Welcome to Today’s Bharat. Here is what you need to know this week, in five minutes.
1. Delhi records its most polluted Diwali in five years
Delhi’s average Air Quality Index on Diwali, November 8, was 376, the highest on the festival since 2021, according to CPCB data reported by PTI. The next morning was barely better: 371 at 10 am, with 14 of 51 reporting monitoring stations in the ‘severe’ category.
Residents reported fireworks well beyond the permitted evening window in several areas, even though only certified green crackers were allowed. Officials pointed to calm winds and dry weather trapping pollutants, and the early warning system expects severe air for the next few days, with stubble burning in neighbouring states at its seasonal peak. Source
2. Seven dead in Old Delhi building collapse
A three-storey building under construction collapsed in Chawri Bazar on November 5 at around 9:45 am. By November 8, after a rescue operation of more than 70 hours involving Delhi Police, the NDRF, Delhi Fire Services and the MCD, the death toll had risen to seven. Six of those who died were from Bihar.
Police have arrested the building owner and three contractors and registered an FIR under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. According to the MCD, no building plan had been sanctioned for the 50-square-metre plot. Source
3. Supreme Court: OBC creamy layer ruling applies to CSE-2025 candidates
On November 6, the Supreme Court refused to modify its March judgment holding that a parent’s salary at a PSU or private company cannot, by itself, decide whether an OBC candidate falls in the creamy layer. The parent’s post and employment category must also be examined.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and R Mahadevan said the ruling will govern service allocation for those who cleared the 2025 Civil Services Examination, whose cadres and training dates had been on hold, but will not reopen completed selections or appointments. The Centre had asked for two years to build a uniform mechanism; the court left that to the government and set no timeline. Source
4. India gets its 100th chess Grandmaster
Anuj Shrivatri, 22, won the 7th ASEAN Plus Individual Open Chess Championship in the Philippines on November 8, finishing on top with 7 points despite losing his first game. The win earned him the Grandmaster title.
He is India’s 100th Grandmaster and the first from Madhya Pradesh. India is only the fourth country to reach 100, after Russia, Germany and the United States, almost four decades after Viswanathan Anand became the first. Source
Behind every Grandmaster is a coach most people have never heard of. India’s chess boom runs on trainers, tutors and sports coaches working from small academies and living rooms, and many of them are still found only through word of mouth.
OpenMap gives local businesses, tutors, coaches and trainers their own page and AI agent, so people (and the AI assistants they use) can find them and send them requests. It is launching in London first.
If you know coaches, tutors or trainers like these, in London or wherever your circle reaches, help us bring them on board. Become an OpenMap partner
5. National cleanliness awards put sanitation workers on stage
President Droupadi Murmu was scheduled to present the Swachh Survekshan 2025-26 awards at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on November 11. This is the tenth edition of the national cleanliness survey, which has grown from 73 urban local bodies in 2016 to more than 4,751 cities.
Cities were assessed on 43 indicators by over 3,000 trained assessors, with GPS-based monitoring. This year’s ceremony places special emphasis on sanitation workers, with representatives invited on stage. Raipur, Bilaspur and Bilha in Chhattisgarh are among the cities selected. Source
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See you in the next edition.
Team Today’s Bharat