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While dinosaur nests and eggs having been found in the past, too, this recent find raised the possibility of the Narmada Valley having been a fertile hatchery location for dinosaurs millions of years.
A rare discovery of 92 closely located dinosaur nests and 256 fossilised eggs of herbivorous Titanosaurs (one of the largest known dinosaurs) has been made by a team of palaeontologists in Dhar district, which is part of the Narmada Valley in Madhya Pradesh.
While dinosaur nests and eggs having been found in the past, too, by other palaeontologists in the Jabalpur region of MP and Balasinor in Gujarat, this recent find raised the possibility of the Narmada Valley having been a fertile hatchery location for dinosaurs millions of years ago.
The field research was carried out by a team of palaeontologists from Delhi University, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohanpur-Kolkata and Bhopal in many villages of Bagh and Kukshi areas of Dhar district between 2017 and 2020.
A paper on their research by Harsha Dhiman, Vishal Verma, G V R Prasad and others was recently published in the PLOS ONE research journal. “A major inference from the three years of research is that the nests and eggs found in the villages of Dhar district date back 66 million years ago.
It’s quite possible that the Titanosaurs either just came to lay the eggs in this area of Narmada Valley or the eggs were also hatched there. The eggs found by us show evidence of hatching as well as not having been hatched,” Dhiman, the lead researcher told this newspaper on Saturday. “Since only nests and eggs and not bones have been found, we need to perform micro CT scan for further research,” Dhiman added.
Egg Diameter around 15-17 cm The nests found in the Narmada valley were close to each other, which is generally not the case. These nests had eggs which ranged between 15 cm and 17 cm in diameter. “Each nest had between one and 20 eggs,” Dhiman said
India now has 52 sites on UNESCO’s tentative list, an inventory of properties which each state party intends to consider for nomination.
Gujarat’s Vadnagar town, the iconic Sun Temple at Modhera, and the rock cut sculptures of Unakoti in Tripura have been added to the tentative list of UNCESO World Heritage Sites.
The UNESCO tentative list is an “inventory of those properties which each State Party intends to consider for nomination”.
“With this, India now has 52 sites on UNESCO Tentative List. The list indicates rich cultural and natural wealth of India and shows huge diversity of our heritage. With PM Narendra Modi’s dynamic vision and leadership, India is committed to add more sites on the World Heritage List,” Union Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy tweeted.
“I congratulate ASI [Archaeological Survey of India] for their role in identifying more monuments and places for the world heritage nomination,” he said.
The ASI shared his tweet and said that the step will provide a big boost to India’s cultural heritage.
The Sun Temple, Modhera dedicated to Surya Dev, is the earliest of such temples which set trends in architectural and decorative details, representing the Solanki style at its best.
Vadnagar is a municipality under Mehsana district of Gujarat. A multi-layered historic town, the history of Vadnagar stretches back to nearly 8th century BCE. The town still retains a large number of historic buildings that are primarily religious and residential in nature.
Unakoti, located in the northeastern region of Tripura, is known as an ancient holy place associated with Shaiva worship. The site is a massive gallery set in a forested area displaying a number of towering low relief images in a unique style, making it a masterpiece of human creative genius.
‘Today, we are restoring and renovating the temples in Angkor Wat. These are contributions which we are making outside because the civilisation of India has gone beyond India’.
The Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia is being restored by India because our civilisation is not limited to India, but is spread across countries, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Sunday said.
Addressing the Kashi Tamil Sangamam on the subject ‘contribution of temples in society and nation building’ being held here, Mr. Jaishankar said, “There are temples not only in India, not only in the Indian subcontinent, but in many regions beyond.”
“I had gone with the Vice President to see the biggest temple in the world—the Angkor Wat temple complex. Today, we are restoring and renovating the temples in Angkor Wat. These are contributions which we are making outside because the civilisation of India has gone beyond India,” he said.
