NEW DELHI: India has launched its updated biodiversity action plan with a goal to protect at least 30 percent of its terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine areas by 2030, in line with global biodiversity targets. The updated National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), unveiled at the 16th UN Biodiversity Conference in Cali,…
Ramsar sites are the global tag for protected wetlands of international importance. NEW DELHI: India, which increased its number of Ramsar sites — the global tag for protected wetlands of international importance — from 26 to 85 in the past 10 years, will soon take this number to 100.An announcement to this effect was made…
NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that one person had died in the state due to Cyclone Dana, while the administration had evacuated around 2.16 lakh people from low-lying areas. “Only one person died in this natural disaster. The man died at his residence while conducting some cable-related work. It…
IAF World Space award (Image credit: Isro X handle) In a significant achievement for India, Dr S Somanath, secretary of the department of space and chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), received the IAF World Space award for 2024, in Milan, on Monday. The recognition was conferred for the Indian space agency’s success with…
Aurora in Ladakh (Picture credit: Agencies) NEW DELHI: Ladakh‘s recent sightings of aurora, marked by reddish or greenish light in the night sky and usually observed in the far northern regions, is a validation of our efforts in space weather monitoring, a team of astrophysicists that predicted the activity about 48-72 hours prior said. The…
An illustration of the Moon mission shared by Japanese space agency Jaxa BENGALURU: India, whose lunar ambitions have been more clearly articulated now than a decade ago, is firing on all engines with the National Space Commission, the apex body that decides on space missions, clearing the fifth lunar mission — the Lunar Polar Exploration…
NEW DELHI: In a move that may improve the efficiency of dairy farming and tackle the problem of stray cattle in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will, during his Maharashtra visit on Saturday, launch a Unified Genomic Chip for cattle and an indigenous sex-sorted semen production technology to help farmers multiply high-quality bulls and…
Gaganyaan group Captain Angad Pratap BENGALURU: In an online talk Friday, the first such for any of the four astronaut-designates of the Gaganyaan programme since their selection, Group Captain Angad Pratap said that as India’s human spaceflight programme evolves, the astronaut pool would become more diverse and that aspirants should internalise that there are no…
NEW DELHI: This has been the wettest monsoon in north India in 11 years. The region, often plagued by large monsoon deficits while staring at a worsening groundwater situation, recorded 628mm from June 1 to Sept 29, its highest rainfall since 2013.That this was the best monsoon in the region in over a decade with…
NEW DELHI: To take the next giant leap in the Moon mission after the successful landing in the uncharted lunar south pole, the PM Modi-led Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the fourth mission to the Moon ‘Chandrayaan-4’ for bringing lunar samples back to the Earth, and also gave a green light for building the first…
