Tag: India

  • Lahore tops the worst air quality list, again

    Lahore tops the worst air quality list, again

    Lahore on Wednesday topped the list of the most polluted cities in the world with the worst air quality levels.

    India’s Delhi is second on the list, Poland’s Krakow and Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek are placed in third and fourth spot respectively while Bangladesh’s Dhaka is on number five according to the air pollution data released by the US Air Quality Index (AQI).

    Screengrab of air quality and pollution city ranking

    Lahore recorded a particulate matter (PM) rating of 364 that classifies the city under the “hazardous” category of air quality.

    The United States Environmental Protection Agency regards air quality as satisfactory if the AQI is under 50.

  • Diwali fireworks: Delhi residents pay the price

    Diwali fireworks: Delhi residents pay the price

    India’s capital New Delhi has the worst air quality in the world as the city is at the top of the Air Quality Index (AQI) with 332.

    The morning after the Diwali celebrations, a thick smog turned daylight into dusk around the capital as AQI surged to 463 on a scale of 500, which is the maximum recorded in 2021, indicating “severe” conditions that affect even healthy people let alone those with existing respiratory diseases, reports Reuters.

    In India, toxic air kills reportedly more than a million people annually.

    “No country delights more in passing laws and then bypassing them than ours. Today Delhi particularly is facing the consequences of this feature of our lives,” Jairam Ramesh, a lawmaker and a leader of the main opposition Congress Party tweeted on Friday.

    Gopal Rai, Delhi environment chief said authorities planned to install 20 anti-smog guns to spray water into the air to help dilute the smog.

    Currently, there have been calls for more strict measures such as a temporary ban on construction activities and shutdowns of high-polluting factories.

    Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi told the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow that India would achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, but some experts reckoned that the target was at least two decades too late.

    As per today’s date (Saturday), Lahore was at 3rd place. While India’s other two cities currently stand at 4th and 5th.

  • ‘Three sugar mills in Sindh were shut down, leading to an increase in the price of sugar to Rs140 per kg’: PM Khan

    ‘Three sugar mills in Sindh were shut down, leading to an increase in the price of sugar to Rs140 per kg’: PM Khan

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan during an address at a ceremony in Attock on Friday said that Sindh shut down three operational sugar mills, which contributed to an increase in the price of sugar.

    “The price of sugar in Pakistan has hit Rs140 per kg. I inquired why this was so. I learned that three sugar mills in Sindh, which were operational, were shut down,” the prime minister said.

    The prime minister went on to say that he subsequently learnt that due to the reduced supply, the sugar mills in Punjab began to hoard the commodity.

    “I told the chief secretary that our law forbids hoarding and so if the sugar mills are doing so, we must retrieve the stock and bring it out to the market so the price drops.”

    “We found out that since July, the sugar mills have obtained a stay order against the rule. And so our government was unable to do anything,” PM Imran Khan said.

    “This is a gross injustice that the sugar mafia earns billions after having broken the backs of our people. And when the government moves to do something, they obtain stay orders,” he remarked.

    PM Khan claimed that there was uproar in India as well over high petrol prices and Pakistan still had the cheapest petrol prices in the region.

    “In India today, there is uproar as well [over petrol prices] and the petrol price per litre is Rs150 while it is Rs200 in Bangladesh. [On the other hand] it is the lowest in Pakistan at Rs146,” the premier said.

    “The biggest [impact] of what happened was that the oil price first decreased and now in the last three months it has doubled […] when oil becomes expensive, then everything becomes expensive.”

    “When there was inflation in the whole world then obviously Pakistan is in this same world and not in the heavens so we also had to be affected. As a result, we fully tried and are still trying to protect our people from this inflation.”

    The prime minister’s comments come the same day as the government increased petroleum prices by up to Rs8.14 per litre with immediate effect to ensure the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

  • ‘Pointless’: Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis slam match-fixing ‘conspiracy theories’ after India beats Afghanistan

    ‘Pointless’: Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis slam match-fixing ‘conspiracy theories’ after India beats Afghanistan

    Former Pakistan captains Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram were critical of suggestions on social media of match-fixing during the India-Afghanistan clash. The pace bowling duo dismissed the claims as ‘conspiracy theories’.

    After two back-to-back defeats, India finally registered a victory in the T20 World Cup with a comprehensive 66-run win over Afghanistan. However, while most of the cricketing fraternity praised India’s dominant performance, some users on social media started a viral trend alleging the match was fixed and India ‘paid’ well.

    Reacting to the trends, Akram said on A Sports, “I don’t know why we like to create such conspiracy theories? India are a very good team. They just had couple of bad days at the start of the tournament.”

    Waqar echoed the sentiment saying, “It’s a pointless thing to say and people should not give it much attention.”

    After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, India scored 210 for two in their must-win Super 12 game. This is so far the highest score of this World Cup and the only time a team crossed the 200-run mark in what has been a low-scoring tournament.

  • T20 World Cup: Twitter reacts after India crushed Afghanistan

    T20 World Cup: Twitter reacts after India crushed Afghanistan

    Soon after Indian batting ended in the first half of India vs Afghanistan match of T20 World Cup Super 12 stage, Twitter was flooded with reactions on Afghanistan’s performance.

    Taking to Twitter, many users were disappointed by the bowling figures of the Afghan team. Some tweeted that the match is fixed, while others said that the Indian team paid well to the Afghans.

    Here are a few reactions of the netizens:

    https://twitter.com/Dani_Baloch7/status/1456111258902609920?s=20
    https://twitter.com/Aliraza30010129/status/1456124333206671360?s=20
    https://twitter.com/utpk07/status/1456113150684770306?s=20
    https://twitter.com/Haider0fficial/status/1456112846132101121?s=20

    Many notables took to Twitter to express their displeasure with the Afghan team.