“So, today when we are restoring, rebuilding, and re-energising Indian civilisation, our task is not only in India. Our task is all over the world. But, it is not only where our civilisation went, it is also where our travellers went, our traders went, our people of faith went,” he said.
Recalling his days as India’s ambassador to China, the minister said, “Some of you know that for many years, I have been an ambassador to China. I have seen the remnants of Hindu temples even in China on the east coast.” He said that there is a very special connection between Ayodhya and Korea, whose people want to be associated with the developments in Ayodhya, he said.
He also mentioned that Shrinath jee temple in Bahrain, and said, “All these were established by our people, when they went out. It is a matter of pride for us that we are building a temple in UAE, that we got approval to built a temple in Bahrain. We have done a lot of work in Vietnam.”
“So, how do we today take our culture out, take our values, our philosophy, our way of life and share it with the rest of the world through activities outside. We are very committed in the foreign ministry to doing that. We also support what people of India are doing outside … There are more than 1,000 temples in the US,” he said.
He said that there are 3.5 crore Indians and people of Indian origin abroad, who have taken Indian culture with them abroad. “So, it is also our efforts today to support them, and we do it in different ways.” Mr. Jaishankar also informed the audience that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged ₹200 crore to build a Ramayan Circuit into Nepal, “so that all of us will have an opportunity to visit our heritage in close quarters.”
“Even in Sri Lanka, we restored the Thiruketheeswaram Temple in Mannar. This temple was closed for 12 years. So the fact that we took interest, made efforts, has made it possible for the revival of that temple,” he said.
Thiruketheeswaram Temple, one of the five sacred Ishwarams dedicated to Lord Shiva, is venerated by Shaivites throughout the subcontinent and the temple was testimony to the most difficult period in the history of Sri Lanka as it was closed for 12 years during the armed conflict and reopened in 2002.
The minister also said that in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake, many temples were damaged because they were old. “We have committed $50 million for restoration of cultural heritage in Nepal.”
Air India has received its first Boeing 777-200 LR Vihaan, which means dawn of a new era, is the name given to the aircraft with registration VT-AEF, as per the induction plan.
Vihaan.AI is Air India’s transformational roadmap over five years with clear milestones.
It will be focussing on dramatically growing both its network and fleet, developing a completely revamped customer proposition, improving reliability and on-time performance.
The Boeing aircraft leased from Delta airlines has premium economy class along with standard classes. Sources said that the modified aircraft reached Delhi on Sunday evening.
Sources said that five Boeing 777-200LRs are likely to join the fleet between December and March. These aircraft will be deployed on international routes from Indian cities.
Last week, Air India announced the strengthening and expansion of its global footprint with the launch of new flights connecting Mumbai with New York, Paris and Frankfurt, and the resumption of non-stop flights connecting Delhi with Copenhagen, Milan and Vienna.
This expansion came as the airline continues to make progress in augmenting its fleet with newly-leased aircraft, and the return of existing aircraft to active service.
Air India in September unveiled its comprehensive transformation plan, to establish itself as a world-class global airline with an Indian heart — the absolute best in class in customer service, in technology, in product, in reliability and in hospitality. The plan is titled Vihaan.AI with identified objectives for Air India over the next 5 years.
After 69 years as a government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were re-acquired by the Tata group in January 2022.
Post the acquisition, time-bound transformation milestones have been laid out and a series of steps have been initiated towards achieving the same in order to ensure Air India once again emerges as a world class airline.
Conflictorium tries to imagine a peaceful society through an interplay between viewpoints on prevailing conflicts.
As visitors enter the room, they are greeted by an innocuous floor tile that asks: “Are you religious?” Two arrows branch off — one for ‘Yes’ and the other for ‘No’. Thus begins a flowchart that leads to one soul-searching question after another. The questions become increasingly intense, forcing visitors to ponder deeply before answering.
“Does humanity pose a threat to religion?”
“For the sake of your religion, can you kill an animal or a human?”
