The Army has begun the process for selection of women officers for command postings in the rank of Colonel, which has so far been the domain of male officers. According to sources, a Special No. 3 Selection Board is being conducted for promotion of women officers from the rank of …

Nano fertilizers produced by IFFCO and dairy products from Amul will be among the first few products that are expected to be exported by the first-ever National Export Cooperative Society that was approved by the Union Cabinet on January 11. The society’s registration will be complete in the next few …

After a gap of four years, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) report for 2022 was recently released in New Delhi. This nationwide household survey that covers all rural districts in the country generates estimates for schooling and basic learning for every State in India. Data from 2018 and …

Ten years have passed since the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, enacted in consequence to India’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, came into effect on November 14, 2012. The aim of this special law is to address offences …

A proposal by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology that seeks to force social media platforms to take down content “fact-checked” by the Government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) as false needs to be opposed without even a second look. The proposed amendment to the IT Rules opens the door …

Tucked away in the nondescript town of Naduvattam in the Nilgiris is a wonderfully preserved monument whose story encapsulates the complex history of the picturesque hill district. The injudiciously named “ancient sub-jail” that lies off the national highway was used to intern Chinese prisoners captured by the British during the …

Snaking its way up the steep Coonoor slopes, the engineering marvel that is the more than 125-year-old Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) line has become one of the primary drivers of tourism in the picturesque hill district of Udhagamandalam. One of the oldest mountain railway lines in India and among the …

In line with this year’s WEF theme, “Cooperation in a Fragmented World”, India has reiterated its position as a resilient economy with a strong leadership providing stable policy to the global investors at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos. India’s focus areas at WEF this year are investment opportunities, …

The Resiliency & Sustainability Summit: Vision 2047 brought together experts from all over India and deliberated upon the key aspects of present and futuristic disaster risks and climate contexts as well as their changing scenarios. “Regional disparity is a central challenge for reducing disaster risk & particularly climate-related disasters in …

The 21st Edition of the Bilateral Naval Exercise between India and France – Exercise Varuna commenced on the Western Seaboard today, 16 Jan 23. While the bilateral exercise between the two navies were initiated in 1993, it was christened as ‘VARUNA’ in 2001 and has become a hallmark of India – …

The difference lies in being able to ‘eat’ viruses to fulfil one’s biological imperatives. Plankton of the genus Halteria, they claim to have found, can each consume 10,000 to a million virus particles a day, increase their population using the metabolised energy, and provide more food for the zooplanktons that …

Ecologically sensitive zones (ESZ) are intended to safeguard ‘protected areas’ — national parks and wildlife sanctuaries — by transitioning from an area of lower protection to an area of higher protection. However, the creation of these zones has provoked protests in Kerala and some other regions, in a precursor to …

There is something rude and unpleasant in the way the Government is going about the task of demanding a big say in the appointment of judges in constitutional courts. The latest salvo is from Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, who has written to the Chief Justice of India to request …

The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in China is set to boost global oil demand this year to a record high, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday, while price cap sanctions on Russia could dent supply. “Two wild cards dominate the 2023 oil market outlook: Russia and China,” the …

The ASER 2022 report shows that government schools saw a sharp rise in enrolment for the first time in 16 years; basic literacy levels of children have taken a big hit, with their reading ability, as compared with numeracy skills, worsening much more sharply and dropping to pre-2012 levels As …

The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is mobilising Muslim support to create a “caliphate”, it wants to replace Indian nationalism with an “international Islamic order” and considers idol worship a “sin”, the Union Home Ministry has listed objectives before the Supreme Court for banning the organisation. A petition seeking …

As Syria enters the 13th year of its lethal civil conflict, a bomb explosion in Istanbul on November 13, that killed six persons, seems to have accelerated a diplomatic process which could bring peace to that tormented land. Turkish authorities immediately blamed Kurdish militants in Syria, represented by the People’s …

Come April and it will be 50 years since the Supreme Court of India delivered its verdict in Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala. The judgment is widely recognised as a milestone in India’s history. In holding that Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution was not plenary, that any change that …

The Tamil Nadu Assembly witnessed unprecedented scenes on January 9 when Governor R. N. Ravi, while delivering his customary address to the House, omitted certain paragraphs from the text prepared by the State government. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin later moved a motion to take on record only the transcript distributed …

The Union of India calls the Bhopal gas leak tragedy the world’s largest industrial disaster. On the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas escaped from the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, leading to hundreds of deaths. Thirty-nine years after the incident, …