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Showing posts from September, 2022

Radiocarbon dating

  Radiocarbon dating  (also referred to as  carbon dating  or  carbon-14 dating ) is a method for  determining the age  of an object containing  organic material  by using the properties of  radiocarbon , a  radioactive   isotope of carbon . The method was developed in the late 1940s at the  University of Chicago  by  Willard Libby . It is based on the fact that radiocarbon ( 14 C) is constantly being created in the Earth's atmosphere by the interaction of  cosmic rays  with atmospheric  nitrogen . The resulting  14 C combines with atmospheric  oxygen  to form radioactive  carbon dioxide , which is incorporated into plants by  photosynthesis ; animals then acquire  14 C by eating the plants. When the animal or plant dies, it stops exchanging carbon with its environment, and thereafter the amount of  14 C it contains begins to decrease as the  14 C undergoes  radioactive decay . Measuring the amount of  14 C in a sample from a dead plant or animal, such as a piece of wood or a fra

The Attorney-General for India

Constitutional Provisions:  76. Attorney-General for India.— (1) The President shall appoint a person who is qualified to be appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court to be Attorney-General for India.  (2) It shall be the duty of the Attorney-General to give advice to the Government of India upon such legal matters, and to perform such other duties of a legal character, as may from time to time be referred or assigned to him by the President, and to discharge the functions conferred on him by or under this Constitution or any other law for the time being in force.  (3) In the performance of his duties the Attorney-General shall have right of audience in all courts in the territory of India.  (4) The Attorney-General shall hold office during the pleasure of the President, and shall receive such remuneration as the President may determine. 88. Rights of Ministers and Attorney-General as respects Houses.— Every Minister and the Attorney-General of India shall have the right to speak in, and

Rosh Hashanah

  Rosh HaShanah ( Hebrew : רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה , Rōʾš hašŠānā , lit. "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year . The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah ( יוֹם תְּרוּעָה , Yōm Tərūʿā ), literally "day of shouting or blasting." It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days ( יָמִים נוֹרָאִים , Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm ; "Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, [2] that occur in the late summer/early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. The High Holy Days comprise both Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur . Rosh Hashanah is a two-day observance and celebration that begins on the first day of Tishrei , which is the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year . In contrast to the ecclesiastical lunar new year on the first day of the first month Nisan , the spring Passover month which marks Israel's exodus from Egypt, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the civil year, according to the teachings of Judaism, and is the traditional anniversary of the cre

BBV154 - Intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine

  Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and its PSU, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) announced the approval from DCGI for emergency use authorization first of its kind intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine to Bharat Biotech (BBIL). Supported by DBT and BIRAC under the aegis of Mission COVID Suraksha, the mission was launched by DBT and implemented by BIRAC to reinforce and accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development efforts as part of Aatmanirbhar 3.0. Scientific leadership at various levels of vaccine development was provided by DBT laboratories and BIRAC. This is the fourth success story for the Covid-19 vaccine under mission Covid Suraksha. BBV154 is an intranasal replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus SARS-CoV-2 vectored vaccine. It consists of a replication deficient ChAd vector expressing the stabilized Spike SARS-CoV-2 (Wuhan variant). DBT’s Autonomous Institute, National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi utilized their "Human Immune

Sowa-Rigpa (Knowledge of Healing or Science of Healing)

 The term Sowa-Rigpa is derived from Bhoti language which means ‘knowledge of healing’. It is an ancient Indian medical system conceived and propounded by Lord Buddha and later developed in the Trans- Himalayan region. Sowa-Rigpa originated in India 2500 years ago and was introduced in the TransHimalayan region around the 8th Century CE. Since then, it has been propagated and transmitted through teacher-student-lineage (including family lineage) prevalent in the secular and monastic contexts of the Trans Himalayan region of India. Sowa-Rigpa is a traditional medical system of Ladakh, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kalingpong (West Bengal); Lahoul-Spiti, Kinnour, Dharamsala regions of Himachal Pradesh; Mon-Tawang and west Kameng regions of Arunachal Pardesh; and Tibetan settlements in various parts of India. Sowa-Rigpa is also traditionally practiced in Bhutan, Mongolia, Tibet, China, Nepal and some parts of Central Asia. Over the centuries, Sowa Rigpa has been incorporated into

Constitution Bench and Larger Bench ( Rules and Procedures )