This entire room is an installation in Raipur’s Conflictorium, “a participatory museum that brings together different people to celebrate plurality and encourage transformative dialogue via art and culture practices”. The installation is part of a short-term exhibit that started on November 6 and will continue for the next couple of months.
The exhibit is an enquiry into the freedom of religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Indian Constitution and includes a set of paintings and a video as the other installations. While developments like the hijab controversy define the exhibit’s contemporary relevance, it resonates in the very concept of the museum, Ayush Chandrawanshi, project anchor and curator of the museum, said.
“While the idea of conflict conventionally refers to overt violence, Conflictorium believes in deconstructing those acts to the smaller and seemingly simpler cracks in people’s perceptions of belonging, empathy and community. It acknowledges and explores the phenomenon of conflict transformation as a key move in imagining a peaceful society,” said Mr. Chandrawanshi, an alumnus of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.
A collaborative project of the non-profit Janvikas, Centre for Social Justice, and Navsarjan, the Conflictorium is the second of its kind museum anywhere in the country. There has been one in Ahmedabad for a decade, while the one in Raipur was inaugurated in April this year. The broad theme remains similar but the curators have tried to localise the Raipur Conflictorium, through exhibits depicting the various conflicts in the State with experiential exhibits that are permanent, semi-permanent, or short-term, such as ‘Markers and Morality’.
Extraction of minerals, for example, often leads to conflict in forest-rich areas of Chhattisgarh, where tribals oppose the deforestation and displacement that comes with it. One of the exhibits, for example, requires visitors to wear a miner’s helmet and walk on a bed of coals through a dark, unventilated passage that creates the experience of a coal mine.
Conflict does assume a more violent form in these mineral rich areas, with locals often finding themselves caught between Left Wing Extremists in areas such as Bastar, and the security forces camping in jungles to fight them.
The death, in a police firing, of four tribals protesting against a security camp in Silger last May, triggered an even bigger protest. To this day, it lingers on, notwithstanding the State’s claims that the deceased were Maoists. More recently, a court in Chhattisgarh acquitted 121 tribals in a case of Maoist ambush after they had spent five years in jail. On the other hand are killings by ultras, with reports of villagers being killed for being suspected police informers often making it to local dailies in the conflict zone of Bastar.
Witness Box, another permanent exhibit, captures some of these dimensions. Hanging headsets make the visitor feel like a witness in the middle of such discussions — such as a TV cameraman injured in a Maoist ambush making his last phone call, and an interview with someone who was falsely incarcerated for four years after being accused of being a police informer.
The “Gallery of Dispute” explores themes such as man-animal conflict, or communal tensions, boundaries of caste and religion, via an interactive experience where the participant feels she is a part of the overall experience, diving into the backdrop of these conflicts.
“This is one of the reasons why Raipur was chosen for setting up another Conflictorium because the conflicts are not restricted to the ones that have a military nature. So when the founders were looking for a second or third tier city, this is what drove them to zero in on Raipur. Also, it was felt that it was the perfect place to ignite a culture of social thought process, compared to the metros, or even other contenders like Imphal. The recent anti-mining protests in Hasdeo also gave it a contemporary context,” Mr. Chandravanshi said.
While pursuing his Masters in Photography Design from NID, the Raipur resident came in touch with the project’s founder-director Avni Sethi. The groundwork for the Raipur museum began in 2020, only to be slowed down by the two waves of the pandemic. Mr. Chandravanshi came on board in 2021, and worked on location hunting and on curating the exhibits, which include works by renowned poets, photographers and artists. He now manages the Conflictorium, spread across three floors, with a team of four.
The jury hailed it as a project that ‘sets a standard’ for the conservation of world heritage monuments.
The restoration of the 100-year-old Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Mumbai has won the Award of Excellence in this year’s UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, which was announced on Saturday.
The museum is a part of the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai’s world heritage property. It was established as the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India in 1922.
