Missing Chinese Woman: A spy story that never was!
Patna (PTI): Mysterious Chinese woman suspected of spying on the Dalai Lama screamed media outlets in Bihar on the day His Holiness began his annual discourses at Bodh Gaya, returning to the pilgrim town after a gap of two years.
As the word went out that police has released sketches of Song Xiaolan, gaunt and scalp covered with closely cropped hair, along with her passport and visa numbers, headline hunters could have been excused for thinking that they had found something "big".
However, after a thorough investigation, police found that it was a simple case of a lady who had inadvertantly overstayed in the country on an expired visa.
"She has been slapped with a Leave India notice following visa violation. We are going to hand her over to the authorities concerned for repatriation", said J S Gangwar, Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters), as he sought to ward off queries from journalists who were refusing to believe that it was a case of much ado about nothing.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, after all, remains a persona non grata in China, a country with which India has along standing border dispute. Security concerns accompany the messenger of peace wherever he goes ever since he escaped Tibet in 1959 after Chinese bloodily put down an uprising in the `Roof of the World'. His visit to Bodh Gaya a few years ago was marked by a low-intensity blast carried out by a Bangladesh-based terror outfit.
Nonetheless, a statement issued by the Gaya police makes it amply clear that Song was never suspected of espionage, leave alone terrorist activities, though she is evidently not a regular traveller from abroad either, landing on Indian soil for mundane reasons.
According to the Gaya police, the woman was self-willed enough to have fallen in love with spirituality, despite having been born in an avowedly atheist country, and she arrived in the land of the Buddha, way back in October, 2019 and simply forgot that visas are things of the world, governed by laws laid down by nations.
According to the police, she was supposed to have stayed for not more than three months. She, however, has stayed back for more than three years. In the meantime, she briefly visited Nepal, apparently on a spiritual quest, where she befriended a local woman and, with her, returned to India.
The two women, both of whom were picked up by the police from a guest house in Bodh Gaya, have confessed to having settled down in Mc Leodganj, a town in Dharamshala district of Himachal Pradesh, often called a "mini Tibet", apparently driven by a desire to be close to the Dalai Lama.
They came to Bodh Gaya on December 22, the date on which the Dalai Lama also arrived on his annual retreat, but by the time the police had been sounded off by the foreign department that Xiaolan was a persona non grata.
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Delhi's air quality worst in country, hits 'severe' for first time this season
New Delhi, Nov 13: Delhi recorded the country's worst air quality on Wednesday as it turned 'severe' for the first time this season, with the AQI soaring to 418.
Bihar's Hajipur, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 417, had the the second-worst reading in the country, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.
Of Delhi's 36 monitoring stations, 30 reported air quality in the 'severe' category, the CPCB said.
In comparison, the national capital's 24-hour average AQI -- recorded at 4 pm every day -- stood at 334 on Tuesday.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', 401 and 450 'severe' and above 450 'severe plus'.
According to the CPCB data, the city's AQI was in the 'severe' category for three days in January.
On January 14, the AQI was recorded at 447, followed by 409 each on January 24 and 26.
The CPCB said 'severe' AQI affected healthy people and seriously impacted those with existing medical conditions.
The air quality in the national capital had been in the 'very poor' category since it plunged to the level on October 30.
According to the Centre's Decision Support System for Air Quality Management, vehicular emission was the top contributor to Delhi's pollution, with an estimated share of approximately 13.3 per cent.
The other prominent pollutants were PM2.5 and PM10.
PM2.5 and PM10 refer to fine particulate matter in the air, with the numbers indicating their size in micrometres.
PM2.5 are fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less, about the width of a human hair. These are so small that these can penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream, posing significant health risks.
PM10 are coarser particles with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less, about the width of 10 human hairs. While not as concerning as PM2.5, these can still irritate the airways and worsen respiratory problems.
Long-term exposure to these particulate matter can increase the risk of heart disease.
