From the Newsroom: Rs 20,000 crore to boost infrastructure

In your evening news brief, Union Cabinet approves Bill to set up a Development Finance Institution to generate funds for investment in the infrastructure sector; DMK chief M K Stalin vows to unravel the 'mystery' behind the death of former CM J Jayalalithaa and New Delhi was the world's most polluted capital for the third straight year in 2020.

Here is the top news of March 16, 2021:

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Bill to set up a Development Finance Institution (DFI) to generate funds for investment in the infrastructure sector.

The proposed legislation will give effect to the Budget announcement made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. The government has proposed Rs 20,000 crore to capitalise the institution.

The proposed DFI will have 50 per cent non-official directors, Sitharaman added.

DMK chief M K Stalin has said that if the party comes to power in the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, then he will ensure that the 'mystery' behind the death of former CM J Jayalalithaa will be unravelled.

Stalin, while releasing the manifesto of the DMK on Saturday, said that he would take proper steps to expedite the submission of the Arumughasamy Committee report formed to probe the circumstances leading to the death of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2016.

New Delhi was the world's most polluted capital for the third straight year in 2020, according to IQAir, a Swiss group that measures air quality levels based on the concentration of lung-damaging airborne particles known as PM2.5.

India was home to 35 of the world's 50 most polluted cities, according to IQAir's 2020 World Air Quality Report, which gathered data for 106 countries.

The findings were based on the country's annual average of particulate matter PM2.5, airborne particles with less than 2.5 microns in diameter. Prolonged exposure to PM2.5 can lead to deadly diseases, including cancer and cardiac problems.

(With inputs from DHNS and agencies)