30.09.22

Padmaja Naidu Himalayan recently launched a programme to introduce 20 Red Pandas in around five years to the Singalila National Park.

Singalila National Park is a highly protected area, located at the Singalila Ridge in Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

It is thehighest altitude in the state.

This park was a wildlife sanctuary initially. It was converted into a National Park in 1992.

In 1994, it was declared a major wild habitat for red pandas.

Red Pandas are categorized in Endangered category of IUCN Red list and Appendix I of CITES. They are protected under Schedule I of Wildlife protection act 1972. On the other hand, Giant Pandas are Vulnerable in IUCN Red List and Appendix I species in CITES.

The Taj Mahal, a UNESCO world heritage site, was among the 10 most popular centrally-protected ticketed monuments for domestic visitors in 2021-22, according to a new report released by the Union Ministry of Tourism.

While the Mughal-era mausoleum ranked first, the Red Fort and the Qutub Minar both UNESCO-recognised sites in Delhi were the second and third most visited sites, respectively, for the period.

According to data shared by the report, the Taj Mahal witnessed 3.29 million visitors or 12.65% of the total footfall in 2021-22 for domestic visitors, followed by Red Fort (1.32 million) and Qutub Minar (1.15 million).

As per foreign visitors, the Group of Monuments in Mamallapuram saw 0.14 million, followed by the Taj Mahal (0.038 million) and the Tiger-headed Rock cut and two other monuments, Saluvankuppam, (0.025 million), the report said, quoting ASI data.

The index inspects the innovation capacities and Ecosystems across states, at the sub-national level.

It highlights recent factors and catalysts, in a bid to promote covid-19 like crisis-driven innovation.

It provides a more comprehensive outlook to measure innovation performance across country based on 66 new & unique indicators, as opposed to 36 indicators in India Innovation Index 2020.

To compare the performance of States and UTs, it has categorised them into 17 major states, 9 UTs and 10 northeast & hill states.

In Major States category, Karnataka (Score 18.01) has been ranked at first position. It is followed by and Haryana. Chhattisgarh has been ranked last with score 10.97.

Among North-Eastern & Hilly States, Manipur (19.37) was ranked as best performer. Uttarakhand and Meghalaya have been ranked at second and third. Nagaland (Score 11) ranked at last position.

Third edition of the India Innovation Index released by .

The index assesses performance of states in innovation ecosystem on the basis of NITI Aayogs ranking released the previous year. 2021 report was prepared in the backdrop of covid-19 pandemic.

The United Arab Emirates will invest $2 billion to develop a series of integrated food parks across India under the framework of thefour-nation grouping ‘I2U2’.

The decision was announced after the leaders of the grouping Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held the first virtual summit.

The statement also said the I2U2 group will advance hybrid project in Gujarat consisting of 300 megawatts of wind and solar capacity.

India’s bilateral strategic ties with each of the three countries have been on an upswing in the last few years.

The US House of Representatives has passed by voice vote a legislative amendment that approves waiver to India against the punitiveCAATSAsanctions for its purchase of the S-400 missile DEFENCE system from Russia to help deter aggressors like China.

The legislative amendment was passed on Thursday as part of an en bloc (all together as a single unit) amendment during floor consideration of the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA).

CAATSAis a tough US law that authorises the US administration to impose sanctions on countries that purchase major defence hardware from Russia in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential .