A cow centre in DU college
Hansraj College of the Delhi University has become the first educational study place in the national capital to do a research on cow. It has started a cow protection and research centre, with one cow for the time being. It has been named “Swami Dayanand Saraswati Gau-Samwardhan Ewam Anusandhan Kendra”. The CPM’s Students’ Federation of India (SFI) wing in the college has described it as a “saffron agenda” and has alleged that the cow centre has been set up on land earmarked for a girl’s hostel; the college, at present, has only a boy’s hostel. Denying this, the college Principal Dr Rama says that the cow centre’s area is too small “for our plan for a hostel for 100 students.” She said that the cow centre site is not reserved for the hostel. “We are reworking the college’s masterplan, which will have to be approved by the municipal corporation.”
Emotional Farewell to Elite Horse
This year’s 73rd Republic Day Parade’s most heart-touching moment was when a magnificent horse Virat retired. Virat was the mount of the President’s Bodyguard Commandant Colonel Anup Tiwary. It took part 13 times in the Republic Day Parades. President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh emotionally patted and bid farewell to Virat after the parade. The horse was seen to be “appreciating” their love and affection, while gently shaking its head. Virat was awarded the Chief of the Army Staff Commendation on the eve of Army Day on 15 January. Virat is the first horse to receive the commendation for exceptional service and abilities.
Old & New Flying Machines At Flypast
This year, the Republic Day flypast featured 75 aircraft from the three armed forces, the largest ever, for the first time. The number of planes symbolized Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav which is an initiative of the Narendra Modi government to celebrate and commemorate 75 years of progressive India and the glorious history of its people, culture and achievements. Another first of the flypast was Doordarshan showing many aircraft flying over the Rashtrapati Bhavan and approaching Rajpath, with special cameras installed. Among these aircraft was one yesteryear’s flying machine, Dakota, of which the Indian Air Force has fond memories. The Dakota aircraft used to be part of some of the formations of the flypast in the past. The IAF had used Dakotas to transport troops of 1st Sikh Regiment to Srinagar in October 1947 during the invasion from across the border in Kashmir. In 1988, the Dakotas were phased out.
In 2011, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, now a Union Minister, had bought the Dakota (which flew in this year’s flypast) from scrap in Britain as his father, an IAF officer, used to fly one Dakota. Chandrasekhar got the old aircraft restored to flying condition and gifted it to the IAF in 2018. The IAF inducted it into its vintage fleet, as Dakota VP-905, also known as Parashurama.
Rawat wants CM candidate declared
Rahul Gandhi’s declaration that the Congress will announce its Chief Minister candidate for Punjab has raised the hopes of Uttarakhand’s former CM Harish Rawat. One is not sure whether the party leadership would do the same in the hilly state and other states going to assembly polls next month.
Rawat has been advocating that the party should project its CM candidates in all election-bound states, including Uttarakhand. This smacks of shrewd Rawat’s “vested interest”—he has been putting pressure on the party leadership to project him as the CM face. Meanwhile, an old video of an alleged sting operation (of his previous Chief Ministership time) has hit social media, showing him in conversation with an unknown person about crores of rupees’ funding in lieu of ministerial berths and corporation chairmanship to some partymen.
Israel and India have launched a commemorative logo, designed by an Indian, to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries on 29 January 1992. The logo features the Star of David and the Ashoka Chakra – the two symbols that adorn the national flags of both countries—and forms the numeral 30 depicting the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations. Besides friendship, this logo also symbolises the growing strategic partnership between the two sides. The logo was unveiled virtually at an online event in the presence of Israeli Ambassador to India, Naor Gilon and the Indian Ambassador to Israel, Sanjeev Singla. Gilon said, “Our close existing cooperation in different fields will only continue to grow and flourish in the coming years.” Singla said, “India and Israel together can shape a better future for each other and the world.”
Both countries launched a logo design contest last year. Entries were invited from Holon Institute of Technology, Israel, and National Institute of Design, India. The winning design created by an Indian student, Nikhil Kumar Rai, was chosen through a joint decision of the Embassies and Consulates from both countries.