UTTAR PRADESH
- Uttar Pradesh History : Kushinagar
- Kushinagar, is one of the principal centre of Buddhist pilgrimage, is the place where Lord Buddha left his corporeal self and attained Mahaparinirvana. The credit for bringing this ancient site to light goes to General A. Cunningham and A.C.I. Carlyl, who, after excavating the site in 1861, Later, between 1904 and 1912, several excavations conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India at Kushinagar confirmed its identity.
- The monuments of Kushinagar are situated in three distinct groups comprising the main site of the Nirvana Temple, the central stupa and surrounding monasteries, the Mathakuar shrine to the southwest, and the Ramabhar Stupa a kilometer to the
east.
- Nirvana Stupa is a huge brickwork stupa, exposed by Carlyl in 1876, which stands at a height of 2.74 mtr. A copper vessel was unearthed at this site. It bore an inscription in ancient Brahmi, which stated that Lord Buddha’s remains had been deposited here. Mathakuar shrine lies about 400 yards from the Parinirvana stupa. A black stone image of the Buddha in the bhumi sparsha mudra was recovered here. The last sermon by Lord Buddha was given here. Ramabhar Stupa is a large stupa which rises to a height of 49 ft. It marks the site where the Lord Buddha was cremated. In ancient Buddhist texts this stupa has been referred to as Mukut-Bandhan Vihar.
INTERNATIONAL
- China successfully launches second generation data relay satellite
- China has successfully launched the first of its new-generation data relay satellites into orbit that will provide data relay, measurement and control services for its manned spacecraft.
- The Tianlian II-01 satellite was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre.
- The Tianlian II network will be markedly more advanced in mission planning, system management and operations than the first-generation network composed of Tianlian I satellites.
- The satellite is developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
- China launched its first data relay satellite, the Tianlian I-01, in April 2008.
- Shanghais Hongkou becomes worlds first district with 5G coverage
- Shanghai claimed to have the world’s first districtwith 5G coverage and a broadband gigabit network. It conducted trial runs of the 5G network, backed by telecom services provider China Mobile.
- 5G is the next generation of cellular technology with download speeds that are 10 to 100 times faster than 4G LTE networks.
- The city aims to build over 10,000 5G base stations by the end of this year and the number of 5G base stations could cross 30,000 in 2021.
- Zuzana Caputova became Slovakia’s first female president
- Liberal lawyer Zuzana Čaputováwon Slovakia’s Presidential election, becoming the country’s first female head of state.
- Caputova will now become Slovakia’s fifth president since its independence in the 1993 split of Czechoslovakia.
- Slovakia becomes the eighth country in the European Union to currently have a woman in power.
NATIONAL
- Kandhamal haldi gets GI tag
- Kandhamal haldi (turmeric) produced by the tribal farmers in Odisha’s Kandhamal district received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
- Kandhamal turmeric, originally grown by tribal people in Kandhamal, is famous for its medicinal properties.
- Kandhamal haldi is organic by default being cultivated by more than 60,000 families.
- The colour of Kandhamal haldi is golden yellow being well distinguished from other varieties.
- Chunar sandstone second natural good to get GI tag
- Chunar Balua Patthar (sandstone), widely used in architectures and monuments across the country, has been granted Geographical Indication (GI) tag under natural goods category in the first week of March this year. It is the second GI tag under natural goods after Makrana Marble of Rajasthan.
- The use of Chunar sandstone could be seen in Ashokan Pillar and Lion Capitol at ASI museum of Sarnath, Chunar Fort, Ramnagar fort, ghats of Varanasi, main building of Sampurnanad Sanskrit University, 80-feet Buddha statue in Kandhar style at Thai Temple in Sarnath, 70-feet sitting statue of Buddha at Vietnamese Temple, Sarnath, and innumerable architectures and monuments in the country.
- Centre to set up Terror Monitoring Group (TMG) in J&K
- The Union Home Ministryhas announced setting up of a Terror Monitoring Group (TMG) to ensure synergised and concerted action against terror financing and terror-related activities in Jammu and Kashmir.
- TMG willact against all registered cases related to terror, terror financing and terror-related activities and bring them to a logical conclusion. It will identify all key persons including leaders of the organisations who are involved in supporting terrorism in any form and take concerted action against them. It will investigate the networks of various channels being used to fund terror and terror-related activities and take action to stop the flow of such funds.
- The seven-member TMG constitutes of members headed by Jammu and Kashmir additional director general of police (ADGP) and remaining from Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Jammu and Kashmir police inspector-general.