For the first time, Bandhavgarh Reserve forest located in Madhya Pradesh (MP), has a colony of elephants which migrated from Chhattisgarh in November 2018 and has stayed on.
Bandhavgarh Reserve forest resides on the extreme northeastern border of Madhya Pradesh and the northern edges of the Satpura mountain ranges.
It is a large reserve forest that has plenty of food and water, which is the possible reason for this migration and stay.
In 1968, Bandhavgarh was notified as a national park and in 1993 was declared a tiger reserve- under the Project Tiger Network at the neighbouring Panpatha Sanctuary.
Its mention can be found in the ancient books of the ‘Narad Pancharatra’ and the ‘Shiv Purana’ that this place is being associated with Ramayana.
The Bandhavgarh Fort is a great masterpiece of “Treta Yuga” (one of the ages of mankind in Hinduism).
It was ruled by major dynasties including Sengars, the Kalchuris, and the Baghels (believed to rule the regions for the longer period).
Till now there are no elephants in Madhya Pradesh and there is no known reason for this disappearance from India’s central region, including MP and until a few years ago Chhattisgarh.
Facts on Preamble
The Preamble is based on the Objective Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly on December 13, 1946.
The Resolution was adopted on January 22, 1947.
The original Preamble, adopted by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, declared India a “Sovereign Democratic Republic”.
By the 42nd Amendment of 1976, enacted during the Emergency, the words “Socialist” and “Secular” were inserted; the Preamble now reads “Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic”.
Facts on National Anthem
In December 27, 1911, the National Anthem was first sung at the Calcutta session of the Congress.
‘Jana Gana Mana’ is the first stanza of the Bengali hymn ‘Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata’, written by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
A slightly varied version of the song was adopted by Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army in 1941 as the national anthem, called ‘Shubh Sukh Chain’, which also became popular in India since.
‘Jana Gana Mana’ was adopted as the country’s National Anthem by the Constituent Assembly of India on January 24, 1950, the last day of its last session.
Dr Rajendra Prasad, the President of the Assembly, and later the President of India for two full terms, had on that day also declared ‘Vande Mataram’ as the National Song.
Reverence to the National Anthem is a Fundamental duty in India.
According to Article 51A (a) of the Constitution: “It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem”.
Tagore’s compositions also went on to become the national anthem of Bangladesh.
‘Amar Sonar Bangla’, the Bangladeshi anthem, was written to protest against the partition of Bengal by the British in 1905.
Sri Lanka’s “Sri Lanka Matha”, written by Ananda Samarakoon, was also influenced by Tagore, Some believe that Tagore wrote it in full.
eBkray Platform
Finance Ministry has launched 'eBkray' auction platform for assets attached by banks.
Indian Banks Auctions Mortgaged Properties Information (IBAPI) portal is an initiative of Indian Banks Association under the policy of the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance.
The platform aims to provide details of mortgaged properties to be auctioned online by Banks, starting with PSBs.
The eBkray platform provides
Navigational links to all PSB e-auction sites,
Property search feature,
Presents single-window access to information on properties up for e-auction,
Comparison of similar properties,
Contains videos and photographs of the uploaded properties.
Buyers can use IBAPI portal to search and get properties details and participate in the auction process. Presently 21 banks are onboard on this portal.
Drake Passage
The Passage is located between Cape Horn at the tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula.
The passage has an average depth of about 11,000 feet, with deeper regions going up to over 15,600 feet near the northern and southern boundaries.
The Drake Passage is considered one of the roughest waterways in the world because here, layers of cold seawater from the south and warm seawater from the north collide to form powerful eddies, which when combined with strong winds and storms can be treacherous for those attempting to navigate it.
It is also the narrowest stretch in the Southern Ocean and spans approximately 800 km between the southern tip of South America and the northern tip of the West Antarctic Peninsula.
NASA describes the waters of the passage as “notoriously turbulent, unpredictable, and frequented by icebergs and sea ice.”
Avangard Hypersonic Missile
Russia’s military deployed a new intercontinental weapon, the Avangard hypersonic missile system.
It can fly 27 times the speed of sound and will be the Russian military’s first hypersonic intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The Avangard missiles have a range of over 6,000 km, weigh approximately 2,000 kg and can withstand temperatures of over 2000 degree celsius.
Previously referred to as Project 4202, the Avangard hypersonic missile system is a reentry body carried atop an existing ballistic missile, which has the capability to maneuver.
It’s maneuvering capability makes it difficult to predict its trajectory and gives it the ability to protect itself from the air and ballistic missile defences by delivering nuclear warheads to targets, for instance, in Europe and the US.
