71st Republic Day parade: Assam tableau wins first prize

The Tableaux of Assam wins the 1st prize at the 71st Republic Day Parade among the States & Union Territories, followed by Odisha and Uttar Pradesh both on the second position. The theme of Assam tableau was “Land of unique craftsmanship and culture“, portraying the unique craftsmanship and culture of the state. The Tableaux award was given by the Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh in New Delhi.

Yashwant Sinha’s autobiography ‘Relentless’ released by Pranab Mukherjee

Former President Pranab Mukherjee released ‘Relentless‘, the autobiography of Yashwant Sinha. The book describes Sinha’s journey from normal life to a high political powered life. Sinha had served as Finance minister in Prime Chandra Shekhar government (1990-1991). Speaking at a panel discussion on the occasion, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, and former Union minister Arun Shourie also highlighted various aspects of the book. The event was also attended by Shatrughan Sinha, AAP MP Sanjay Singh, former National Minorities Commission chairman Wajahat Habibullah among other politicians and former bureaucrats.

Former Women’s Hockey Captain Sunita Chandra Passes Away at 76

Former Indian women’s hockey team captain Sunita Chandra passed away. He was 76. She had played for the Indian women’s hockey team between 1956 to 1966 and served as skipper from 1963 to 1966. She was a prestigious Arjuna awardee.

Veteran South actress Jameela Malik passes away at 73

Veteran South actress Jameela Malik passed away. She was 73. She was the first Keralite woman to graduate from the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune. She was also known for her critically acclaimed roles in a handful of movies in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu, and television serials. Jameela had shared screen space with doyens like Prem Nazir and Adoor Bhasi during the 1970-80 period.

Kolkata: Country’s first underwater metro to be complete by March 2022

India’s first underwater metro project is set to completed by March 2022. It is an East-West Project of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, which runs partly under the Hooghly river, West Bengal. The new line is expected to carry about 9,00,000 people daily, which comprises of nearly 20% of the city’s population. It will take less than a minute to cross a 520m underwater tunnel, which takes 20 minutes to use the ferry and more than an hour to cross the Howrah bridge.

‘Samvidhaan’ named as Oxford Hindi Word of the Year 2019

‘Samvidhaan‘ was named as the Oxford Hindi Word of 2019 by Oxford University Press. Is means ‘Constitution‘. 2019 saw the values of democracy, secularism, justice, liberty, equality and fraternity being tested on the touchstone of the Constitution or ‘Samvidhaan’, hence the word was chosen.

26 new Indian words included in Oxford dictionary

Aunties, uncles and tube lights among the 26 new Indian English words, have been included in the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary, the world’s best selling dictionary. Words like Aadhaar, chawl, dabba hartal and shaadi were also included in the dictionary. The words were added to a total of 384 existing ones. The 384 words in the 10th edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary come with an Indian English label, including 22 new additions in print and 26 in the online edition.

Martyrs’ day: Nation pays homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his 72nd death anniversary

The nation on Thursday remembered Mahatma Gandhi on his 72nd death anniversary with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the country in paying homage to the Father of the Nation. The day is also observed as Martyrs Day. President Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and former prime minister Manmohan Singh offered floral tributes at Gandhi’s memorial Rajghat in New Delhi, where an interfaith prayer meeting was held. A gun salute was given at the memorial where school students and people from different walks of life gathered to pay respects to Bapu.

Government releases 7 billion dollars to tackle climate change

Government has released seven billion dollars to all the states for intensive afforestation activities to tackle Climate Change, as stated by Environment Minister, Prakash Javadekar. Technology and innovation will be instrumental to tackle climate change. In the last four years India is the only country in the world which have grown its tree cover by 13 thousand square kilometre. With growing population, people need to focus on sustainable consumption and changing their lifestyle.

New Delhi: NHRC to organise meeting of Statutory Full Commission

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is organising a meeting of a Statutory Full Commission in New Delhi. The meeting to be chaired by NHRC Chairperson Justice H L Dattu, has been called for the discharge of functions towards promotion and protection of human rights as specified in the statutory clauses (b) to (j) of Section 12 of the Protection of Human Rights (PHR) Act.

The meeting is being called for the first time since the recent amendment in the PHR Act adding Chairpersons of National Commission for Backward Classes, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities as the new deemed Members of the NHRC.