UN General Assembly Suspends Russia From top Human Rights Body
The UN General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the world organisation's leading human rights body over allegations of horrific rights violations by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, which the United States and Ukraine have called tantamount to war crimes. The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions.
Russia is the second country to have its membership rights stripped at the Human Rights Council which was established in 2006. In 2011, the assembly suspended Libya when upheaval in the North African country brought down longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield launched the campaign to suspend Russia from its seat on the 47-member Human Rights Council in the wake of videos and photos of streets in the town of Bucha strewn with corpses of what appeared to be civilians after Russian soldiers retreated.
Pakistan's Passport Ranked 4th Worst in the World again by Passport Index
Pakistan's passport was again ranked the fourth worst in the world by the Henley Passport Index, which grades travel documents from different countries on the basis of international mobility enjoyed by their holders.
According to the index, Pakistan was placed on the 109th position on the list, with visa-free access to only 31 destinations across the world. Only three other countries' passports rank lower than Pakistan's in the world which include Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the ranking with its nationals only able to access 26 destinations visa-free.
Japan and Singapore continue to share the number one spot in the ranking, with passport holders from both countries able to access 192 destinations around the world visa-free
Tata Group launched possibly India's first super app, Tata Neu, that brings together grocery-to-hotel-to-airline ticket booking and medicine on a single platform, rivalling similar products from Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart.
The group has been testing the app since last year as it seeks to play a big role in the fast growing e-commerce space.
Brands such as Air Asia, BigBasket, Croma, IHCL, Qmin, Starbucks, Tata 1Mg, Tata CLiQ, Tata Play and Westside are on the Tata Neu platform already, and Vistara, Air India, Titan, Tanishq and Tata Motors will soon join.
RBI Imposes Curbs on Shushruti Souharda Sahakara Bank Niyamita
RBI imposed several restrictions on Bengaluru-based Shushruti Souharda Sahakara Bank Niyamita, including a withdrawal cap of Rs. 5,000 per account, following a deteroriation in the lender's financial position. The directions shall remain in force for a period of six months from the close of business on April 7, 2022, and are subject to review, the Reserve Bank said in a statement.
The co-operative bank cannot, without prior approval from RBI, grant or renew any loans and advances, make any investment, incur any liability and accept fresh deposits, among other restrictions.
The bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions till its financial position improves.
DLF Chairman Rajiv Singh Richest Real Estate Entrepreneur in India
DLF Chair Rajiv Singh is the richest real estate entrepreneur in India with a wealth of Rs. 61,220 crore, up 68 per cent in the last one year.
He is followed by Mangal Prabhat Lodha and family — promoters of Macrotech Developers — according to the Grohe – Hurun India Real Estate Rich List. Lodha and family slipped to the second spot with their wealth at Rs. 52,970 crore, a 20 per cent increase during the one-year period.
Apart from realtors, the list also includes hotel and hospitality entrepreneurs.
Astronomers discovered a planet that is a near-identical twin of Jupiter. The newly discovered twin of Jupiter is also located at a similar distance from its star as the distance between Jupiter and the Sun.
The newly discovered planet was dubbed K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb.
This exoplanet was discovered by an international astrophysicist's team using data obtained that was obtained by NASA's Kepler space telescope.
The newly discovered planet is located 17,000 light-years away from Earth.
This newly discovered identical twin of Jupiter has a mass similar to Jupiter; also, its position from its respective Sun is similar to that of Jupiter as from the sun. This is the first time Einstein's microlensing method has been used by the Kepler Telescope to discover a planet.
CBI Registers Enquiry against Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra
The turf war within the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has reached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) offices. The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) against IOA president Narinder Batra for using Hockey India (HI) funds for personal interests.
It is understood that the matter is related to the renovation of Batra's office situated at the second floor of the IOA Bhawan in Qutab Educational Area. As per IOA treasurer Anandeshwar Panday, who raised the issue last year, a sum of Rs 36.19 lakh was spent to redo the office. Panday alleged that a few invoices indicated that the money may have come from HI, although the federation's book has no entry of this transaction.
Maharashtra Govt. Starts Using Blockchain for Caste Certificate Validation
The Maharashtra government started using a system based on the blockchain technology for caste certificate validation.
Caste certificate validation currently involves a lot of manual intervention and is prone to frauds and forgery. Fraudulent caste certificates can deprive eligible persons of job or education opportunities.
