Category: Amazing Feats

** Shivraj Singh Chouhan breaks Raman Singh’s record to become longest-serving BJP CM

This year’s Holi is special for Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as he has achieved the distinction of being the longest-serving BJP chief minister.

On Thursday, he broke a record which had been held by former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh.

While Raman Singh, who was chief minister for three consecutive terms, remained in the post for fifteen years and ten days, 63-year-old Chouhan has now surpassed him.

The Madhya Pradesh CM’s tenure, however, has not been unbroken: he was out of power for fifteen months as Congress formed government under Kamal Nath’s leadership after the 2018 Assembly polls.

As far as Madhya Pradesh is concerned, Chouhan has another record under his belt.

On November 19, 2015, when he completed ten years in office, he became the first non-Congress chief minister of the state to do so.

Then he went on to become the longest-serving chief minister of MP by breaking the record of Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh who had ruled from 1993 to 2003.

** Indian-American Dr Ashish Jha to take over as US President’s COVID-19 Response Coordinator

Biden’s statement announcing Jha’s appointment praised him as one of the leading public health experts in America and “a well-known figure to many Americans from his wise and calming public presence.

” Jha is the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.”..And as we enter a new moment in the pandemic – executing on my National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan and managing the ongoing risks from COVID – Dr Jha is the perfect person for the job,” Biden said.

** ‘Green Triangle’ named after Mahatma Gandhi inaugurated in Madagascar’s capital as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav

Indian Ambassador Abhay Kumar said Gandhi was the “greatest Pravasi” who returned to India from South Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians.

As part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to commemorate India’s 75th year of independence, a “Green Triangle” named after Mahatma Gandhi was jointly inaugurated in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo.

Mayor of Antananarivo Naina Andriantsitohaina and India’s Ambassador to Madagascar Abhay Kumar inaugurated the green space on Wednesday at a special ceremony in Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo.

** DRDO constructs multi-storey building in 45 days; to house R&D facilities for AMCA project

India’s premier defence research institute DRDO has built a multi-storey facility for flight control system at Aeronautical Development Establishment in Bengaluru in record 45 days using in-house technology, officials said on March 17.

The seven-storey building, with a plinth area of 1.3 lakh square feet, will house research and development facilities for the development of a fifth-generation medium weight deep penetration fighter jet for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

“The DRDO has completed the construction of a multi-storey infrastructure for flight control system at ADE Bengaluru with hybrid technology consisting of conventional, pre-engineered and precast methodology in record 45 days,” said one of the officials.

** Cochin Shipyard to build Beagle class dredger for DCI

It consolidates the nation’s ‘Make in India’ mission, says Union Minister

The Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) signed a ship building agreement with the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) in New Delhi on Thursday.

As per the agreement, the Cochin Shipyard would build the first-of-its-kind Beagle-12 trailing suction hopper dredger of 12,000 cubic-metre capacity for the DCI.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush; Shripad Naik, Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways; Marten Vande Berg, Ambassador of Netherlands; and Sanjeev Ranjan, Secretary, Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

** India’s solar capacity: Milestones and challenges

How far has India progressed on its goal to achieve 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030? What are some of the obstacles that the domestic solar industry faces?

The story so far: India added a record 10 Gigawatt (GW) of solar energy to its cumulative installed capacity in 2021. This has been the highest 12-month capacity addition, recording nearly a 200% year-on-year growth.

India has now surpassed 50 GW of cumulative installed solar capacity, as on 28 February 2022. This is a milestone in India’s journey towards generating 500 GW from renewable energy by 2030, of which 300 GW is expected to come from solar power.

India’s capacity additions rank the country fifth in solar power deployment, contributing nearly 6.5% to the global cumulative capacity of 709.68 GW.

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** Bafta 2022 honours Lata Mangeshkar and Dilip Kumar

Lata Mangeshkar and Dilip Kumar were remembered as “singer” and “actor”, respectively, in the in-memoriam section of the Bafta film awards held on Sunday night at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

When Lata died on February 7, The Guardian called her “the nightingale of Bollywood”.

After Dilip Kumar passed away, aged 98, on July 7, 2021, The Times, London, described him as “Bollywood’s answer to Marlon Brando” and “a towering figure in Hindi cinema and a meticulously dedicated method actor”.

** IIT Kanpur-incubated start-up’s composting machine converts waste to manure in 10 days

Taking a step towards sustainable and efficient waste management, Agnys Waste Management Private Limited, a start-up incubated at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, has developed an automatic composting machine that can convert waste to manure in just 10-20 days.

The start-up has named the machine BHOOMI which is an acronym for Bio-composting of horticulture & organic waste into manure indigenously.

** More than 22,500 Indians brought from Russia-hit Ukraine, says Jaishankar

Russia-Ukraine war: External affairs minister S Jaishankar told Rajya Sabha that the evacuation efforts were undertaken at a time when artillery shelling and airstrikes on Ukrainian cities were underway. 

** Rohit Sharma-led India scripts spectacular Asian record with SL whitewash

With the unbeaten run at home, Rohit-led Team India scripted a spectacular Asian record, but fell short of the world.

Rohit Sharma couldn’t have asked for a better start to his captaincy career as he maintained his unbeaten record on home soil, across formats, with a sensational 2-0 series whitewash against Sri Lanka following a 238-run win in the Bengaluru pink-ball Test.

And with the unbeaten run, Rohit-led Team India scripted a spectacular Asian record, but fell short of the world record owing to the team’s result in the Test series against New Zealand. 

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