A protected antelope species habitat with about 150 to 200 blackbucks, of which there was no official record, has been found in Gautam Budh Nagar district's Rabupura village, according to the state forest department.
This new habitat, which is around 70 km from Delhi in the National Capital Region (NCR), was discovered after residents reported two poached blackbucks in October and November.
These blackbucks are in addition to the 122 recorded at 10 spots across the district by the last forest department census in 2011.
In a bid to align with the best corporate practices, the Finance Ministry has asked the public sector banks to gradually bring down the government's equity to 52%.
Dilution of government stake will help banks to meet 25% public float norms of market regulator SEBI. Some of the public sector banks have government's holding beyond 75%.
Besides, it will encourage the banks to follow the prudential lending norms.
The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has already initiated step for Rs 20,000-crore share sale through qualified institutional placement (QIP). Post QIP, the government stake will be diluted from the existing 58.53%.
Some of the lenders like Syndicate Bank, Union Bank of India, PNB, and Oriental Bank of Commerce among others have already issued or in process of issuing Employee Share Purchase Scheme.
Pakistan to Shelve Major CPEC Power Project
The cash-strapped Pakistan government will shelve a major coal-based power plant project under the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, citing sufficient generation capacity already lined up for the next few years.
The CPEC, which connects Gwadar Port in Balochistan with China's Xinjiang province, is the flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinping's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government of Prime Minister Imran Khan officially conveyed to Beijing that it was no more interested in the project in view of sufficient generation capacity already lined up for the next few years.
It has requested the China to formally delete the project from the CPEC list.
Farm Crisis: Worst price slump in 18 yrs
This financial year, 2018-19 could end up being the worst year for farm incomes in almost two decades, government data indicates in a revelation that emphasises the gravity of the ongoing agrarian crisis and highlights a possible fault line for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
According to Wholesale Price Index (WPI) data for the month of December released on Monday by the ministry of commerce and industry, the WPI sub-component for primary food articles has been negative for six consecutive months beginning July 2018. This means their prices are falling.
WPI for primary food articles is a good indicator of farm-gate prices as farmers sell their products in wholesale rather than retail markets.
Even the food subcomponent of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket has registered negative growth between October and December 2018.
The disinflation in wholesale prices is not visible in the non-farm economy though. The overall WPI has shown positive growth in all these months.
The last time WPI for primary food articles showed negative annual growth for two consecutive quarters was in 1990.
Scientists have created a DNA tool that can accurately identify ancient populations, and may be used to test an individual's similarity to ancient people who once roamed the earth.
Currently the study of ancient DNA requires a lot of information to classify a skeleton to a population or find its biogeographical origins.
Scientists at the University of Sheffield in the UK have defined a new concept called Ancient Ancestry Informative Markers (aAIMs) — a group of mutations that are sufficiently informative to identify and classify ancient populations.
The research, led by Eran Elhaik, from University of Sheffield in the UK, saw the identification of a small group of aAIMs that can be used to classify skeletons to ancient populations.
AIMs (Ancestry Informative Markers) have a long history in science and have been employed for the past decade by health and forensic experts.
Braille Technology Firm Builds 'Kindle for the Blind'
A British company plans to launch a Braille e-reader for blind people this year that should greatly enhance their reading experience.
Bristol Braille Technology's new 'Kindle for the blind' - Canute 360 - which it says is the world's first multi-line Braille e-reader, displays nine lines of text at a time.
Any text that has been translated into Braille format can be downloaded into the Canute, potentially putting an endless supply of reading material at the user's fingertips.
The final prototype of Canute will enter mass production this year, priced similar to a high-end laptop.
Badminton player Kidambi Srikanth has signed a multi-year deal with Asia's premium sports brand, Li Ning.
The deal, which is valued at Rs 35 crore for a period of four years, will comprise sponsorship and equipment supply.
Srikanth is only male world No.1 badminton player and also the only Indian player to have won six Super Series badminton events.
Li Ning Co. Ltd retails sporting goods, including footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for professional and leisure purposes, primarily under the LI-NING brand.
In India, the brand is retailed by Sunlight Sports Pte Ltd, which is a multinational exclusive partner of Li Ning in South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Srikanth is managed by sports marketing firm Baseline Ventures, which was instrumental in getting the tie-up in place.
Breaking yet another gender barrier, a woman started scaling Agasthyarkoodam, the second highest peak of Kerala, where the fair sex had been barred owing to an age-old tribal custom.
