Junior Digest

Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir), June 26,2023: Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) is, was and will remain a part of India and the Pakistan government will achieve nothing by repeatedly claiming PoK, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Jammu on Monday.
He emphasized that illegal occupation of the PoK does not make locus standi of Pakistan.
“A unanimous resolution has been passed in the Parliament of India regarding PoK that it is a part of India only. Not one but at least three proposals of this intention have now been passed in the Parliament,” Singh said.
Defence Minister was addressing a “security conclave” organized at Jammu University on internal and external dimensions of the country’s defence mechanism, with a particular focus on J-K.
“A large part of Jammu and Kashmir is under the occupation of Pakistan. People on other side are seeing that people are living their lives peacefully in J-K. People living in POK going through a lot of suffering and they will raise demand to go with India,” Singh said.
Speaking on the abrogation of Article 370 in J-K, he said that BJP abrogated the article and did justice to the people of Jammu and Kashmir who were been unfairly treated for decades.
“Because of Article 370 and 35A, the common people of Jammu and Kashmir were kept away from the mainstream of the country for a long time, it was a hindrance in taking action against any anti-national force,” he said.
He further said that the general public is happy with the decision of abrogation of Article 370. “The trouble is only for those whose shop of hatred and separatism is getting closed,” Singh said.
“We have managed to stop the funding of terrorism, stopped the supply of weapons and drugs and along with the elimination of terrorists, the work of dismantling the network of underground workers working here is also going on,” he added.
He further said that the Joint Statement issued by Prime Minister Modi with US President Joe Biden has made it clear that India has changed the mindset of the whole world including America on the issue of terrorism.
“The countries that use terrorism as a state policy have to understand very well that this game is not going to last long, today most of the big countries of the world are united against terrorism,” he said.
The minister also said that despite “perception differences” with China, there are some agreements and protocols following which the armies of both countries patrol at borders. “Our other neighbour country is China. Even with China, many times there are differences on some issues. It is true that there is a perception difference regarding the border with China for a long time. Despite this, there are some agreements and protocols following which the armies of both countries patrol at borders. These agreements were made in the time of Narasimhrao ji, Atalji and in the time of Dr Manmohan Singh ji on the basis of the consent of both the countries,” he said.
He also said that the dispute in East Ladakh in 2020 arose because Chinese forces ignored the “agreed protocols”.
“The reason for the dispute that arose in East Ladakh in the year 2020 was that the Chinese forces ignored the Agreed Protocols. Chinese Army PLA tried to make some changes on LAC in a unilateral manner which was thwarted by Indian troops,” he added.
Singh further said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government started effective action against terrorism and for the first time not only the country but the world came to know what is the meaning of Zero Tolerance against Terrorism.
“AFSPA has been removed from large parts of North East as we have successfully controlled the problem of insurgency in North East India. I am waiting for the day when there will be Permanent Peace in J-K and there will be a chance to remove AFSPA from here too,” he said.

June 30,2023:The United States Supreme Court has ruled that colleges must stop considering race as a factor in their admission policies, dealing a setback to so-called “affirmative action” efforts aimed at boosting the enrolment of Black and Latino students at top universities.

The top court’s decision on Thursday came in response to lawsuits that challenged the policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) by claiming race-conscious student admissions programmes discriminate against white and Asian-American applicants.

The ruling is the latest by the conservative-dominated court to advance right-wing political causes, and it could have significant implications for US college enrolment and diversity on campuses across the country.

President Joe Biden decried the court’s decision on Thursday, calling on universities to continue to advance diversity in spite of the ruling, by considering race-related factors like adversity.

“I’ve always believed that the promise of America is big enough for everyone to succeed, and that every generation of Americans – we have benefited by opening the doors of opportunity just a little bit wider to include those who’ve been left behind,” Biden told reporters.

He stressed that the top court bucked precedents – previous rulings that establish legal norms – in its decision on Thursday. “We cannot let this decision be the last word on it,” Biden said.

