In 1959, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the first charter of its kind ensuring basic rights to all children below 18 years, with these words: “Mankind owes to the child the best it can give.” Yet, as is well-documented, children, because …
Read More »Yearly Archives: 2023
GST REVENUES HIT A RECORD ₹1.59 LAKH CRORE IN JANUARY
India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues grew 12.7% in January to hit almost ₹1.59 lakh crore, the second highest monthly collections on record, as per revised figures from the Finance Ministry. Earlier estimates of GST revenues for January had pegged collections at about ₹1.56 lakh crore till the evening …
Read More »THE PAST AND PRESENT OF RUSSIA’S WAR IN UKRAINE
A year after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, there are signs of escalation everywhere. The West has recently announced the supply of more advanced weapons to Ukraine, deepening its involvement in the conflict. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has already reinforced Russian positions along the 1,000-km long …
Read More »THIRD PATIENT IS CURED OF HIV
A man became the third person to have been “cured of HIV” after a bone marrow transplant carrying a specific HIV-resistant mutation. The CCR5-delta 32 mutation prevents the receptors used by the HIV virus from forming on the surface, effectively denying the virus its doorway to the body. It is …
Read More »THE ENVIRONMENTAL COSTS OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
The environmental costs of the conflict are likely to far outlive the fighting itself with Ukraine’s current claims of compensation for environmental damage standing at over $ 50 billion. As the first anniversary of the war between Russia and Ukraine arrives, the true costs of the war are slowly dawning upon the …
Read More »CLOUD-ENABLED EDA
Enterprises require AI platforms that are designed to run on on-premises equipment and are also cloud-enabled. By offloading the naturally compute-intensive AI algorithms to advanced high-performance servers in the cloud, companies can free up their on premium capacity for more traditional EDA workloads. AI and ML workloads in EDA and …
Read More »AI PAVING WAY FOR NEXT-GEN CHIPS
Gordon Moore came up with Moore’s Law in 1965, suggesting that every two years; computational progress would become faster, smaller and more efficient. Today, as we stand amidst the digital revolution that has fundamentally altered the foundational concepts of the electronics industry, the hunger for more capabilities and higher performance …
Read More »UPI MAY EXTEND TO UAE, MAURITIUS & INDONESIA
After Singapore, the RBI is in talks with several countries, including Indonesia, UAE and Mauritius, for establishing a direct payment link of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with networks in these countries to enable quicker and cheaper fund transfers using mobile phones. Some Latin American countries have also shown interest. …
Read More »‘BOOSTER TO COUNTER WANING EFFECT OF JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS VAX AFTER 2 YRS’
A study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has revealed that the effect of the vaccine administered to protect children against Japanese Encephalitis (JE) tends to start waning after two years. It suggests administering a booster dose to all children in endemic regions to protect them against …
Read More »IN A 1ST, INDIAN SUB DOCKS IN INDONESIA AMID SCS CONFLICT
As Part Of The Military Outreach To Asean Nations An Indian submarine has, for the first time ever, docked in Indonesia, which is among the countries locked in a maritime dispute with China in the contentious South China Sea, as part of the continuing overall diplomatic-military outreach to Asean countries. …
Read More »NEW POLICY TO SCRAP OLD VEHICLES
Old vehicles of the Union and state governments would be scrapped under the vehicle scrapping policy. He also said the government has made a provision of ₹3,000 crore in the 2023-24 budget to encourage vehicle scrapping. Vehicle scrapping policy is an important part of the green growth strategy. ‘Green growth …
Read More »GREEN ENERGY POTENTIAL NO LESS THAN GOLD OR OIL’
Seeking to ensure green energy growth of India, stakeholders from across the globe, were invited to invest in renewable energy and related sectors, and said the potential of solar, wind and biogas in India is no less than any gold mine or oil field for the private sector. “The Budget …
Read More »FRANCE -BURKINA FASO MILITARY AGREEMENT
On February 19, Burkina Faso announced an official end to the operations led by France in the country. France had signed a military agreement with Burkina Faso in 2018 to achieve stability against the threat of Islamist militant groups. France signed a series of similar agreements with other West African …
Read More »THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FINDINGS IN KEELADI
Keeladi is a tiny hamlet in the Sivaganga district in south Tamil Nadu. It is about 12 km south-east to the temple city of Madurai and is located along the Vaigai river. The excavations here from 2015 prove that an urban civilisation existed in Tamil Nadu in the Sangam age …
Read More »‘DICKINSONIA FOSSIL’
Fossils of an extinct species of animal that scientists reported in a sensational discovery from India’s Bhimbetka Rock Shelters in 2021 have been found to be belied hopes. Gregory Retallack, the lead author of the February 2021 paper that reported the discovery, has acknowledged to The New York Times that they are …
Read More »INDIA, CHINA HOLD IN-PERSON BORDER TALKS AFTER 3 YEARS
In the first visit by a top Indian official to China in more than three years, the two countries have discussed proposals for disengaging in the two remaining friction areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to create conditions to “restore normalcy” in relations. Joint Secretary (East Asia) in …
Read More »CARBON TRADING IN INDIA
The Centre is expected to clarify, later this year, the specifics of a carbon trading market in India. An amendment to the Energy Conservation Act, passed in 2022 and, separately, approval by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change via the Paris and Glasgow agreements ensured that carbon markets (where …
Read More »INDIA -A BIODIVERSITY CHAMPION
The sum and variation of our biological wealth, known as biodiversity, is essential to the future of this planet. The importance of our planet’s biodiversity was strongly articulated at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada. On December 19, 2022, 188 country representatives adopted an agreement to “halt and …
Read More »INDIA’S GROWTH RATE 6.8%IN 2023: IMF
India continues to remain a relative “bright spot” in the world economy, and will alone contribute 15% of the global growth in 2023, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said. While digitisation pulled out the world’s fifth-largest economy from pandemic lows, prudent fiscal policy and significant financing for …
Read More »SANSAD AWARDS
The Sansad Ratna Awards were instituted in 2010, inspired by the teachings of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who launched the first edition of the Award function in Chennai. They seek to recognise and felicitate the top-performing MPs on the basis of their work in the apex legislative body. So far, …
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