03 February 2026
Three terrorists, who were holed up in Jammu and Kashmir's Sidhra, were killed during a brief encounter with security forces on Wednesday.
The J-K ADGP said that terrorists were in a truck when there was an exchange of fire happened.
All three terrorists have now been killed and the body of one of the terrorists has been retrieved from the encounter site.
In the midst of the current rise in the Covid case across neighbouring country China, the Indian government has issued an alert to all the states and union territories, urging them to exercise caution and follow all the necessary guidelines to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
While the overall positivity rate of the Covid-19 virus in India remains under one percent, several districts across the country have triggered concern regarding the potential spread of the virus and the threat of the BF.7 variant spread in the country.
Senior Congress leader Kumari Selja said Monday that the BJP would pose no challenge in the 2023 Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh and that her party would approach the President if the governor refused to sign two quota Bills even after the January 3 “maha-rally”, billed to be a show of public support for the legislation.
“The Bharat Jodo Yatra is in its last leg. Rahul-ji got the support of crores of people who joined the movement. He is fighting against an ideology which is polluting our country. He is spreading the message of love and unity in diversity,” the former Union minister said at a press conference on her first visit as the Congress in-charge for the party-ruled state.
“Severe” cold gripped much of north India on Monday, bringing one of the coldest days in the Capital Delhi, this year. A dense blanket of fog settled over large swathes of the Ingo-Gangetic plains, blocking out the sun and keeping the mercury levels low. The Met department predicted the conditions will persist over the region for the next few days.
The cold wave conditions are very likely in some parts of northern Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi, over the next three days and in Himachal Pradesh over the next two days, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
A dense layer of fog continued to spread from Punjab to East UP across Haryana-Delhi, North Rajasthan and West UP. the weather agency said.
Delhi recorded both ‘cold day’ and ‘coldwave’ conditions on Sunday -- a season’s first for either of the two phenomenons -- with strong northwesterly winds taking both the maximum and minimum temperature this winter’s lowest so far.
The Safdarjung weather station, which provides the representational data for Delhi , recorded a high of 16.2 degrees Celsius – five degrees below normal for this time of the season, and the lowest so far, and logged a minimum temperature of 5.3 degrees – three notches below normal and the joint-lowest of the season with December 23.\
Delhi recorded both ‘cold day’ and ‘coldwave’ conditions on Sunday -- a season’s first for either of the two phenomenons -- with strong northwesterly winds taking both the maximum and minimum temperature this winter’s lowest so far.
The Safdarjung weather station, which provides the representational data for Delhi , recorded a high of 16.2 degrees Celsius – five degrees below normal for this time of the season, and the lowest so far, and logged a minimum temperature of 5.3 degrees – three notches below normal and the joint-lowest of the season with December 23.
The minimum fell to as low as 3 degrees Celsius at Ridge station in north Delhi, while it was 3.5 degrees at Ayanagar. Delhi’s lowest maximum was recorded at Mungeshpur, where mercury failed to cross 13.4 degrees Celsius. The India Meteorological Departement (IMD) has issued a yellow alert for Monday as well, forecasting cold day conditions to subside, but isolated parts of Delhi will still see coldwave conditions, it said.
The IMD declares a coldwave in a region, when the minimum temperature is 4.5 degrees or more below the normal mark, or when it drops to 4 degrees Celsius or lower. Both the Ridge (3 degrees) and Ayanagar (3.5 degrees) stations met this criteria on Sunday, but Safdarjung did not.
The IMD classifies it as a cold day when the maximum temperature is 4.5 degrees or more below normal, while the minimum is below 10 degrees Celsius. It is classified as a severe cold day when the maximum is 6.5 degrees or more below normal. At stations like Mungeshpur (13.4), Jafarpur (13.7), Palam (14.1), a severe cold day was recorded, with cloudy skies and cold winds not allowing temperature to rise significantly during the day.
This is the first cold day and coldwave for Delhi so far this winter season, with the maximum temperature in particular largely hovering around the normal mark.
A Met department official said Delhi witnessed shallow fog, which went up due to strong surface winds. “This led to a cloud-like presence of fog during the day, and it has kept the maximum below normal. The strong northwesterly winds blowing in Delhi are also extremely cold and led to temperatures dipping rapidly at night,” said the official.
Mahesh Palawat, vice president at Skymet meteorology said Delhi was likely to witness similar conditions, particularly during night, in the next 24 hours as well, before temperatures begin to gradually rise from December 27 under the influence of a western disturbance. “It has been a combination of cold northwesterly winds and fresh snowfall in the mountains. Only shallow fog is likely in the next few days,” he said.
Prior to Sunday, the lowest maximum temperature in Delhi had been 20 degrees Celsius, which was recorded on Saturday. The minimum has meanwhile remained below the 6-degree mark for the last three days. It was 5.3 degrees on Friday, 5.4 degrees on Saturday and 5.3 degrees once again on Sunday.
IMD forecasts show while the maximum is likely to increase on Monday, and will be around the 19-degree mark, the minimum could dip to 4 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung, with other parts of Delhi recording an even lower minimum temperature.
The strong surface winds also saw Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) improving marginally in the last 24 hours, but remained in the ‘very poor’ category. The AQI was recorded at 319 (very poor) at 7pm as per Central Pollution Control Board’s real-time 24-hour index, while it was 349 (very poor) as per CPCB’s national bulletin on Saturday. Delhi’s air quality index stayed in the very poor zone with a value of 319 at 7pm.
(With inputs from agencies)
