Modi, Xi spend ‘quality time’, discuss trade, terror on Day 1

and upper wind direction. As per the forecast, AQI is likely to deteriorate from October 13 and may fall into ‘very poor’ category,” a Safar statement said.

AQI in the range of 0-50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’ and 401500 ‘severe’.

Meanwhile, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the smoke from burning of crop stubble in neighbouring states was causing a spike in pollution levels in Delhi and hoped that all agencies and institutions, including Punjab and Haryana governments, the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), will take concrete steps to counter the problem.

“Pollution in the city reduced 25% in the earlier part of the year. But the burning of stubble in neighbouring states in October and November is resulting in ‘severe’ pollution. The smoke has started affecting Delhi’s air quality. We have been taking every possible step to curb the bad air,” Kejriwal tweeted.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) too has issued directions for ban on diesel generator (GD) sets in the city under the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap), which will come into effect on October 15.

“We have directed the concerned agencies to ensure a ban on use of diesel generator sets run on diesel, petrol or kerosene, with effect from October 15. The ban will continue up to March 15, 2020 or till further orders,” stated the note issued by the DPCC.

The Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority had also predicted a rise in the pollution levels in the city from October 12, and ordered that Grap — a set of emergency measures to combat ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ levels of pollution — come into force from October 15.

According to data from the United States’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), the number of fires spotted in Haryana and Punjab recorded a significant spike over the last two days.

Weather officials said the immediate change in air quality is due to climatic conditions typical of a post-monsoon, pre-winter period. As the monsoon withdraws, an anti-cyclone wind pattern has formed over Rajasthan, which results in stagnant weather conditions such as low wind speed that does not allow pollutants to disperse. mandate, said he was looking forward to working very closely with the Prime Minister on all issues.”

“They held discussions on trade-related issues… on how to enhance trade volume and trade value. This included the issue of trade deficit that exists,” he added.

Even before the dinner, Modi and Xi had a conversation, with only their translators present, at the Pancha Ratha, a monument with five chariots hewn out of solid rock, that lasted almost 15 minutes. They continued their conversation as they strolled near the Shore Temple, the last of the monuments they visited at Mamallapuram.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted late on Friday that the leaders had a “highly productive day” that concluded with a “pleasant conversation over a long dinner”.

Modi and Xi “continued their exchange of views on deepening the India-china partnership” during the cultural performance and the dinner, he said. Kumar said in an earlier tweet that the “free flowing nature of the Informal Summit at the UNESCO World Heritage site will continue and deepen contacts at the highest level and guide the future trajectory of (the) India-china relationship”.

Gokhale said the two leaders discussed the issue of radicalisation. “Radicalisation was a matter of concern to both and both will work together to see that radicalisation and terrorism did not affect the fabric of our multicultural, multi-ethnic and multireligious societies,” he said. The foreign secretary did not mention that the leaders spoke about the Kashmir issue, which India has maintained is an internal matter.

Both sides are expected to issue separate statements on Saturday, but people familiar with the matter said they were coordinating closely on what the final texts would say.

Modi, who reached Tamil Nadu a few hours before Xi, took a helicopter to Mamallapuram. Modi tweeted his welcome in three languages, English, Tamil and Mandarin: “It is gladdening that Tamil Nadu will host President Xi Jinping. May this Informal Summit further strengthen ties between India and China.”

Modi and Xi’s first informal summit in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year had helped put bilateral relations on an even keel after the 73-day face-off between troops of the two countries at Doklam in 2017, and Indian officials were hopeful that the second summit would help the two leaders clear the air after a testy exchange on the Kashmir issue had clouded the atmosphere ahead of the Mamallapuram meeting.

Xi travelled to India after hosting Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, whom he told that China was closely following the Kashmir issue and that Beijing would back Islamabad on protecting its core interests.

New Delhi shot back by saying that China was aware of India’s position that Kashmir is an integral part of the country.

The exchange in the run up to the summit triggered speculation about how much the Kashmir issue could linger like a dark cloud over the unstructured interactions in Mamallapuram, but people familiar with developments said both sides were looking to the summit to produce “some new directions from the top” that will build on the strategic guidance that flowed from the Wuhan summit.

“Both leaders like the unstructured format of the informal summit and both sides are aware there is a lot riding on this relationship,” said an official who asked not to be named.

Despite the recent differences between the two sides, the people said the overall relations had matured and evolved since Wuhan, and this had been reflected in the decision to hold the summit as scheduled despite speculation about its fate in recent weeks.

The people cited above had said the two leaders were expected to spend a total of about six hours together over Friday and Saturday but the duration of their interactions on the first day had exceeded the scheduled timings. On Saturday, Modi and Xi will have another one-on-one meeting at the Fisherman’s Cove, about 25km from the temple complex where they met on Friday. They will then hold delegation-level talks before having another opportunity to talk oneon-one at a lunch to be hosted by Modi.