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Researchers have found a solution for retrofitting old non-earthquake-resistant buildings with a technology that can prevent major damage to such buildings from earthquakes without compromising on their strength. The technology called semi-confined unreinforced brick masonry (SC-URBM) can resolve the problem of spread of settlements in earthquake-prone areas with constructions that have …

Last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked captains of industry what was holding them back from investing in manufacturing. In an article in The Hindu, Pulapre Balakrishnan, argued that capital expenditure by the government is a precursor to private investment but that it would take a sustained trend in public …

India’s imports from China have risen 31% for the nine months ended September, propelling two-way trade past $100 billion and the trade deficit to a record high. India imported $89.66 billion worth of goods from China in the period, the highest on record for three quarters in any year. Imports …

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working on a series of improvements to NavIC, or India’s equivalent of the Global Positioning System (GPS), so that more people are motivated to install and use it. Plans are also afoot to give it a global reach, S Somanath, ISRO Chairman, said …

The beginnings of a renewable energy revolution rooted in agriculture are taking shape in India with the first bio-energy plant of a private company in Sangrur district of Punjab having commenced commercial operations on October 18. It will produce Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) from paddy straw, thus converting agricultural waste …

Astronomers have spotted what they think might be the most powerful explosion ever observed. The explosion is a gamma-ray burst which is known as GRB221009A, which might have been caused by a supernova that left behind a black hole. “Informally, we’ve been calling it the BOAT — the brightest of …

No tourist has ever trekked to Mugafi at 4,050 metres above mean sea level. But that has not stopped villagers in the most “disconnected” administrative circle in Arunachal Pradesh from readying the peak for visitors. The enthusiasm stems from their belief that the 157-km road to Vijaynagar, the circle headquarters, …

Damage control: The NGT wants the report to include the steps required for restoration of the habitat. Getty Images/iStockphotoJagdeep Rajput The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Uttarakhand government not to proceed with the Pakhro tiger safari project inside the Corbett Tiger Reserve until a committee submits its final …

ISRO’s heaviest rocket lifting off from the second launchpad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. B. Jothi Ramalingam The heaviest rocket of the Indian Space Research Organisation, the LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1, with 36 satellites on board took off from the second launch pad (SLP) of the Satish Dhawan Space …

The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued Notification on August 12, 2022 banning production, sale, stocking & distribution, import and usage of identified Single Use Plastic (SUP) items including cutlery items, thin packaging films, candy & ice-cream sticks w.e.f. July 01, 2022. In order to ensure its …

On October 19, the Tamil Nadu government formed a committee to set up an institutional framework for the effective conservation of vultures. Tamil Nadu boasts the largest population of vultures south of the Vindhiya Mountain Range. Vulture numbers are decreasing over the last few years, with experts attributing the cause …

The Indian Space Research Organisation, along with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), is set to organise a two-day conference themed ‘Akash Tatva’ (the element Akash) in Dehradun that, according to Science Minister Jitendra Singh, would expose “youth of India to the wisdoms of ancient science along with modern …

The Army, which has made three tranches of Emergency Procurements (EP) in the last few years, is preparing for a fourth round of EP which will be entirely from the domestic industry, Army chief Gen. Manoj Pande said on Thursday. He also said that in the next seven to eight …

The monsoon has receded, and North India is bracing for a smoggy winter. And with that the feverish focus on crop stubble burning has returned to India’s public discourse. Like each year, discussions have begun on how bad this year’s stubble burning season will likely be and what potential ad …

Eight wildlife scientists have raised concerns over the Central government’s move to introduce African cheetahs in India. The scientists, in an article titled “Introducing African cheetahs to India is an ill-advised conservation attempt”, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, said that there are unknown ecological, disease-related and genetic risks involved …

A new member of the grasshopper world, which has been identified from Tamil Nadu, is named after the Dravidian landscape. The newly described pygmy unicorn grasshopper Dravidacrisannamalaica is restricted to the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu. A specimen collected by a team comprising Dhaneesh Bhaskar, H. Sankararaman and Niko Kasalo …

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras has won the national intellectual property award for 2021 and 2022. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, had instituted the award. The criteria was patent applications, grants and commercialisation. Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce and …

the CBG is the need of the hour, and Government is taking all steps to promote the ecosystem around it. The Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) plant inaugurated by Shri Hardeep S. Puri in Sangrur is a step in achieving objectives of the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) scheme, which was …

The Union Inter-Ministerial Meeting with the States on the issues of Crop Residue Management was chaired by the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. The three ministers held intense discussions with the states to check the burning of stubble. Shri Tomar said that there is a need to fix …

The indigenous medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation is expected to complete all user trials by August 2023, A separate project for the weaponisation of the Rustom UAV is also under way. “Four prototypes of Rustom-2 are currently flying. …