UNESCO Bangkok, in a statement, said the jury hailed it as a project that “sets a standard” for the conservation of world heritage monuments. “The jury applauded the museum project for restoring ‘a major civic institution in the historic city of Mumbai’,” it said.
“Impressive in its scale, the project addressed extensive deterioration through well-informed architectural and engineering solutions, overcoming major challenges during the pandemic,” the statement added.
Thirteen projects from six countries – Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal and Thailand – have been acknowledged for awards by the jury this year.
Jury deliberations were carried out in November when members reviewed 50 entries from 11 countries from the Asia-Pacific region.
Other awards
The Domakonda Fort of Telangana and Byculla Station of Mumbai are among the winners in the ‘Award of Merit’ category, while the stepwells of Golconda in Hyderabad has won an award in the ‘Award of Distinction’ category.
Topdara Stupa, Charikar, Afghanistan, and Nantian Buddhist Temple, Fujian, China, have also received the ‘Award of Merit’, the statement said.
“The awards give people a sense of pride and sense of ownership of their own heritage,” Feng Jing, the Chief of the Culture Unit at UNESCO Bangkok, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Since 2000, the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation programme has been recognising the efforts of private individuals and organisations in restoring, conserving and transforming structures and buildings of heritage value in the region.
The launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre makes Agnikul the first private player to operate such a facility; it was executed in support with ISRO; the company has planned a tech demonstrator mission.
Chennai headquartered space-tech start-up Agnikul, has set up India’s first-ever launchpad that will be operated by a private player, at Sriharikota. The facility was inaugurated by S. Somanath, chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Secretary, Department of Space, recently.
“The first exclusive launch pad for a private launch vehicle has come up at the Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC). Now India can travel to space from one more space platform. Thanks to Agnikul,” Mr. Somanath said.
The facility, which was designed by Agnikul and executed in support with ISRO and IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center) has two sections to it: the Agnikul launchpad (ALP) and the Agnikul mission control center (AMCC).
All critical systems connecting these two sections, which are 4 km away from each other, are redundant to ensure 100% operationality during countdown.
The launchpad is specifically built keeping in mind the necessity to support liquid stage controlled launches, while also addressing the need for ISRO’s range operations team to monitor key flight safety parameters during launches. Additionally, it has the ability to, as necessary, share data and other critical information with ISRO’s Mission Control Center.
Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder & CEO, Agnikul said, “The ability to launch from our own launchpad while still working with ISRO’s launch operations teams is a privilege that we have been granted by ISRO & IN-SPACe.” Moin SPM, co-founder, Agnikul said, “The new reforms that have been brought in by the Department of Space truly accommodate everyone’s dream of going to space.”
First launch to be technology demonstrator
Agnikul’s first launch, which will be a controlled and guided mission, a vertical launch, using its patented engine will happen from this launchpad. The mission will be a technology demonstrator that will mirror Agnikul’s orbital launch but at a reduced scale.
Agnibaan is Agnikul’s highly customizable, two-stage launch vehicle, capable of taking up to 100 kg payload to orbits around 700 km high (low Earth orbits) and enables plug-and-play configuration.
Agnilet is the world’s first single-piece 3-D printed engine fully designed and manufactured in India and was successfully test-fired in early 2021, making Agnikul the first company in the country to test its engines at ISRO. Agnibaan and Agnilet will be used in the Agnikul’s first launch.
Founded in 2017 by Srinath Ravichandran, Moin SPM and Professor S.R. Chakravarthy from IIT Madras, Agnikul is an IIT Madras incubated startup. It became the first Indian company to sign an agreement with ISRO in December 2020.
The agreement signed under the IN-SPACe initiative sanctioned Agnikul access to the Indian space agency’s expertise and facilities to build Agnibaan and its launchpads.
N-SPACe was conceived in June 2020 following the Central government’s decision to open up the space sector and enable the participation of Indian private sector in the gamut of space activities. It acts as a single-window, independent, nodal agency which functions as an autonomous agency in Department of Space.
