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India achieved a historic feat on 27 March 2019 when it successfully shot down a low-earth orbit satellite using its anti-satellite (ASAT) missile. The test named Mission Shakti was jointly carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha to verify whether India possesses the capability to safeguard its assets in the space. With this accomplishment, India has officially entered a select group of countries – United States of America, Russia and China who possess anti-satellite missile technology. In a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized that India does not intend to commence an arms race in outer space. According the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the test sends out a strong message of credible deterrence and does not target any particular country.

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A group comprising of 40 heritage enthusiasts from Dhubri town started off their weekend with a Heritage walk that covered the important Heritage Buildings of the Town.

 This was a third successful walk to generate awareness about the existing rich heritage of Dhubri town.  The Heritage trail was organised by Sahapedia, India Heritage Walks in collaboration with the District Museum, Dhubri.

 The 2-km walk began from the Victoria Statue Park at Tetultola, a marble statue measuring 20 feet in height installed by the British rulers in 1905 against the backdrop of the Bengal Partition, and covered 15 destinations of historical importance.

 Bijoy Kumar Sharma, a journalist and social worker of Dhubri led the walk unravelling facts, histories and narratives of the town in lucid detail. Sharma has been very instrumental in creating awareness and safeguarding and protecting the heritage buildings of Dhubri Town since decades.

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Mystery has thrill. Mystery has attraction. And so is the case with Kalinjar Fort in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh. After a lot of hearsay from people of various walks of life, I along with my wife decided to visit this unique fort. ‘Unique’ because the fort has not only a thrilling battle history, but is related also with the mythological story of ‘Samudra manthan’ (churning of the sea) and drinking of poison, so produced due to ‘Samudra manthan’, by Shiva. This place was also one of the very important sacred places of worship and meditation by ‘Kaul- Kapalik’ sect of tantric rituals in medieval period of our history.

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     River and coastal connectivity in Eastern South Asia which includesseveral sub-topic such as ‘Revisiting the India-Bangladesh protocol routes in the light of recent developments’, ‘Sea access for land locked territories’, ‘Recent developments in coastal connectivity’, ‘Policy shifts and implications for larger BIMSTEC coastal connectivity’, ‘Infrastructure development plans linked to riverine coastal connectivity: Possibilities in the immediate future’ and ‘Creating sustainable protocols and practices for river and coastal transport’

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Awareness programmes for National Scheduled Caste-Scheduled Tribe (SC-ST) Hub held across the districts of Assam since November last year to attract the entrepreneurs towards the government’s initiative to provide them various incentive and help them grow and flourish in the field of Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (MSMEs) along with Vendors Development Programme concluded with an exhibition of entrepreneurs at Guwahati.  

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There could be several reasons behind this intense interest in politics. 

One - the post-merger Sikkimese identity is so inextricably linked to politics which has induced a kind of caution in the Sikkimese mind. The Sikkimese destiny in the Republic of India, to a large extent, has been shaped by the political events that transpired around the time of the merger. Today, we have the luxury of hindsight and say, ‘If our leaders had done this, we would have benefited this way or that move would have given us this advantage’ and so on. With such a political history behind us, for better or for worse, politics continues to rule the roost in our conscience. Moreover, the local political narratives across the board have inculcated into our conscience a notion that it is only politics that can protect our Sikkimese distinctiveness which is so vital to Sikkimese identity in the larger national context. This explains the conscious distancing of Sikkim from national parties.

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With the rising of global water consumption, pressure is mounting on water. It is stated that demand for water has grown annually by 2.4 percent globally. So, our lone human habitable planet has already felt the pinch of water crisis and it has emerged a serious challenge.  According to reports by the United Nations, two-third of the world’s population will face acute water shortage by 2025, affecting lives and livelihoods of 1.8 billion people. The UN World Water Assessment Programme, 7 billion people in 60 countries may cope with water scarcity by 2050.  The much-talked-about climate change, which is instrumental in altering the weather pattern, can make the matter worse.

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Since its attainment of full fledged statehood, Arunachal Pradesh is all set to go to polls for the first time with a non Congress ruling government in the state. The state will have simultaneous polls for both the assembly and parliament in the first phase on 11 April. While the electorates will elect the sixty legislators to the seventh legislative assembly, for parliament it will be for only two members. Apart from the two main national parties and the state's lone regional party People's Party of Arunachal, this election has witnessed the entrance of the National People's Party for one, which of late have been hitting the right notes, while the others include the Janata Dal (Secular), Janata Dal (United), the All India Party and All India Forward Block. The Nationalist People's Party and Trinamool Congress which had put up candidates in the 2014 elections have drawn a blank this time around.