Recently, the Prime Minister paid tributes to Sree Narayana Guru on his birth anniversary. Earlier, the Vice President of India launched “Not Many, But One”, an English translation of poems of Sree Narayana Gurudev. Important points: Sree Narayana Guru was born on 22nd August, 1856 to Madan Asan and his wife Kuttiyamma in Chempazhanthy, a village …

Urbanisation in India has become an inescapable ordeal. With development of the services sector, the population pressure on cities has escalated. Delhi is the sixth-largest metropolis in the world. And yet, a third of its residences are part of slums with no basic resources.   Slums Slums are illegal urban settlements …

Recently, The United Nations (UN) officials claimed that there are no requests from the UN Security Council Permanent members for the delisting of the Taliban’s top leadership from sanctions thus far. They also refuted reports that the next meeting of the Taliban Sanctions Committee also known as the resolution 1988 committee, due in September 2021, would lift restrictions on designated …

Recently, the government of India has launched the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP). The NMP estimates aggregate monetisation potential of Rs 6 lakh crores through core assets of the Central Government, over a four-year period, from FY 2022 to FY 2025. The plan is in line with Prime Minister’s strategic divestment policy, under which …

Recently, the Indian Navy carried out a Maritime Partnership Exercise with the Philippine Navy in the West Philippine Sea. Earlier Indo-UK Naval Exercise, ‘Konkan 2021 was held in the English Channel. Important points: It will strengthen bilateral collaboration in the maritime domain towards a collective aim of ensuring a stable, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific This is in a series of …

Recently, the Delhi High Court has asked the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to consider as representation a petition to stop the alleged illegal construction of bridges and walls within tiger breeding habitat of the Corbett Tiger Reserve National Tiger Conservation Authority It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. It …

Recently, the Ministry of Rural development has launched a new geospatial planning portal, ‘Yuktdhara’ to help in facilitating the new MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) assets with the use of remote sensing and GIS (Geographic Information System) based information. It is a new portal under ‘Bhuvan’. Important points: It is a culmination of joint efforts of …

A new study has identified for the first time that specialised immune cells (phagocytic cells) exist in certain varieties of sea corals and anemones. It will help in better understanding how reef-building corals and other reef animals protect themselves from foreign invaders like bacteria and viruses found in and around coral reefs. Phagocytosis It is the …

Recently, the government has announced that India is going to have 35 more earthquake observatories by the end of the 2021 and aims to add 100 more earthquake observatories by 2026. The announcement came at the inaugural function of the Joint Scientific Assembly of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) – International Association of …

World Sanskrit Day (Viswa Samskrita Dinam) was celebrated on 22nd August 2021. In India, Sanskrit is a Classical and an Eighth Schedule language. In 2020, the Uttarakhand Government decided to develop ‘Sanskrit Grams’ across the state to teach use of Sanskrit regularly. Important points: It is an annual event aimed to promote revival and maintenance of Sanskrit Language. It is celebrated …