Delhi's air quality deteriorates due to local pollutants: authorities
New Delhi, Dec 2: Delhi's air quality deteriorated again Sunday and slipped into very poor category due to local pollutants as authorities predicted further increase in pollution level.
According to the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting (SAFAR), the overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was 322, which fell in the "very poor" category.
An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor" and 401 and 500 is considered to be "severe".
The SAFAR had last week forecast that the air quality of the national capital is expected to "significantly deteriorate" Sunday due to a decline in temperature which might lead to entrapment of pollutants. However, even after "significant deterioration" the air quality is likely to stay in the 'very poor' level, it had said.
According to SAFAR, the air quality is very poor in Delhi and at present there is "insignificant intrusion from outside of Delhi".
"It said it is an ideal time to ascertain the impact of local emissions on the pollution level of Delhi," it said.
The local emissions include pollution from vehicles, construction activities and garbage burning among others. Earlier, authorities had said that vehicular emissions contribute to 40 per cent pollution in Delhi.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said in 14 areas of the national capital, the air quality was in the "very poor" category, while in 14 areas, it was recorded in the "poor" category.
The PM2.5 (fine particulate matter in the air with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometre) level was recorded at 155 and the PM10 level at 328, it added.
Ghaziabad recorded very poor air quality, Faridabad poor air quality and Gurgaon recorded moderate air quality, the CPCB data showed.
Delhi's air quality has been in the "very poor" category for the past one week but on Saturday it had improved to poor category for a brief period of time. It again slipped into very poor category Sunday, the authorities said.
According to SAFAR, the air quality is very poor in Delhi and at present there is "insignificant intrusion from outside of Delhi".
"It said it is an ideal time to ascertain the impact of local emissions on the pollution level of Delhi," it said.
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Questioning religious practices will break religion, civilisation: SC in Dawoodi Bohras case
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday remarked that if individuals start questioning certain religious practices or matters of religion before a constitutional court then there will be hundreds of petitions questioning different rituals, leading to the breaking of religions and the civilisation.
The nine-judge Constitution bench is hearing petitions related to discrimination against women at religious places, including the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, and on the ambit and scope of the religious freedom practised by multiple faiths, including Dawoodi Bohras.
The bench comprises Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices B V Nagarathna, M M Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi.
The Central Board of Dawoodi Bohra Community filed a PIL in 1986 seeking the setting aside of a 1962 judgment, which had struck down the Bombay Prevention of Excommunication Act, 1949 -- this law made excommunication of any community member illegal.
The 1962 Constitution bench judgment said, "It is evident from the religious faith and tenets of the Dawoodi Bohra community that the exercise of the power of excommunication by its religious head on religious grounds formed part of the management of its affairs in matters of religion and the 1949 Act in making even such excommunication invalid, infringed the right of the community under Article 26(b) of the Constitution."
Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, representing a group of reformist Dawoodi Bohras, submitted that a practice which is conducted in response to secular and social actions of an individual cannot be the subject of Constitutional protection under Article 25 of the Constitution and consequently cannot be a ‘matter of religion’ under Article 26 of the Constitution.
Ramachandran told the court that a practice which may have a religious aspect but also significantly and adversely impacts fundamental rights is not immune to restriction under Article 25 of the Constitution or Article 26 of the Constitution.
Responding to the submission, Justice Nagarathna said that if everybody starts questioning certain religious practices or matters of religion before a constitutional court, then "what happens to this civilisation where religion is so intimately connected with the Indian society".
"There will be hundreds of petitions questioning this right that right, opening of the temple, and the closure of the temple. We are conscious of this," she said.
Adding to the response, Justice Sundresh said, "Every religion will break and every constitutional court will have to be closed.
"If the dispute between two entities are allowed then everybody will question everything. In your case there may be a civil wrong committed to you but in another case, another member will say I don't agree. It is regressive. To what extent can we go in a country like ours which is progressive and on the move is the question," he said.
Justice Nagarathna went on that what sets apart India from any other region is that "we are a civilisation" despite having so many pluralities and diversities?
Asserting that diversity is the country's strength, she added, "One of the constants in our Indian society is the relationship of human beings -- man, woman and child -- with the religion."
"Now, how a religious practice or a matter of religion is questioned, where it is questioned, whether it can be questioned, whether it has to be a question within a denomination for a reform or whether the state will have to do or you want the court to adjudicate upon all these aspects. This is troubling us.
"What we lay down, is for a civilisation that is India. India must progress despite all its economy, everything there is a constant in us. We can’t break that constant. That is what is troubling us ," she said.
Ramachandran replied that India is a civilisation under the Constitution and therefore nothing which goes against the grain of constitution can be continued in a civilised society.
He said that's where court's task come in and "it can't throw hands" and say there will be so many petitions.