Asked whether the Supreme Court is “rogue”, Biden said it is not a “normal” court.

The top court ultimately found affirmative action to be in violation of US Constitution provisions that establish equal protection under the law.

“College admissions are zero-sum. A benefit provided to some applicants but not to others necessarily advantages the former group at the expense of the latter,” the Supreme Court said in its decision, embracing the argument that affirmative action benefitting some minority students disadvantages others.
Decision and dissent

The vote was six-to-three in the UNC case and six-to-two in the Harvard case, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recusing herself from the latter because she had been a member of an advisory governing board at the university.
In a dissenting opinion, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “indifference to race” does not advance equality, stressing that racial inequality continues to prevail in the US, including at UNC and Harvard.

“Ignoring race will not equalize a society that is racially unequal. What was true in the 1860s, and again in 1954, is true today: Equality requires acknowledgment of inequality,” she said, referring to the US Civil War that ended slavery and the Civil Rights movement, respectively.

The NAACP civil rights advocacy group was quick to denounce the top court’s ruling on Thursday.

“This is a dark day in America,” Wisdom Cole, national director of the group’s youth and college division, said in a statement.

“Affirmative action has been a beacon of hope for generations of Black students. It stood as a powerful force against the insidious poison of racism and sexism, aiming to level the playing field and provide a fair shot at a high-quality education for all.”

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also decried the decision, calling it a “giant roadblock” in the country’s march towards racial justice.
Affirmative action

The Congressional Black Caucus also hit out at the top court. “By delivering a decision on affirmative action so radical as to deny young people seeking an education equal opportunity in our education system, the Supreme Court has thrown into question its own legitimacy,” it said in a statement.

Under affirmative action, some US colleges have considered race among several factors when assessing students’ applications, boosting the chances of Black and other minority students.

Proponents of the practice have argued that it aims to correct some of the historical injustices people of colour faced in the US and level the playing field for all students.

They also have underscored the racial wealth gap, as well as some colleges’ “legacy” admission programmes that favour the children of graduates from the institutions.

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Thursday that if the Supreme Court is serious about so-called colourblindness, then justices should also abolish legacy admissions, which she called “affirmative action for the privileged”.

Critics of affirmative action have argued affirmative action works against white and some minority students – namely Asian Americans – who also may come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

On Thursday, Republican Senator Tom Cotton called affirmative action “systemic discrimination” and expressed gratitude to the Supreme Court for its ruling.

“Admissions should be decided on merit – not by color of skin,” Cotton wrote on Twitter.

Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the US Senate, also welcomed the decision as making clear that “students will get a fair shot at college and the American dream based on merit and not illegal social engineering”.
‘Essential values’

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan said the Supreme Court’s ruling is “incredibly significant” and will affect US universities’ efforts to bolster diversity.

Affirmative action, Jordan explained, was about “not just trying to redress past discrimination, but it also [helped] the schools achieve what they believe is a laudable goal, which is to expose young people who are just starting out in life to other people of different backgrounds”.

Nine US states have already banned colleges from considering race in applications, and several of them saw a drop in minority student enrolment after the restriction.

For example, at the University of Michigan, Black student enrolment dropped to 4 percent in 2022 from 7 percent when the state ended affirmative action in 2006.

Harvard said on Thursday that it will push to preserve its “essential values” while complying with the Supreme Court’s decision.

“We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences. That principle is as true and important today as it was yesterday,” the university’s leaders said in a statement.

Bhopal, June 27,2023: Crossing another crucial connectivity milestone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted five more Vande Bharat trains to the nation on Tuesday.

The visiting dignitary flagged off the Bhopal-Indore train at the Madhya Pradesh capital’s Rani Kamalapati Station. Prior to that, the senior leader even briefly boarded the train and interacted for duration of approximately ten minutes with schoolchildren, viewed the contextual paintings created by the latter and provided guidance to the pupils.

