Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) Showing signs of sluggishness in the economy, industrial production shrank by 4.3 per cent in September, registering the weakest performance in seven years due to output decline in manufacturing, mining and electricity sectors, as per official data released on Monday.

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, 4.3 per cent contraction is the lowest in 2011-12 series of Index of Industrial Production, which was unveiled in May 2017. The IIP had declined by 0.7 per cent in April, 2012.

New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Brazil on November 13 and 14 to attend the 11th BRICS summit, the theme of which is "economic growth for an innovative future".

This will be the sixth time Modi will be participating in the BRICS summit, his first being at Fortaleza, also in Brazil in 2014, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.

Sources said he would leave for Brasilia, Brazil on Tuesday afternoon.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) Delhi's air quality worsened again and slipped into the 'severe' category on Tuesday morning.

At 9:36 am, the air quality index (AQI) was 414. The AQI at Bawana, Wazirpur, Anand Vihar and Rohini was 445, 442, 442 and 440 respectively.

According to the government air quality monitoring service SAFAR, the city's air quality was in very poor category on Monday which turned to severe by the evening. The average AQI stood at 360 on Sunday.

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) Lok Janshakti Party president Chirag Paswan announced on Tuesday that his party will contest 50 seats in the Jharkhand assembly elections, scheduled to be held in five phases between November 30 and December 20.

"The state unit of the party had to take a decision on fighting the Jharkhand assembly polls. It has decided that the Lok Janshakti Party will contest 50 seats on its own," Paswan said.

New Delhi, Oct 11 (PTI) The CRPF has taken over the security duties of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul and Priyanka on Monday after the Union government withdrew their SPG cover last week, officials said.

A contingent of commandos of the central paramilitary force armed with Israeli X-95, AK series and MP-5 guns took over the task at Sonia Gandhi's residence of 10, Janpath, they said.

New Delhi, Nov 11, PTI:  Hundreds of students protested near the Jawaharlal Nehru University here on Monday against the administration's "anti-student" policy.

Students wanted to march towards the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), where Vice President Venkaiah Naidu was addressing the university's convocation at an auditorium.

The gates of the AICTE, around 3 km from the JNU, were locked and the security personnel were stationed in and outside the premises in wake of the protests that started in the morning.

New Delhi, Nov 10 (PTI) The BJP on Sunday slammed Congress leader Navjot Sidhu for praising Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan at the Kartarpur corridor inauguration across the international border and allegedly seeking to present Pakistani leadership on a higher pedestal than India's.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra criticised Sidhu's remarks praising Imran Khan and describing him as the king of hearts. Sidhu had said, "Sikandar (Alexander) had won the world with fear and you won the heart all over the world."

New Delhi, Nov 10 (PTI) Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) general secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani on Sunday expressed "strong disagreement" with the Supreme Court's verdict in the Ayodhya case and claimed the ruling has shaken the faith of the minorities in the judiciary

He also said the ruling was "unjust" and in "utter disregard" of truth and evidence

Mumbai, Nov 11 (PTI) Union Heavy Industries Minister and Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant on Monday announced his decision to quit the NDA government at the Centre.

The Sena's lone minister minister in the Modi Cabinet took to Twitter to announce his decision, a day after Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari invited his party to stake claim to form government in the state.

New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) As its flock of 44 Maharashtra MLAs huddled together in a Jaipur resort, the Congress Working Committee met here on Monday to take a decision on whether or not to support the Shiv Sena in forming a government in the state.

Party president Sonia Gandhi chaired the meeting of the top leaders of her party at her residence, sources said, amid indications that the legislators were not in favour of fresh elections in the state.