The 17th century stepwells inside the Qutb Shahi tombs complex were in a state of ruin and were disused until the Aga Khan Trust for Culture signed an agreement with the State Government that the wells were restored.
Telangana scored a double win at the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation with a Distinction of Merit for the restoration of the stepwells inside the Qutb Shahi Tombs Complex in Hyderabad and an Award of Merit for the conservation work on the Domakonda Fort in Kamareddy district. The awards were announced today at Bangkok.
The 17 th century stepwells inside the Qutb Shahi tombs complex were in a state of ruin and were disused. It was only after the Aga Khan Trust for Culture signed an agreement with the State Government that the wells were restored, beginning with the Badi Baoli. The latest restoration was that of the eastern baoli whose restoration function was attended by Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development K.T. Rama Rao.
“It is an incredible feeling that AKTC has won an award for the third year in running. There is a nature and culture linkage that heritage sites demonstrate. They can address climate change with net-zero water requirement. The restoration of wells show how conservation of heritage sites can have multiple objectives,” said Ratish Nanda, CEO of Aga Khan Trust for Culture which is restoring the Qutb Shahi Tombs Complex with a private-public partnership model which includes the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Tata Trusts, US Ambassadors Fund and other partners.
In contrast, the Domakonda Fort is a private property and was built in the 18 th century with an amalgam of styles including stucco work, arched pillars, flat ceiling, and a courtyard with a water garden pond. The fort was part of the celebration of the marriage function of Upasana Kamineni (a scion of the family that built the fort) and actor Ram Charan in 2012.
“I am feeling very proud as it was a challenging project and its has been a rewarding experience. I worked with local craftsmen, sourced local materials, so that it is a sustainable project with low-carbon footprint. We trained the craftsmen and had workshops from the time I began working on the project in 2011,” said conservation architect Anuradha Naik about the award for Domakonda Fort.
The citation for Domakonda fort recognises: “The project applied original construction techniques and authentic materials and trained local artisans in traditional building skills. The involvement of villagers during the restoration process and in the operations of the fort ensures direct benefit for the community.”
The ongoing Indian International Trade Fair (IITF) at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan, witnessed the Ministry of Railway setting up a sprawling pavilion showcasing all of the railway’s technical advancements.
India’s first underwater (subaqueous tunnel) rail system and the world’s highest railway arch bridge, built across the Chenab Bridge in J&K has sparked curiosity among the public.
The ongoing Indian International Trade Fair (IITF) at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan, witnessed the Ministry of Railway setting up a sprawling pavilion showcasing all of the railway’s technical advancements on the ironic rail bridge over Chenab and water tunnels. The ministry has highlighted many first-of-its-kind and marvellous facets of Indian Railways, which are attracting crowds of curious visitors.
Exhibiting prototypes of various mega projects, the railway has also exhibited the prototype of the re-developed ‘Ayodhya city railway station, of which the designs are inspired by the Ram Janambhoomi temple’s design.
Sharing details with the media on Tuesday, the Ministry of Railway claimed that various themes have been exhibited with their technological and structural advances through photos, translates and models.
“The model showing the world’s highest rail bridge on Chenab and India’s first underwater rail system, which is being built as part of the East-West Metro corridor of the metro railway in Kolkata, has been drawing huge crowds of curious visitors”, said a senior railway official.
The sports gallery exhibits awards won by the railway teams and an earmarked space showing the historic march of Indian Railways from the old days to the days of manufacturing and running high-speed Vande Bharat trains to the working of bullet trains, has also gathered a lot of onlookers.
“Another most interesting part of the railway’s pavilion is that it has made side walls based on the theme of ‘Azadi Ki Rail Gadi aur Station’ which throws light on the strong connection between freedom struggle and association of railways”, said a railway official. They also added adding that the redeveloped Ayodhya railway station with the design inspired by Lord Rama Janambhoomi temple has proved to be one of the huge crowd-pulling parts at the pavilion.