K Dhanya Sanal, armed with a recent High Court order which lifted the 'unofficial' ban on entry of women to the peak, began the arduous journey along with male trekkers through the traditional forest path from Bonacaud.
Dhanya was the only woman in the first batch of 100 trekkers who set out to scale the 1,868-metre lofty peak, known for its panoramic beauty and unique biodiversity.
Agastyarkoodam, located in the Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary, opened for the annual trekking for the first time after the Kerala High Court ruled last November that no gender-based restrictions would be imposed on trekkers.
The local Kani tribes living on the foothills have opposed the scaling of the lofty peak by women.
The 47-day trekking programme to the peak will continue till March 1.
Delhi to showcase Gandhi tableau on Republic Day
This Republic Day, people will get to see Delhi's tableau at the historic Rajpath after a year's gap.
The theme of Delhi's tableau will be the days that Mahatma Gandhi spent in Delhi.The tableau will highlight Mahatma Gandhi's sojourns to Delhi, the first of which took place in 1915.
The theme is always chosen by the defence ministry, which was commemorating Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary this year. In its tableau, Delhi will showcase Gandhi Smriti, formerly known as the Birla House. It was at Gandhi Smriti that the father of the nation spent his last 144 days.
Last year, Delhi could not send a tableau to the annual parade because the state government delayed sending its proposal to the Centre.
The arts, culture and languages department of the Delhi government is responsible for sending the recommendations and invite tenders for the Republic Day tableau design and creation.
In 2017, Delhi had participated in the parade after three years.
India Plans Mega Africa Push
India has planned mega Africa push amid growing opposition to Chinese debt trap in the Africa continent with January 19 earmarked as the Africa Day in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.
Rwandan President and current African Union chair Paul Kagame besides Ministers from several African countries will be present on the occasion with an objective to seek wider Indian presence in their continent.
Various inter-African economic groupings representing various geographical groupings will be present on the occasion, informed persons familiar with the event.
Almost 200 African businessmen have registered for the Africa Day meet in Gandhinagar to explore Gujarat market and wider Indian market.
This is the first time that India has announced an African Day in keeping with high-level engagements with the continent since mega India-Africa summit here in 2015.
Congress Clears Name of Rajasthan Assembly Speaker
The Congress high command cleared the name of Nathdwara MLA CP Joshi for the post of Rajasthan Assembly Speaker.
The election to the post would be held on January 16 after newly elected 199 MLAs take oath in the first session of the Assembly .
BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria was administered the oath of Pro Tem Speaker by Governor Kalyan Singh.
Veteran Cong leader Deshmukh dead
Senior Congress leader and former legislative council Chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh (84) died on Monay after a prolonged illness.
He was a member of the state legislative assembly from Sangli( Maharashtra) for four consecutive terms from 1978.
He was elected to the legislative council in 1996 and 2002.
Myntra CEO quits
CEO of Myntra-Jabong Ananth Narayanan has resigned, according to the Walmart-owned Flipkart. Amar Nagaram, a veteran at the homegrown ecommerce giant and who had moved to Myntra in December, has been named as the head of both the fashion-focused e-tailers.
Narayanan joined Myntra as CEO in July 2015, taking over from co-founder Mukesh Bansal who was leaving to start another venture.
Narayanan came to Myntra from consultancy firm McKinsey & Co, where he had spent 15 years. At Myntra, he tried to scale the private label business with brands like Roadster, and also pushed the company's foray into brick-and-mortar stores.
Army Day is observed on January 15 in India. On this day in 1949, Field Marshal Kodandera M Cariappa took over as the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from General Sir Francis Butcher, the last British Commander-in-Chief.
Army day is dedicated to the soldiers who fought to safeguard the country's honour.
According to reports, the Army Day parade is slated to be led by Lieutenant Bhavana Kasturi. This is for the first time when a woman officer will lead the Army Day parade. She will lead the Indian Army's Service Corps contingent.
The Army's 33-member Daredevils Motorcycle display team with also be led this year by a woman officer, Captain Shikha Surabhi.
After the state board, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has introduced aptitude tests for class IX and X students to help them make a career decision.
Called the Know Your Aptitude (KYA) tool, it will be available for schools to download from January 29.
The test would be voluntary and may be administered to students on any working day.
There will also be a guide for teachers, a test booklet, technical manual and an answer key.
A link giving scores of the students will be available on the board website.
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