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Fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will fly at a height of 100 metres from the ground before landing at a designated strip along National Highway-16 in Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday as part of an emergency landing trial run. It is expected that at least …

Early in December, two Members of Parliament of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Ravi Kishan and Nishikant Dubey, introduced in the Lok Sabha a private members’ Bill aimed at population control in India. Stating that population rise is the most significant reason for India’s slow rate of development, the Bill argues …

A testy exchange in the Rajya Sabha between the Minister of State for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, and the Trinamool Congress MP, Jawhar Sircar, on the withholding of funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in West Bengal laid bare a key implementation issue — …

The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday launched an initiative for the conservation of the Nilgiri Tahr, the State animal, at a cost of ₹25.14 crore. Under The Nilgiri Tahr project, the government plans to develop a better understanding of the Nilgiri Tahr population through surveys and radio telemetry studies; reintroduce …

Early this month, the Indian Navy chief, Admiral Hari Kumar, at the annual press conference on the eve of Navy Day (December 4) had said that the Indian Navy had put on hold its plans to build a second indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-2) that is larger than IAC-1 (INS Vikrant). Instead, …

The Union Cabinet’s decision to provide free grain to all beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year may help Tamil Nadu save ₹1,650 crore in food subsidy. This figure is premised on the Centre retaining the existing grain allotment (essentially, rice in the context of Tamil …

The bar-headed goose, considered one the world’s highest flying birds, recently visited the Muttukadu backwaters. Nearly seven bar-headed geese made a temporary halt at Muttukadu on December 15, said K.V.R.K. Thirunaranan, founder, The Nature Trust. Bar-headed geese, native to Central Asia, are capable of flying through the passes of the …

The Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) not only provides a crucial habitat for a variety of endangered species of birds and mammals, but is also home to 175 species of butterflies, a survey conducted for the first time in the area has revealed. According to C. Vidhya, Deputy Director of MTR …

A new method to confine and absorb infrared (IR) light with GaN nanostructures can help develop highly efficient infrared absorbers, emitters, and modulators that are useful in defense technologies, energy technologies, imaging, sensing, and so on. GaN, a widely used material for blue light emission, is one of the most advanced …

The Tamil Nadu government has come up with a greenhouse gas inventory compendium for Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Tirunelveli. The aim is to prepare a contextual and inclusive climate- resilient action plans for these cities. The manufacturing and construction sectors accounted for the highest quantum of greenhouse gas emissions in Coimbatore …

The Government has decided not to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana, (PMGKY), a scheme that ran between April 2020 to December 2022 (except for a short period in between), and provided additional allocation of foodgrains, i.e., rice or wheat from the central pool at five kilograms a …

Of the 39 areas declared by UNESCO in 2012 as being critical for biodiversity in the Western Ghats, 10 are in Karnataka. Before recognising areas as world heritage sites, UNESCO seeks the opinion of the inhabitants on the implication of the possible declaration on their lives and livelihoods. This author …

The number of polluted stretches in India’s rivers has fallen from 351 in 2018 to 311 in 2022, though the number of most polluted stretches is practically unchanged, according to a report from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in November but made public this week. The CPCB network monitors …

Some Internet-based firms have been tricking users into agreeing to certain conditions or clicking a few links. The unsuspecting users would not have accepted to such terms or clicked urls (uniform resource locator), but for the deceptive tactics deployed by tech firms. Such acceptances and clicks are flooding inboxes of …

Digital India is an umbrella programme that covers multiple projects of various Central Ministries/Departments and States and Union Territories (UTs). The status of some of the key initiatives undertaken under the programme across the country, including in Rajasthan, are at Annex-I. The Government had launched the India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS) andthe …

At this time last December, India’s economy was on the cusp of a fledgling recovery from COVID-19, though the Omicron variant posed fresh speed bumps for the rebound. With oil prices escalating, commodity prices volatile and shipping disruptions hitting supply chains, the U.S. had recorded a 40-year high inflation rate …

Scientists working on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have successfully trialled a new method for freezing and storing coral larvae they say could eventually help rewild reefs threatened by climate change. Scientists are scrambling to protect coral reefs as rising ocean temperatures destabilise delicate ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef has suffered …

A unique 225-km yatra taken out through remote villages and hamlets in western Rajasthan, which culminated at the Jaisalmer district headquarters earlier this week, has put forth the demand of protection of orans or sacred groves, which face the threat of destruction with their land being allotted for renewable energy infrastructure and …

Assessing the Mission Mode (MM) projects of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged time and cost overrun in completion of projects, irregular closure of projects declaring them successful despite non-achievement of one or more key objectives and parameters, and taking up …

With unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones emerging as a powerful tool in the agricultural sector, a progressive farmer in Kerala’s Wayanad has trained himself in the technology for use in his plantation as well as to train officials of various government agencies. P. Chandrasekharan, an engineer turned farmer at …