Heena Sharma Blog

Issuing the guidelines, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the domestic and international flights (under the Vande Bharat Mission ) and passenger trains have already been allowed in a limited manner and their operations will be further expanded in a calibrated manner. However, other international air travel and metro rail services will continue to remain shut at least till July 31. State governments cannot ban inter-state and intra-state movements of people and goods. Cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places continue to remain shut. Social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious functions and other large congregations are also continue to be prohibited. Dates for opening of these will be decided separately, based on the assessment of the situation, the MHA said. Read More

About 87 per cent of Indian drivers and vehicle owners would buy an electric vehicle (EV), if that helped reduce air pollution, according to a new survey. Only 12 per cent would switch to EVs to avoid using petrol and diesel, according to the survey commissioned by Climate Trends, a Bengaluru-based nonprofit, which polled more than 2,000 Indian drivers, owners and those who planned to buy a car. In 2017, India sold about 900,000 EVs, 4 per cent of the volume of diesel and petrol vehicles sold. India, however, sold less than a million electric vehicles–4 per cent of IC engine vehicles sold–in 2017, according to the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), an EV manufacturer’s body. Of these, more than 93 per cent were electric three-wheelers and 6 cent twottwo-wheelers. Read our full coverage on air pollution in India