It was officially learnt that the other trains will ply between here and Jabalpur, Ranchi-Patna, Dharwad-Bengaluru and Goa-Mumbai. These are the maiden such trains for the states of Goa, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Chennai, June 28 ,2023: The launch of India’s third Lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 will take place using the heaviest rocket LVM-3 from the spaceport of Sriharikota at 2.30 p.m. on July 13.
ISRO sources said the launch is expected to take place from the Second Launch Pad. The GSLV-Mk3 launcher (LVM-3) will place the Chandrayaan-3 integrated module in an Elliptic Parking Orbit (EPO) of size 170 x 36500 km.
The payloads of Chandrayaan-3 had already been taken to the SHAR Range, for mandatory before integrating them with the Launch vehicle.
This will be a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 whose lander-rover configuration and the payloads aboard them after ‘Vikram’ crashed on the lunar surface while attempting a soft landing on the Lunar surface.
Chandrayaan-3 will demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.
ISRO in its website said “Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.”
It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It will be launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.
The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit.
The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.
The Lander payloads were Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA), Chandra’s Surface Thermo physical Experiment (ChaSTE), Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA),Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA), while Rover paylods are Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), Laser Induced Breakdown
Spectroscope (LIBS) Propulsion Module–Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) ChaSTE will measure the thermal conductivity and temperature; ILSA is for measuring the seismicity around the landing site;
Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and its variations.
A passive Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA is accommodated for lunar laser ranging studies.Rover payloads Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving the elemental composition in the vicinity of landing site.
Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander module (LM),Propulsion module (PM) and a Rover with an objective of
developing and demonstrating new technologies required for Inter planetary missions.
The Lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the Rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.
The Lander and the Rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface. The main function of PM is to carry the LM from launch vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit and separate the LM from PM.
Apart from this, the Propulsion Module also has one scientific payload as a value addition which will be operated post separation of Lander Module.
The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 was to demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface, demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
To achieve the mission objectives, several advanced technologies are present in Lander such as, Altimeters, Velocimeters, Inertial Measurement, Propulsion System, Navigation, Guidance & Control (NGC) and Hazard Detection and Avoidance.
As part of demonstrating these advanced technologies in earth condition, several Lander special tests were carried out successfully.
The tests included Integrated Cold Test for the demonstration of Integrated Sensors & Navigation performance test using helicopter as test platform, Integrated Hot test – for the demonstration of closed loop performance test with sensors, actuators and NGC using Tower crane as test platform Lander Leg mechanism performance test on a lunar simulant test bed simulating different touch down conditions.

June 30,2023:A British court has ruled that the government’s controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful as the African nation cannot be considered a safe third country.

In a major setback for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has pledged to deter people from arriving across the Channel in small boats, three Court of Appeal judges on Thursday said the “removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda” would be “unlawful”.

“The deficiencies in the asylum system in Rwanda are such that there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk that persons sent to Rwanda will be returned to their home countries where they face persecution or other inhumane treatment,” judge Ian Burnett said, but added that he, himself, disagreed with the other two judges on this point.

The United Kingdom government has been planning to deport asylum seekers to the East African country as part of a 120 million pound ($148m) deal to deter people from crossing the English Channel from France in small boats.

Asylum Aid director Alison Pickup said many of her clients were breathing a sigh of relief.

“Some of them have experienced torture, they’ve had very traumatic journeys, and have been waiting for over a year to find out if they will be able to make a case in the UK – or if they will be sent to Rwanda, a country they know nothing about,” Pickup told Al Jazeera.

She added that the ruling will “hopefully give them that reassurance of safety”.

The government has said it will appeal against the decision.

The Rwandan government said that while the matter was one for the British courts, it took exception to the judges’ conclusions.

