World Bee Day is celebrated annually on 20th May. Earlier, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) had launched the country’s first Mobile Honey Processing Van at Village in Uttar Pradesh. The day marks the birth anniversary of Anton Janša, a pioneer of modern apiculture. Anton Janša hailed from a family of beekeepers in Slovenia, where beekeeping …

A team of researchers in Australia has identified a biochemical marker in the blood that could help identify newborn babies at risk for the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The researchers used dried blood spots from newborn infants and screened the samples for BChE (Butyrylcholinesterase) level and total protein content. Sudden infant …

According to a recent Report ‘Pollution and health: A Progress Update’, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, Air Pollution was responsible for 16.7 lakh deaths in India in 2019, or 17.8% of all deaths. Air Pollution alone contributes to 66.7 lakh deaths, which updates a previous analysis from 2015. Overall, pollution was responsible for an …

Recently, the ‘State of Inequality in India’ Report was released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) The report compiles information on inequities across sectors of health, education, household characteristics and the labour market. Inequities in these sectors make the population more vulnerable and trigger a descent into multidimensional poverty The report stretches the …

The Government is reassessing the concept of post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as well as the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) and is looking to streamline the setup. The CDS is a four-star General/Officer who acts as the Principal Military Advisor to the Defence Minister on all tri-services (Army, Navy and Indian Air …

Recently, the Minister of Commerce and Industry launched the NavIC Grand Challenge at National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC) meeting. NavIC Grand Challenge is aimed at promoting adoption of NavIC as geo-positioning solution, a key proponent for digital AtmaNirbharta. It was constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). It advises …

Recently, the Defence Minister launched the Indian Navy destroyer warship INS Surat and frigate INS Udaygiri in Mumbai. ‘Surat’ is the fourth ship of Project 15B Destroyers which heralds a significant makeover of the P15A (Kolkata Class) Destroyers. The first ship (Visakhapatnam) of this class was commissioned in 2021. The second (Mormugao) and third (Imphal) ships have been launched and are …

The Supreme Court has slammed the Kerala government for doing “virtually nothing” for Endosulfan pesticide exposure victims. The court said the State’s inaction was “appalling” and amounted to a breach of the apex court’s 2017 judgment, which had ordered the State to pay Rs 5 lakh each to the victims in …

Recently, Prime Minister inaugurated the country’s first 5G testbed that will enable start-ups and industry players to test their products locally, thereby reducing dependence on facilities abroad. It was an important step towards self-reliance in the direction of critical and modern technologies in the telecom sector. The 5G testbed had been set up at a cost of about …

Recent satellite images have Captured Twin Cyclones in the Indian Ocean region, one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere, named cyclone Asani and cyclone Karim respectively. Karim is classified as a category II hurricane, with a wind speed of 112 kilometers per hour (kmph). Asani remains a Severe Cyclonic Storm …