Vice President greets the nation on the eve of Mahavir Jayanti Mahavir Jayanti is an important religious festivals in Jainism. It celebrates the birth of Lord Mahavir, the twenty-fourth and last. Birth of Lord Mahavira: Mahavir was born in the year 599 BCE in Kundagram (which is today’s Kundalpur in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar). He was born in a …

Continuing the military-to-military engagement, the Air Forces of India and the U.S. are set to conduct the Cope India exercise at the Kalaikunda airbase in West Bengal, with Japan as an observer. The exercise will see intense air manoeuvres aimed at improving interoperability, a defence source said. The Japanese Air Self Defence Force …

Italian, French and Norwegian researchers are in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago to preserve crucial ice records for analysing past environmental conditions. Scientists camped in the Arctic are set to start drilling to save samples of ancient ice for analysis before the frozen layers melt away due to climate change. They will extract ice in a series of tubes from as far …

A video of a group of men performing the traditional dance of Indian ‘garba’ under the stunning northern lights in Alaska has gone viral. What are ‘Auroras’? Auroras are a natural phenomenon caused by magnetic storms initiated by the Sun’s activity such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections. They are visible as bright lights in the sky and are …

The famous Banarasi Paan and Banarasi Langda mango are the two latest products to have got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. As many as 33 products were granted GI certification on a single day by the GI Registry, Chennai. Among them 10 products belong to Uttar Pradesh, including three from Varanasi. As of now, UP has 45 GI goods, …

India and Malaysia have agreed to settle trade in the Indian rupee which indicates that India is willing to take concrete steps towards de-dollarisation of its international trade.  Key details: The Union Bank of India has become the first bank in India to operationalise this option by opening a Special Rupee Vostro Account through …

Bandipur completes 50 years as Project Tiger reserve. It was on April 1, 1973, that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched Project Tiger, the flagship conservation programme to arrest the big cat’s dwindling population. There were 12 tigers in Bandipur when Project Tiger was launched and now the number of tigers utilising the park is 173 while the number …

Nagaraja Thira’ was performed recently at the Sree Muchilottu temple at Kuthiravattom in Kozhikode. ‘Thira’, like Theyyam, is a dance that is part of a religious ritual performed in the temples of Kerala. While the person participating in Theyyam is considered god, the person taking part in ‘Thira’ is considered as possessed by god This art form …

The government will expand the definition of “political risk” under the export guarantee scheme. To cover any fresh imposition of non-tariff barriers by importing nations after a shipment has left Indian shores. The Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) indemnifies exporters for: losses when buyers turn insolvent or default on payments, political risks like war and sudden import restrictions or promulgations of laws or decrees But it does …

Chile is keen to partner with India on tapping into the lithium value chain by extending technical expertise in exploiting the newly established “inferred” lithium resources of 5.9 million tonnes in Salal-Haimana area of Reasi district in Jammu and Kashmir. Key details: The ‘inferred’ reserves of 5.9 mn tonnes in J&K’s Reasi are …