Bengaluru , July 1,2023: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday promised to resume all the programmes designed for minorities.
A delegation of the Central Council of the Minority Muslim Thinkers, Chavadi, of Karnataka State met him on Friday and discussed various issues, said the government.
The Chief Minister said that five guarantees are already being implemented as announced by the government, and more grants will be allotted to minorities starting next year, said the CM office.
Chavadi has been identified with pro-people movements in Karnataka for over a decade. It has been a part of the literary field, the development of Kalyan Karnataka, student and Dalit movements, and other pro-people struggles. Chavadi has emphasised the educational, social, and economic development of the Muslim community. It is also against communalism, as the forum explained, stated the CM office.
For the past five years, the community has been deprived of government schemes, and hence the delegation appealed to the CM to increase grants to the Minority Department and Corporations, hostels, and the establishment of a Minority Polytechnic College in the district, said the government.

New Delhi, June 28,2023: The Meeting of Startup20 under the India G20 Presidency is slated to take place in Gurugram on July 3, said Chintan Vaishnav, Startup20 India Chair and Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission.
The summit, aptly named “Shikhar,” which translates to “mountain peak” in Sanskrit, symbolizes the pinnacle of achievements in shaping the future of the global startup ecosystem.
It serves as a landmark event for the official release of the final Policy Communique. This comprehensive document represents the collective wisdom and tireless efforts of the Startup20 Engagement Group, comprising distinguished delegates from G20 nations and other invitee countries.
Vaishnav said that the policy Communique will lay the foundation for a transformative and inclusive startup ecosystem, fostering economic growth, innovation, and cross-border collaboration.
Over the course of two insightful days, the summit promises a diverse and engaging program, featuring dynamic discussions, enlightening presentations, and invaluable networking opportunities.
The delegates will have the privilege to connect with industry experts, policymakers, and thought leaders, forging strategic alliances and shaping the trajectory of startups on a global scale.

In addition to the discussion on building a global startup ecosystem, the summit will host a large Startup Conclave, where startups will not only showcase their products and services but will engage in investor pitches, mentoring sessions, and other networking opportunities.
Like other Startup20 events, there will also be a healthy mix of art and culture at the event.
The summit embodies the immense potential of startups in driving economic prosperity and societal impact. By fostering an environment that nurtures innovation and entrepreneurship, the summit aims to unleash the full potential of startups, propelling economic growth, job creation, and sustainable development.
Startup20 Chair Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “I think of this final leg of this year’s Startup20 journey as a new beginning. We extend a warm invitation to delegates to join us in Gurugram and collectively celebrate the culmination of months of collaboration, consultation, and unwavering determination.”
“We have built consensus over a first-ever powerful communique that we will harness the power of startups, paving the way for their vibrant and sustainable future,” he added.
The Startup20 Shikhar Summit signifies India’s commitment to fostering an enabling environment for startups and reinforcing its position as a global leader in innovation and entrepreneurship. It serves as a significant milestone in the journey towards unlocking the potential of startups to drive economic growth, job creation, and societal progress.
The Startup20 Engagement Group operates under the India G20 Presidency, aiming to shape the future of the global startup ecosystem. Comprising delegates from G20 nations and invitee countries, Startup20 strives to foster innovation, collaboration, and inclusive growth to unleash the full potential of startups for economic prosperity and societal impact.

June 29,2023:Russian authorities have reportedly detained General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, amid a reported purge of military officials following the short-lived rebellion by Wagner mercenary forces, according to sources cited by the Moscow Times newspaper and a Russian military blogger.

Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media for his reputed ruthlessness, is a veteran of Russia’s wars in Chechnya and Syria who has been decorated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Citing two sources close to Russia’s Defence Ministry, the Russian-language service of The Moscow Times reported on Wednesday that Surovikin was arrested due to what one of the unnamed sources said was choosing Wagner chief Yevgeny “Prigozhin’s side during the uprising”.

A Russian military blogger, Vladimir Romanov, also reported Surovikin’s arrest on Wednesday, according to the Moscow Times, while the Washington, DC-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported another Russian source as claiming that military “affiliates” of Surovikin had been “accused of complicity in the rebellion”.

Russia’s Defence Ministry has yet to comment on the reports of Surovikin’s detention, the newspaper said.

