NEWS

Holi is a festival that promotes camaraderie and spreads joy through the play of colours. It also celebrates the victory of good over evil and the divine love of Radha and Krishna.

However, this otherwise happy occasion can become the cause of discomfort for others, including people, animals and may harm the environment. Conducting an eco-friendly Holi is a must and we share five tips to achieve that.

Use Natural colours, not chemical ones: The store-bought Gulal or Abeer/abir is usually made using chemicals and heavy metals which can cause allergies, asthma, temporary blindness, kidney failure, liver issues, and nervous problems and may affect cognitive abilities in children and cause cancer. Turmeric, gram flour, sandalwood, pomegranate and beetroot extracts and Henna are safer options.

Avoid water usage and wastage: Colours mixed in water cause allergies, stain the roads and buildings, and cause environmental pollution. Also, conservation of water is essential as several states in the country are suffering from depleted groundwater levels due to the rising human population. It is best not to waste this valuable resource and celebrate with dry colours instead.

The first phase of the West Bengal assembly elections is set to begin on Saturday and 28 political parties are contesting in the first two phases. The political parties contesting in West Bengal have mushroomed in the last three decades.

12 political parties contested in the 1951 assembly elections and 11 parties fought in 1987. The number of political parties, thereafter, grew to 35 in the year 1991, and further to 54 in the last assembly elections in 2016.

Number of parties since 1951 (Infographic by India Today DIU)

Small parties have been unable to make any impact in the elections even as the number of parties has grown significantly over the years.

Mahindra Defence Systems has been awarded a major defence contract from the Ministry of Defence to manufacture armoured vehicles for the Indian army.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) invited several other Indian companies to bid in an open tender. This included putting the light strike vehicles (LSV) through rigorous trials under different operating scenarios. The MDS LSV was the only vehicle in the tender that managed to pass all of the trials set up by the Indian army.

The tests conducted by the Indian army on the vehicles included trials in Field, Ballistics and Technicals as well as in different terrains such as high altitude, deserts and plains.

Oommen Chandy is at the helm of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala. The UDF is seeking to unseat CM Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the April 6 election for Kerala's 140-member assembly.

It was an early day for senior Congress leader and former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy (77) when India Today TV met him post-breakfast.

The senior Congressman was in Coimbatore to campaign for the Congress candidate from Coimbatore South Mayura S Jayakumar. Mayura Jayakumar is popular here and we are confident that the DMK-Congress alliance will win here in Tamil Nadu, Chandy said.