The state government will now record all the necessary details related to a caste certificate and it will be issued to the applicant. Once issued, the data will be saved in the form of a QR code, using the blockchain technology. Any government department can then scan the QR code of a candidate and cross-check his or her caste certificate
The Etapalli sub-division of Gadchiroli district was selected for the first project. The technology was developed by LegitDoc, a start-up which won the Maharashtra government's 'hackathon' event in 2019.
Delhi Govt. Offers Subsidy of Rs. 5,500 for First 10,000 Buyers of e-cycles
Delhi government announced to provide Rs. 5,500 in subsidy to each of the first 10,000 buyers of e-cycles as a part of its big push to electric vehicles in the city.
In addition to this, first 1,000 buyers of passenger e-cycles would also be eligible for an additional subsidy of Rs. 2,000 under the Delhi Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy, said Kailash Gahlot, Minister of Transport, Delhi. He also claimed that Delhi became the first state in the country to provide subsidy in e-cycle segment.
The residents of Delhi will be eligible for the subsidy scheme that will be linked with Aadhaar, Gahlot said, adding that all the members of a family having an Aadhaar card will be able to get the subsidy.
India Plans to Issue E-passports to its Citizens Starting this Year:
E-passport will be a combined paper and electronic passport, with an embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip and antenna embedded as an inlay in the back cover. Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Thursday said that the government is planning to issue e-passports to its citizens, starting in 2022-23.
The passport's critical information will be printed on its data page as well as stored in the chip. The characteristics of the document and the chip are specified in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) document 9303
The e-passports will be produced by the India Security Press, Nashik, which has issued letters of intent for the procurement of 4.5 crore ICAO-compliant electronic chips along with its operating system
HAL, Israel Aerospace Tie up to Turn Civil Aircraft into Mid-air Refuellers
Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to convert civil passenger aircraft to "multi mission tanker transport" (MMTT) aircraft in India.
For the past decade-and-a-half, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has been trying to buy six MMTT aircraft to supplement its eight obsolescent Russian Illyushin-78 refuellers. So dire is the IAF's shortfall of refuellers that, to fly in its new Rafale fighters from France, it had to ask Paris for Airbus refullers to top up the Rafales' fuel tanks over the Mediterranean Sea.
IAI has experience in modified aircraft for the IAF. In the early 2000s, IAI fitted the Phalcon radar into three IAF IL-76 aircraft, converting them into Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS).
Veteran lyricist and poet Maya Govind, known for penning popular songs like "Main Khiladi Tu Anadi" and "Aankhon Mein Base Ho Tum", died following a heart attack. She was 82.
The veteran, who started working in the industry in the early 70s, wrote songs for wide-ranging films.
Geetanjali Shree's 'Tomb of Sand' First Hindi Novel on International Booker Shortlist
Author Geetanjali Shree's novel 'Tomb of Sand' became the first Hindi language work of fiction to be shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.
Shree's book, translated into English by Daisy Rockwell and described by the judges as "loud and irresistible novel", will compete with five other titles from around the world for the prestigious 50,000 pounds literary prize, which is split evenly between the author and translator.
The New Delhi-based author received and was shortlisted for a number of awards and fellowships. 'Tomb of Raid' is one of her first books to be published in the UK.
Booker Prize for Fiction, the international prize is awarded every year for a single book that is translated into English.
QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022: IIT Bombay & IIT Delhi among Top 100
QS Quacquarelli Symonds released the 12th edition of the QS World University Rankings by Subject
Indian Institute of Technology(IIT)-Bombay ranked 65th and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Delhi ranked 72nd, are the only Indian institutes to be featured among the top 100 ranks under the Engineering and Technology category. IIT Bombay has scored 79.9 and IIT Delhi has scored 78.9.
National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Sector 67, Mohali, has been ranked as the top university in India and seventh in Asia in the pharmacy and pharmacology category as part of the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings 2022.
Dharmendra Pradhan Releases Book "Birsa Munda - Janjatiya Nayak" in New Delhi
Union Education and Skill Development Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan released a book "Birsa Munda – Janjatiya Nayak" written by Prof. Alok Chakrawal, Vice Chancellor, Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur. Minister of State for Education Smt. Annapurna Devi was also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion Shri Pradhan said that this book is a comprehensive attempt to bring to the fore the struggle of Bhagwan Birsa Munda and the contribution of forest dwellers in the freedom movement. He appreciated Prof. Alok Chakrawal for making an effort to inscribe the story of the unsung heroes of freedom in the national memory on Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Such efforts will inspire more people to bring out such stories, he added.
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