The ISW reported on Wednesday that a prominent Russian military blogging site had claimed that a “large-scale purge” of the Russian military command was under way following the attempt by Wagner forces to enter Moscow and apprehend the country’s senior military leaders.

June 27,2023:Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that long-standing tensions between Moscow’s army and the Wagner mercenary group, which staged a mutiny in Russia, had been mismanaged.

Lukashenko was speaking three days after he had brokered a deal to end the rebellion that rattled his Russian ally Vladimir Putin.
The feud between Wagner and the Russian army had escalated for months, with mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin making increasingly scathing statements against generals.

“We missed the situation, and then we thought that it would resolve itself, but it did not resolve,” Lukashenko said.

“Two people who fought at the front clashed, there are no heroes in this case,” he added, in an apparent reference to the Wagner chief who rebelled, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and his rival Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

The jab implied that Putin — seen as a mediator between competing Russian factions — had also not dealt with the conflict well or on time.

Observers have said that some of Russia’s “siloviki” — members of Russia’s security apparatus and those close to them — would also be unhappy with Putin for not dealing with the conflict quickly enough.

Lukashenko said he had ordered his army to be “combat ready” during the uprising in Russia.

“I gave all the orders to bring the army to full combat readiness.”

And the Moscow ally said that if Russia “collapsed” then “we would all die,” while warning that the West would “take advantage” of any “turmoil.”

Under the deal mediated by Lukashenko, Prigozhin is expected to move to Belarus. But the Belarus strongman did not disclose Prigozhin’s location.

Putin said Monday that Wagner fighters would also be given the opportunity to go to Belarus, or to join the regular Russian army.

Paris, July 1,2023: The 193 member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) approved on Friday during an Extraordinary Session of the General Conference, the proposal submitted by the United States to rejoin the organisation.

After two days of discussions, 132 member states voted in favor and 10 against the return of the U.S. to the organization from which the U.S. has withdrawn twice, causing a negative impact on the organisation’s work.

The U.S. will fund the equivalent of 22 percent of the organisation’s regular budget, according to a press release from UNESCO.

Besides the progressive payment of the arrears, the U.S. will also make voluntary contributions to fund programs including those supporting access to education in Africa and the memory of the Holocaust, UNESCO said.

Speaking to the press after voting, Yang Jin, permanent representative of China to UNESCO, said that the U.S. should contribute to promoting the unity and cooperation of the organisation after its return, instead of engaging in confrontation and division.

“China urges the U.S., following its return to UNESCO, to fulfill its obligations and commitments, pay membership dues in full and on time, and pay off as soon as possible the dues owed to UNESCO for many years,” he said.

Yang also called on the U.S. to adhere to true multilateralism, respect the sovereignty and social systems of all countries, respect and maintain social diversity, refrain from ideological confrontation, and commit to promoting mutual understanding and cooperation among member states.

The United States pulled out of UNESCO twice, in 1984 and 2017. In June this year, the U.S. sent a letter to the director-general of UNESCO, proposing to rejoin the organisation as early as July based on a concrete financial plan, which includes a commitment to repay its estimated arrears of 619 million U.S. dollars.

New Delhi, June 30,2023: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday took a dig at the Centre and Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena over the deteriorating law and order condition in the national capital and asked them how long the Delhiites would tolerate the situation.

Kejriwal reiterated his demand that Delhi Police should be handed over to the Delhi government for maintaining better law and order here.

Kejriwal tweeted: “Delhi Police should be handed over to the people of the city. It is not in the capability of LG Sahib and Amit Shah ji. And for how long will the people of Delhi continue to tolerate?.”

His reaction came after a transgender’s body was found in Delhi’s Rohini district. Recently, a broad daylight robbery happened inside a tunnel near Pragati Maidan.

In his second tweet, Kejriwal wrote, “There is such an environment of fear among the people across the national capital. But they have no time, no intention and no plan to provide security to the people of Delhi. After all, how long will people tolerate? You cannot have power without responsibility and accountability.”

