2015. According to the CPCB, the AQI of Delhi's Anand Vihar (406), Ashok Vihar (416), Bawana (419), Dwarka sector-8 (404), Jahangirpuri (437), Munka (416), Nehru Nagar(410) and some other places touched remained in the severe category at 6am on Thursday, November 21. Visuals from near the India Gate showed people carrying out their daily morning walks, while others jogged on the Kartavya Path in a smog-filled atmosphere. Dig Deeper
The Andhra Pradesh government is contemplating giving rural roads to private players for construction and maintenance on the lines of national highways to avoid extra burden on the state exchequer, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Wednesday. The proposal was mooted by Naidu during a brief discussion in the state assembly and all the MLAs endorsed it. The opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MLAs were not present in the House as they continued to boycott the proceedings. Naidu suggested that the private infrastructure firms would be invited to take up construction of rural roads and they would be allowed to collect the toll from the road users. “If we can convince the people on this proposal, we shall begin the exercise immediately. Otherwise, they would have to put up with roads with potholes,” he said. Dig Deeper
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Sports Going
India’s “paranoid” approach to media has been questioned ahead of the start of the Border-Gavaskar Test series in Perth on Friday. Australian media sent India head coach Gautam Gambhir a sharp reminder of Ravi Shastri amid Ravichandran Ashwin snubbing the press conference on Wednesday. The offie was replaced by bowling coach Morne Morkel. India arrived in Perth over a week back on the back of a horror show at home against New Zealand, where they incurred an unprecedented whitewash. Moreover, the cynosure of the team in the lead-up to the Test series was the form of some of their star players and the availability of their captain, Rohit Sharma. Since landing in Perth, India, the players stationed themselves at the WACA, the old Test venue in the city, have had rather secret training sessions. Dig Deeper
Lifestyle and Health
Ananya Panday was clicked by the paparazzi recently as she stepped out with her family to cast her vote during the Maharashtra Assembly Elections in Mumbai. The actor wore a white floral suit for the occasion. We have spotted several other celebrities wearing the ethnic ensemble before, from Malaika Arora and Alia Bhatt to Janhvi Kapoor. Scroll down to see what is the price of the ensemble. The white floral embroidered suit worn by Ananya Panday, Malaika Arora, Alia Bhatt and Janhvi Kapoor is from the shelves of the clothing label The Loom. It features an ivory chanderi kurta and pants set styled with an ivory lace organza dupatta. Dig Deeper
It's Trending
Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal has copped massive backlash after advertising for a chief of staff vacancy where the successful candidate will not be paid a salary for the first year, but will instead have to donate ₹20 lakh for the privilege of working for him. Goyal, 41, shared the job posting on his X account, writing: “There is no salary for this role for the first year. You will have to, in fact, pay ₹20 lacs for this opportunity.” The Zomato founder and CEO explained that 100% of this ‘fee’ will be paid directly in the form of a donation to Feeding India, Zomato’s non-profit arm. He also clarified that the chosen candidate would be paid the usual salary from the second year onward. This salary would exceed ₹50 LPA, he promised. Dig Deeper
