- India-based Neutrino Observatory is proposed to be set up at Pottipuram village in Theni district in Tamil Nadu.
- In one of the earliest Buddhist settlements in Odisha’s Lalitgiri, excavations have yielded ancient seals and inscriptions.
- India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable long-range ballistic missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of 4,000 km. The indigenously developed Agni-IV is a two-stage missile.
- Anak Krakatau volcano recently erupted leading to a tsunami in Indonesia.
- The Pokkali paddy variety, which grows to a height of up to 2 m, has a GI-tag and is a saltwater-tolerant paddy grown in the coastal fields of Kerala.
- Kaziranga National Park – 113-year-old Kaziranga, also a tiger reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 is famous for — rhino, elephant, Bengal tiger and Asiatic water buffalo.
- India recently inaugurated an Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) which will work closely with countries in the region and will be manned by the Indian Navy. The IFC has been established at the Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) at Gurugram, the single point centre interlinking all the coastal radar chains to generate a seamless real-time picture of the nearly 7,500-km long coastline. About 21 countries have already signed White Shipping Information Exchange agreements with us are IFC partners and can post International Liaison Officers (ILOs) at the centre. The Indian Navy is mandated to conclude white shipping information exchange agreements with 36 countries and three multi-national constructs. The Trans Regional Maritime Network (T-RMN) is the first one India joined.
- Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge in Assam is a 4.94-km-long structure -India’s longest rail-cum-road bridge across the Brahmaputra, will help the Indian armed forces move men and material to Arunachal Pradesh in a faster manner. It will also benefit the Indian Railways, as it will help reduce the distance between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by 600 km. The design of the ₹4,857 crore bridge is such that, unlike a normal steel bridge, it did not require the use of a single nut or bolt. Bolts and rivets that are normally used in a steel bridge require periodic replacement due to shear failure over traffic loads. In the Bogibeel bridge, construction of trusses using welding has made the connection between components a permanent one, eliminating the above failures. The structure is India’s first fully-welded bridge, which will protect it from harsh weather. The bridge has seismic restrainers that can withstand earthquakes of 7 magnitude.
- The great hornbill is the state bird of Arunachal Pradesh.
- NITI AAYOG gas released the “SDG Index Score for Sustainable Development Goals 2030” (called the Sustainable Development Goal, SDG India Index: Baseline Report 2018). The index comprises a composite score for each State and Union Territory based on their aggregate performance across 13 of the 17 SDGs. The score, ranging between 0 and 100, denotes the average performance of the State/UT towards achieving the 13 SDGs and their respective targets. The average Indian score was 57. Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu have been ranked highest in terms of being on track to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is a first-of-its-kind index released by NITI Aayog.
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