Lucknow, Jul 2,2023: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday asserted that her party was not against the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), instead it was against the modalities of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its government in implementing it, as it should not be forced on the people of the country.

Reacting to the UCC, she said, “India has a vast population who follow different religions and have different customs, lifestyles, rules and rituals right from the birth to death.”

She further said that on the other hand, it is thought provoking that if a common law is made applicable to people of all religions, then it will not weaken the country but instead, strengthen it.

“It is also correct that it will create mutual communal harmony and brotherhood among the people and keeping this in mind, an attempt to frame a code that is Uniform Civil Code has been mentioned in the Article 44 of the Indian Constitution,” Mayawati said.

The BSP chief further said, “The provision of imposing it forcibly is not mentioned in the Constitution of Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and for this awareness and consensus has been considered the best, but not following it and indulging in politics of narrow interest in its guise is not right in the interest of the country, because Article 44 of the Constitution describes the effort to make a uniform civil code, but not to impose it forcibly.”

She suggested that before taking any step for implementing UCC in the country, BJP should pay special attention to all these aspects.
She said it seems that BJP and its government are blowing the issue of UCC in a bid to conceal its shortcomings and distract attention of the people.

“As I have said my party is not against the UCC, but people of different religions in the country have their own customs from birth to death and whenever a law is framed then their religious traditions and sentiments must be kept into consideration,” she added.

Lucknow, June 27,2023: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said that the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises department should develop MSME clusters by identifying land on Purvanchal, Bundelkhand and Ganga Expressway and take forward the process of setting up of Unity Malls in Lucknow, Varanasi and Agra.

While participating in the loan distribution programme organised by the banks at Lok Bhawan on the occasion of International International MSME Day, Yogi emphasised that the MSME units in UP are the source of livelihood for crores of people in the state.

“Jobs will be provided to 7.5 youths through the PM and CM Internship Programmes that are running in the state and for this our entrepreneurs will have to come forward. The entrepreneurs of the MSME sector should be provided facilities as per their requirement,” he said.

A total of Rs 20 ,000 crore was disbursed simultaneously to 3.41 lakh MSME entrepreneurs for the overall development of the sector on the occasion.

The CM said, “Under the loan distribution programme, loans are being simultaneously distributed to 3.41 lakh MSME entrepreneurs in the state. This sector is going to provide maximum employment after agriculture. The entrepreneurs of the MSME sector have given a new identity to UP by infusing new life in this sector.”

He said, “UP is the first state in the country to implement the ‘One District One Product’ (ODOP) scheme to keep the MSME sector alive, which has now become a brand within the country. Whenever MSME and ODOP are mentioned in the country today, the name of UP comes first on people’s lips.”

Praising the ODOP scheme in the state, the CM mentioned that UP is one of the leading states in the country to receive a GI tag for 52 of its products.

“Varanasi alone has obtained GI tags for 23 products. We have 75 districts, and in the coming time, many other products of UP will get a GI tag. The day is not far when the traditional products of UP will be known both within the country and across the world,” he said.

The Minister of MSME Rakesh Sachan, Joint Secretary of the Union Ministry of Commerce Amitabh Kumar, Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra, GI expert Padma Shri Awardee Rajnikanth and other officials and MSME department staff were present at the event.

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) , June 29,2023: National Conference (NC) Chief Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said that the Centre before bringing the Uniform Civil Code should consider that the country is diverse.
Farooq Abdullah also extended his greetings on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. He got emotional while explaining the significance of the day, which recognises Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice everything, including his son Ismail for Allah.
Meanwhile, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir extended his wishes to the pilgrims embarking on the Amarnath Yatra, commencing on July 1.
“They (Central Government) should consider that the country is diverse. People of all religions, languages, and ideologies live here, and as for Muslims, they have their Shariat laws too. The Government should think about any possible storm that would come if they take a step in this direction (implement UCC)” he said.