 Constitution bench will be formed in the following circumstances: (i) Every case involving a substantial question of law as to the  interpretation of the  Constitution under Article 145(3) or any  Reference made under Article 143 of the Constitution shall be  heard by a Bench consisting of not less than five Judges. (ii) Every petition calling in question the election of the President and  Vice-President under Article 71 of the Constitution read with Part  III of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952,  shall be posted before a Bench of five Judges under Order XLVI of  the Rules. (iii) The Chief Justice may, from time to time, constitute a Bench  consisting of five or more Judges for the purpose of hearing any  other cause, appeal or matter. Reference to Larger Bench: (i) A Division Bench of two or more Judges may refer any cause,  appeal or other proceeding, pending before it, to a larger Bench of  not less than five Judges involving a substantia

International Cooperation in the Arctic

 The Arctic legal regime consists of a series of “soft law” agreements, which started with the 1991  Declaration on Protection of the Arctic Environment and the Arctic Environmental Protection  Strategy (AEPS).   The AEPS was absorbed into the work of the Arctic Council, created in 1996.  It remains a valid Strategy for Working Groups of the Arctic Council. The 1998 Regional  Programme of Action for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment from Land-Based  Activities and the 2000 Arctic Council Action Plan to Eliminate Pollution of the Arctic are the most  recent examples of soft law environmental agreements in the region.  The Arctic Council is a high level intergovernmental body set up in 1996 by the Ottawa declaration to promote cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States together with the indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants. The Council has the eight circumpolar countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark (Greenland a

Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)

 Adopted by the First International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM1) on 6 February 2006 in Dubai, the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) is a policy framework to promote chemical safety around the world. SAICM was developed by a multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral Preparatory Committee and supports the achievement of the 2020 goal agreed at the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. SAICM's overall objective is the achievement of the sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle so that by the year 2020, chemicals are produced and used in ways that minimize significant adverse impacts on the environment and human health. The consumption of chemicals by all industries and modern society’s reliance on chemicals for virtually all manufacturing processes make chemicals production one of the major and most globalized sectors of the world economy. Acknowledgement of the essential economic role of ch

Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) and National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)

About IEPFA The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) was set up on September 7, 2016, under the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, for administering the Investor Education and Protection Fund for making refunds of shares, unclaimed dividends, and matured deposits/debentures, among other things, to investors. About NCAER NCAER is India’s oldest and largest independent economic think tank, set up in 1956 to inform policy choices for both the public and private sectors. It is one of a few independent think tanks world-wide that combines rigorous economic analysis and policy outreach with deep data collection capabilities, particularly for large-scale household surveys. NCAER is led by its Director General, Dr Poonam Gupta, the institution’s first woman head, who assumed office on 1 July 2021, and it is governed by an independent Governing Body currently chaired by Mr Nandan M. Nilekani. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressRelea

Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST): Launching of a new I-STEM initiative

  Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST), a new I-STEM (Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map) initiative called “ Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST) ” was launched by Dr. Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary, Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India on 5 th September 2022. The WEST programme will cater to women with a STEM background and empower them to contribute to the science, technology, and innovation ecosystem. I-STEM is a national web portal for sharing research equipment/facilities and is the umbrella under which many programmes for promoting collaborations in R&D and technological innovation among and between academia and industry, especially startups, are underway. Through the WEST initiative, I-STEM shall provide a separate platform to scientifically inclined women researchers, scientists, and technologists for pursuing research in basic or applied sciences in frontier area

PM SHRI Schools (PM ScHools for Rising India)

On the occasion of National Teachers’ Day, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi announced a new initiative - PM SHRI Schools (PM S c H ools for R ising I ndia ). This will be a new centrally sponsored scheme for upgradation and development of more than 14500 Schools across the country by strengthening the selected existing schools from amongst schools managed by Central Government/ State/ UT Government/ local bodies. PM SHRI Schools will showcase all components of the National Education Policy 2020 and act as exemplar schools and also offer mentorship to other schools in their vicinity. The aim of these schools will not only be qualitative teaching, learning and cognitive development, but also creating holistic and well-rounded individuals equipped with key 21 st century skills. Pedagogy adopted in these schools will be more experiential, holistic, integrated, play/toy-based (particularly, in the foundational years) inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centred, d

About INS Vikrant

  The commissioning of INS Vikrant is a proud moment for the Nation as it showcased the ‘Aatmanirbhar’ credentials during ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and a true testament to the country’s zeal and fervour in pursuing capability build up towards enhanced maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region. With the commissioning, India has entered into a select band of Nations having niche capability to indigenously design and build an Aircraft Carrier and real testimony to the Nation’s resolve for self-reliance and ‘Make in India’. INS Vikrant is designed by Indian Navy's in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, a Public Sector Shipyard under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Vikrant has been built with state of the art automation features and is the largest ship ever built in maritime history of India. The 262.5 m long and 61.6 m wide Vikrant displaces approx 43,000 T, having a maximum designed speed of 28 Knots with endur