Nepal’s New Airport: India’s Concerns
Nepal’s newly elected prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, inaugurated on January 1, 2023, the Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA), built with the Chinese assistance in country’s western tourist hub of Pokhara. A flagship project of Nepal-China...
Shri Sammed Shikharji
Shri Sammed Shikharji is one of the holiest Jain pilgrimage sites sacred to both the Digambara and Svetambara sects of Jains. It is located on the Parasnath Hill which is the highest hill in the state of Jharkhand. The hill sits at an elevation of about 4480 ft and 35...
RBI Launches E-rupee on a Pilot Basis
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the digital rupee (e-rupee) on December 1, 2022, on a pilot basis. E-rupee is an electronic form of sovereign currency, approved by the RBI as a legal tender. The e-rupee is the same as the fiat currency (rupee or note). The...
New Species of Black Corals Discovered
Scientists of Smithsonian Institution of Washington, USA, have discovered five new species of black corals living as deep as 760 metres or 2,500 feet, below the surface in the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea off the coast of Australia in November 2022. The scientists...
India to Experience Severe Heatwaves: World Bank Report
Heatwaves have multiple and cascading impacts not just on human health, but also on ecosystems, agriculture, water and energy supplies and key sectors of economy. India has been experiencing higher temperatures that arrive earlier and stay for longer, according to the...
Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC (COP27) Meeting
The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), popularly known COP27, was held between November 6-20, 2022, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, under the presidency of Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh...
G20 Summit 2022: Some Aspects
The 17th annual Group of Twenty (G20) Summit 2022 was held in Bali, Indonesia, between November 15 and 16, 2022. In the summit, leaders across the world discussed about the challenges triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how to deal with the energy and food...
Mauna Loa Volcanic Eruption: Some Aspects
Mauna Loa (means long mountain) is one of the five active volcanoes that form in the island of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. It is the largest subaerial volcano compared to the subaqueous volcano and is at an elevation of 13,679 feet. It is said to be historically the...
GM Mustard: A Step towards GM Food Crops
Mustard (botanical name Brassica juncea) is grown around 6–7 million hectares in India. It is majorly grown in Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh. In 2017, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s biotech regulator under the Ministry of...
Cheetahs Relocated under ‘Cheetah Introduction Project’
Over 70 years after extinction, eight African cheetahs—five female and three male—from Namibia were released at the Kuno National Park, in Madhya Pradesh on September 17, 2022. They are between the age of four and six years. This is the first time in the world that a...
100 Fodder-centric Farmer Producer Organisations Approved
The agriculture ministry approved on November 4, 2022, the setting up of 100 fodder-centric Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) during 2022–23 to address the fodder issues in the country. The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying had proposed in 2020...
ASI Finds Archaeological Remains in Bandhavgarh
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has found ancient caves and temples from the 9th to 12th centuries, Buddhist structures, and Brahmi inscriptions dating back to the 2nd century, during its exploration at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh in...
ASI Finds 12000-yr-Old Artefacts near Chennai
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has recovered in September 2022 nearly 12,000-year-old artefacts in excavations in the outskirts of Chennai city. This discovery is considered as a crucial chapter in bridging the gap in Tamil history. For the ASI officials,...
United Kingdom’s Economics Crisis: Some Aspects
The Bank of England (BoE) raised interest rates from 2.25 per cent to 3 per cent on November 03, 2022 which is the highest rise since 1989. According to the BoE, the economy might already be in a recession which could last up to two years. The interest rates have been...
First Ever Planetary Defence Test Conducted Successfully
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), successfully crashed into its asteroid target, Dimorphos on September 26, 2022. This is the world’s first planetary defence technology demonstration. NASA’s first attempt was to shift and deflect the position of an...
ISRO Announces to Build Reusable Launch Vehicles
During the Seventh Bengaluru Space Expo 2022, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced, in September 2022, that India is planning to design and build reusable rocket for the global market that would significantly cut the cost of launching...
RBI’s New Digital Lending Guidelines
The Reserve Bank of India released new guidelines on digital lending on September 02, 2022, to ensure transparent, easy, and reliable digital lending. The guidelines shall be applicable to both existing consumers availing of fresh loans and new ones. The RBI has given...
India’s First Intranasal Vaccine, iNCOVACC, to Treat COVID Approved
India’s first intranasal vaccine, iNCOVACC (BBV154) has been approved for primary inoculation by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). The vaccine was manufactured by Bharat Biotech and was developed by scientists at the Washington University. iNCOVACC...
CRISPR Technology: Solution to Many Ailments
The gene-editing technology, CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) has been a breakthrough solution for many health problems in recent years. CRISPR has almost unlimited potential and has produced many flawless results in many clinical...
Indigenous 5G Network Services Launched
Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, launched 5G services in India on October 1, 2022, along with indigenous 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) Core, developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), an independent Indian government-owned telecommunications...