    However, many chided those who believed in such conspiracy theories.

    https://twitter.com/hassan_a_niazi/status/1455939309664489476?s=21

    KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma put together India’s biggest opening stand at T20 World Cups. Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant then provided India the finishing kick with a 63-run partnership in the last 3.3 overs. Having put such a high total, India’s bowling was too good for Afghanistan, keeping them to 144, moving into positives on the net-run-rate.

    Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s net-run-rate dropped from 3.1 to 1.481. India has played three matches and their current NRR is 0.073. Their next matches are against Scotland and Namibia.

  • Husband reunites wife with her lover five months after own wedding

    Husband reunites wife with her lover five months after own wedding

    A man in Kanpur, India, helped his wife reunite with her lover just five months after he got married to her.

    Pankaj told reporters that his wife Komal used to maintain distance from him since their marriage. “She neither consummated the marriage nor even talked to anyone. After being coaxed, she confided that she wanted to marry her lover Pintu,” he said.

    When Pankaj informed the girl’s family, they tried to convince Komal but she remained persistent.

    Read More: Barat sent back for coming with the wrong older groom

    The matter then reached the Anti-Domestic Violence Cell and Asha Jyoti Centre where a meeting was arranged between the woman, her husband, her lover, and their relatives.
    Seeing that Komal was determined, Pankaj agreed and even made arrangements for her marriage. He also arranged a lawyer to solemnise the marriage of his wife to her lover Pintu on Friday evening, which was attended by relatives and guests from both sides.

  • Pakistani Virushka fans react after Vamika’s rape threat by Indian extremists

    Pakistani Virushka fans react after Vamika’s rape threat by Indian extremists

    Every time the Indian cricket team loses a match, the players of the team are subjected to harsh criticism. This time the fans who claim to love the sport have gone one step ahead, as now the family members of the players are being targeted.

    It is gruesome to even read the tweet by now-deleted account @Criccrazyygirl issuing a rape threat to a nine-month-old Vamika Kohli, daughter of Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma and Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli. The identity of the person who tweeted the rape threat is yet to be verified, the screenshot has been amplified several times by right-leaning handles.

    Pakistani netizens reacted to this horrendous attack on a toddler, who has nothing to do with India losing their matches. We have collected a few reactions who are saying that as a Pakistan, We Stand With Virat Kohli, have a look:

    https://twitter.com/janiya6312/status/1455346065176154114?s=20
    https://twitter.com/AshanGill2/status/1455265494987157519?s=20

    The barbaric tweet called for the toddler’s photo to be revealed while issuing a rape threat. As on November 1, the handle was deleted from Twitter.

    The tweet came at a time when captain Kohli is facing online attacks for speaking in support of his Muslim teammate Mohammad Shami, who was attacked online after the cricket team faced a 10-wicket defeat against Pakistan in the ongoing Men’s T20 World Cup.

    Shami was subjected to vicious online trolling and abuse on Instagram and Twitter soon after the match between the two teams, in which he conceded 43 runs in 3.5 overs, ended.

  • Lahore number one, while Karachi fifth for poor air quality in the world

    Lahore number one, while Karachi fifth for poor air quality in the world

    Lahore ranked number one while Karachi ranked fifth among the top five cities with bad air quality in the world.

    The second on the list is Croatia’s Zagreb while India’s Delhi is on third, Mumbai fourth, and Pakistan’s Karachi is the fifth city, according to air pollution data released by the United States (US) Air Quality Index.

    Screen-grab of the latest IQAir website world air quality ranking

    Lahore suffers from high levels of air pollution, with the city regularly ranking at the top of IQAir AirVisual’s live pollution rankings of the major global cities.

    According to environmental experts and an earlier report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the cause of smog remains years-long pollution caused mostly by the transport sector and industries, and not just crop burning.

  • Shahid Afridi says India needs a ‘miracle’ to qualify for T20 World Cup semi-final

    Shahid Afridi says India needs a ‘miracle’ to qualify for T20 World Cup semi-final

    Former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi has said that India have an outside chance of qualifying for the semis but with how they have played their two big games in the event, it would be nothing but a miracle to see them qualify.

    The former captain’s statement came after New Zealand crushed India by eight wickets on Sunday.

    Azhar Ali and Shoaib Akhtar also took to Twitter to express their displeasure on the performance of India.

    A timid India could only manage a below-par 110 for 7 in their crucial match and then saw New Zealand chase down the target of 111 with 33 balls to spare.

    Trent Boult took three wickets, while Ish Sodhi grabbed two crucial wickets of Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He also bagged Player of the Match award for his classic performance with the ball.

    India is still mathematically alive in this tournament but even three crushing wins against Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia would not guarantee qualification for the semi-finals.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan is on the top of the table in Group 2 with six points, Afghanistan stands second with four points, beating India with a big margin, the Black Caps are on third position with 2 points in their bucket.

    India will play Afghanistan on Wednesday in their next match of the Super 12 stage.

  • Memes: Pak reacts to India’s defeat

    Memes: Pak reacts to India’s defeat

    New Zealand defeated India by 8 wickets on Sunday, making it quite difficult for the men in blue to reach the semi-finals in the T20 World Cup.

    India gave New Zealand a target of 111 runs. The Kiwis easily chased the target in the 14th over.

    Despite India having world-class batters, Black Caps dismissed seven Indians during the first innings of the match. Indian captain Virat Kohli could only score nine. Currently, India is at number 5 in Group B of the T20 World Cup 2021.

    Since last night, Pakistani social media is filled with memes and reactions.