Besides this, the Ministry of Railways has also displayed the prototypes of its mega Sabarmati multimodal passenger hub and the casting yard of India’s first Bullet train project as part of the Mumbai-Ahmadabad high-speed rail corridor.
Not only this but the country’s first-of-its-kind solar plant at Bina in MP that generates solar power directly to 25 kV overhead electrical equipment to haul trains was displayed apart from the country’s first indigenous semi-high speed Vande Bharat train.
To make the visit of people at the railway pavilion memorable, the Ministry has created a special selfie booth titled ‘I am at Railway station’ for people to click pictures.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated Arunachal Pradesh’s first greenfield airport the Donyi Polo airport, in Itanagar and said that the government is dedicated to serving the North-East sector.
“The Government is dedicated to serving the North-east sector, a separate ministry administers the jurisdictional requirements of NER,” the PM said
“From culture to agriculture, from commerce to connectivity, the development of North-East has become our top priority,” the prime minister said
Speaking at the inauguration event Prime Minister Modi said, “You know that we have brought a work culture where we inaugurate the projects of which we have laid the foundation stone. The era of ‘atkana, latkana, bhatkana’ is gone.”
In his address, he said that a gathering of such a huge crowd is a result of the efficient implementation of government policies in the state.
“The gathering of such a huge crowd with such a festive feel so early in the morning, is the result of implementing all the Government policies efficiently and on time,” said PM Modi.
Lauding the government for the timely completion of the project the prime minister pointed out that hindrance, pendency and diversion were not aspects of his government.
“We have ensured on-time completion of all the undertaken development projects. Hindrance, pendency and diversion are not aspects of the government,” PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister said that when he laid the foundation stone of the airport in 2019 political commentators were dismissive of the airport is completed and stated that it was just a poll gimmick.
“When I laid its foundation stone in 2019, polls were about to be held. Political commentators made a noise that the airport isn’t going to be built and that Modi is erecting a stone due to poll. Today’s inauguration is a slap on their faces,” said PM Modi.
With the inauguration of the first greenfield airport, PM Modi said that North-East is witnessing a dawn of new hopes and opportunities.
“Today Northeast is witnessing a dawn of new hopes and opportunities. Today’s event is a great example of New India’s approach towards development,” he said.
PM Modi added that the Donyi Polo Airport is the fourth operational airport of Arunachal Pradesh.
“Donyi Polo Airport is the 4th operational airport of Arunachal Pradesh. Within 8 years, the government has constructed seven new airports which have improved connectivity,” he said.
Reiterating the motive of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas PM Modi said that the government is dedicated to serving all the sections of society with the motive of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas.
“Today even the remotest corners of the North-Eastern region are electrified. And through Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY the treatment cost of up to Rs 5 lakh is made available to the NE Region,” he said.
Underlining the benefits the farmers received from PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana he said that today 85 per cent of the rural areas are covered under PM Gram Sadak Yojana. The farmers of the northeast are benefiting from PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.
“Bamboo has been an important part of the North-East’s livelihood, which was restricted during the colonial regime. We changed these restrictive laws to empower our bamboo farmers to cultivate, add value and sell their produce,” PM added.
PM Modi also heaped praises on the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government which he said had made efforts to form a separate ministry for the development of the north east region.
“After Independence, the northeast became witness to a different era. For decades, the region remained a victim of negligence…When Atal Ji’s government came, for the first time efforts were made to change this. It was the 1st govt that made a separate ministry for northeast development,” he said.
Prime Minister Modi along with Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu released the brochure of UDAN ( (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik).
Addressing the inaugural function, Rijiju said that dream of having a different airport has been fulfilled by PM Modi.
“It was our dream to have an airport in our state’s capital, today that dream has come true with the efforts of PM Modi. He gave special directions for building this airport,” said Rijiju.