June 30,2023:Major cities in France experienced a third night of rioting as President Emmanuel Macron fought to contain growing public anger triggered by the police killing of a 17-year-old teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent during a traffic stop.

National police said on Thursday night that its forces faced new incidents in the cities of Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille including fires and protesters hurling fireworks, as some 40,000 police officers deployed across the country to contain the unrest in the wake of the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M, who was shot dead on Tuesday.

In Nanterre, the western suburb of Paris where the teenager was killed, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police following a peaceful vigil. Protesters scrawled “Vengeance for Nahel” across buildings and bus shelters and, as night fell, a bank was set on fire before firefighters put it out and stopped flames from spreading to an apartment building above. No one was reported to be hurt.

In central Paris, a Nike shoe store was ransacked and windows were smashed along the Rue de Rivoli shopping street, Paris police said.
Local authorities in Clamart, 8km (5 miles) from central Paris, imposed a nighttime curfew until Monday, and Valerie Pecresse, who heads the greater Paris region, said all bus and tram services would be halted after 9pm (19:00 GMT) local time after some were set alight on Wednesday night.

Fire damaged the town hall in the Paris suburb of L’Ile-Saint-Denis, not far from the country’s national stadium and the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

WASHINGTON, June 29,2023: Scientists on Wednesday unveiled evidence that gravitational waves, the ripples in the fabric of space-time predicted by Albert Einstein more than a century ago, are permeating the universe at low frequencies – creating a cosmic background hum.

The new findings show that space is awash with these gravitational waves, which oscillate over years or longer and appear to originate primarily from pairs of supermassive black holes spiraling together before merging.

“Gravitational waves are created by astronomically dense objects in our universe, usually in orbit around each other. The gravitational waves actually stretch and compress space-time itself as they travel through the universe,” said Oregon State University astrophysicist Jeff Hazboun, a member of the scientific collaboration that conducted the research and lead author of one of the papers describing the findings in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Einstein in 1916 proposed the existence of gravitational waves as an outgrowth of his ground-breaking general theory of relativity, which depicted gravity as the distortion of space and time by matter. Until their detection in 2016, scientists had found only indirect evidence of their existence, beginning in the 1970s.

Objects called pulsars – the extremely dense cores of exploded stars that spin at the speed of kitchen blenders – were crucial in the new research. Sixty-eight pulsars were used in gathering the evidence.

“We see the passage of the gravitational waves as changes in the arrival time of pulses from an array of pulsars in our galaxy,” Hazboun said.
An artistic interpretation of an array of pulsars being affected by gravitational ripples produced by a supermassive black hole binary in a distant galaxy, in this handout image released June 28, 2023. Aurore Simonnet/NANOGrav Collaboration/Handout via REUTERS

The gravitational wave signal was observed in 15 years’ worth of data obtained by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontiers Center (PFC), a collaboration of more than 190 scientists from the United States and Canada.

The researchers described the universe’s gravitational wave background as the equivalent of hearing the hum of a large group of people talking at a party, without being able to distinguish any individual voice.

Astronomers long have relied upon studying light to learn more about the cosmos, but that approach has limitations because it does not offer insight into many aspects of the universe. Gravitational waves allow for a more robust examination of the universe, as do ghostly subatomic particles called neutrinos.

The discovery was announced seven years after researchers announced that they had first detected the existence of gravitational waves generated by two distant black holes – extraordinarily dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape. The motion of black holes and other massive objects can cause gravitational waves.

That research involved what is called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

“We have solid evidence for a hum of gravitational waves in a new band of the gravitational wave spectrum. These frequencies are 10-12 orders of magnitude smaller than those detected by LIGO, and have wavelengths light years long,” Hazboun said.

“The most vanilla explanation of these gravitational waves is an ensemble of supermassive black hole binaries (black holes orbiting each other) in our cosmic neighborhood. Other explanations include interesting new physics from near the Big Bang,” Hazboun added, referring to the event that marked the origin of the universe about 13.8 billion years ago.