Tag Archives: Records of India

NATIONAL: DEFENCE SERVICES / HERITAGE Rajnath Singh Inaugurates Country’s First Air Force Heritage Centre in Chandigarh

The heritage centre highlights the IAF’s role in various wars. It houses five vintage aircraft and will provide visitors with cockpit exposure and an experience with flight simulators.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Monday inaugurated the nation’s first Indian Air Force Heritage Centre in Chandigarh’s Sector 18.

Spread across 17,000 sqft at the Government Press Building, the heritage centre highlights the IAF’s role in various wars. It houses five vintage aircraft and will provide visitors with cockpit exposure and an experience with flight simulators. It also houses the first IAF-made patent aircraft Air Force ‘Kanpur-1 Vintage Prototype Aircraft’, a single-engine indigenous flying machine designed and built by the late Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh in 1958 at Base Repair Depot Kanpur.

Singh is accompanied by Chandigarh Union Territory (UT) Administrator Banwarilal Purohit, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari, Member of Parliament (MP) Kirron Kher and other officers of the administration.

A souvenir shop equipped with the IAF’s memorial and scale models has been set up at the centre. A theme-based cafe will also be operational for the public.

The Defence Minister, who is on a one-day visit to Chandigarh, will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for a few other projects in the city as well.

Subhead: What is in store for visitors at the Air Force Heritage Centre

A beautiful one-foot wall that has pictures of 58 vintage and retired aircraft will serve as a visual treat to visitors.

Gradually, this centre will also be updated about various rescue operations being undertaken by the IAF all over the country and at the world level. The initiatives undertaken by the Air Force Family Welfare Association for the benefit of the families of air warriors at the station, regional and central levels will also be shown through projectors.

A memorandum of understanding on the heritage centre was signed between the Chandigarh administration and the Indian Air Force in the presence of Banwarilal Purohit in June 2022.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)

WORLD RECORD: Arts & Culture: 1,600 Bharathanatyam Dancers Create a New Record in Puducherry

About 1,600 Bharatanatyam students performed a mass exposition of the ‘Ananda Thandavam’ in a world record bid to recreate the divine dance of bliss associated with Lord Shiva on the Beach Promenade on Friday.

The event hosted by the Sangamam Global Academy was supported by the Department of Tourism and the regional unit of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

Adjudicators of the Unique World Records later declared a world record for the show as it passed the criteria of Bharatanatyam technicalities, especially, having a minimum participation of 1,000 dancers and extending for a duration of at least four minutes.

The event was officially recorded to have featured 1,626 dancers and lasted about eight minutes.

A spokesman for Unique World Records said 56 stewards were deployed as observers. Sababbi Mangal, Yuktha (Chandigarh), and Rahman Basha of Unique audited the show. Chinnamannur A. Chitra, assistant professor, Music Department, Annamalai University, and Athishta Balan, both Guinness record holders, were special witnesses. Chief Minister N. Rangasamy and other dignitaries witnessed the spectacle.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL : ARTS & CULTURE / DANCE: Visakhapatnam Girl Shreya makes it to ‘International one-on-one Breaking Competition’

B-Girl Shreya is all set to represent Visakhapatnam at the international breaking championship Redbull BC One – India finals on May 7.

When B-girl Shreya headspins, backflips and sways in swag, a circle of dancers cheer her along as they witness an incredible energy unfold in the room throbbing to the beats of hip-hop music. The 21-year-old from Visakhapatnam has been steadily making her way to the top in the breaking scene of India.

Shreya has now been selected among the top eight B-Girl finalists from India and will be representing Visakhapatnam at the international breaking championship Red Bull BC One – India finals on May 7. She is the only dancer from Andhra Pradesh to reach this stage for two years in a row. Earlier, Shreya had bagged the runner-up position in the West India qualifiers, which happened in Mumbai on March 26. The event was judged by B-Boy Lilou from France, B-Boy Victor from the USA and B-Boy Zoopreme from the Netherlands.

Trained under coach Sohail Gill of Destiny Breakers International School in Visakhapatnam, Shreya has been learning breaking since 2015 and has brought many laurels to the city. Currently ranked among the top eight B-Girls in India, she is all set for the nationals. “The dance floor is where I found a way to express myself and face my fears,” she says.

Earlier this year, in the second National Breaking Championship at Tirupati, Shreya was the only person from Andhra Pradesh to compete and made it to the quarterfinals in the B-Girl senior category. The event was judged by B-Boy Bojin from World Dance Sport Federation, B-Boy Bobby from Malaysia Dance Sport Federation and B-Boy G1 from Thailand. 

“The competition was intense and they were six rounds including a qualifier; I just moved ahead focussing on my strengths,” says Shreya, who was the only participant from Andhra Pradesh to be selected for the BRICS Games 2022 in China and was ranked 9th in the world championship. “Stamina and speed, with a little bit of style, are my strengths. I felt like I can play around when I want to and can also fluctuate my speed according to the beats. My strength is the structure of my rounds which are carefully planned with my coach while working our way around the trivium system (an Olympic judging system),” she adds.

According to coach Sohail, Shreya’s biggest strength from the day she started training has been her perseverance. “Being a chubby kid who joined the breaking class at the age of 13, she faced difficulties catching up to the simplest of moves. Today, she has the physique of an athlete and is among the top eight B-Girls in the country. Her ability to be consistent with her training over the last eight years and her never give up attitude have helped her come a long way,” says Sohail. 

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SPORTS / ATHLETICS: Murali Sreeshankar Wins Gold in Long-Jump at the ‘MVA High-Performance Athletics Meet’, Chula Vista, USA

Competing in only his second event of the season, the 24-year-old, who had won a silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, produced a creditable effort which was just 0.07m off his personal best of 8.36m made last year.

Indian long jumper Murali Sreeshankar claimed the gold medal with a leap of 8.29m at the MVA High Performance athletics meet 1 held in Chula Vista, USA.

Competing in only his second event of the season, the 24-year-old, who had won a silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, produced a creditable effort which was just 0.07m off his personal best of 8.36m made last year.

China’s Ma Weidong secured the silver medal with a 7.99m leap, while his compatriot Huafeng Huang claimed the bronze with an effort of 7.61m.

The qualifying standard of World Athletics Championships 2023, which is scheduled in Budapest this August, is 8.25m and Sreeshankar’s effort was over it but was not considered as tailwinds were over permissible limits.

The maximum permissible wind speed is +2 m/s, while Sreeshankar’s effort came with wind speed of 3.1m/s.


Sreeshankar had a 7.94m jump at the Indian Grand Prix in Bengaluru earlier this month.

Sreeshankar held the men’s long jump national record in India with his 8.36 jump but it was surpassed by Jeswin Aldrin with an effort of 8.42m at the second Indian Open Jumps Championships in March.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)

GRANT-IN-AID PROJECTS: India to Build Harbour for Maldivian Coast Guard, foundation stone laid

The development of the Coast Guard Harbour and repair facility at Sifavaru is one of the biggest grant-in-aid projects of India.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Maldivian counterpart Mariya Didi on May 3 laid the foundation stone for the Maldives National Defence Forces (MNDF) Coast Guard ‘Ekatha Harbour’. The development of the Coast Guard Harbour and repair facility at Sifavaru is one of the biggest grant-in-aid projects of India, a joint press communique issued at the end of Mr. Singh’s three-day tour said. This is the first visit of an Indian Defence Minister to the island nation in 11 years.

“Both Ministers reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability and security in the region and recognised the need to work together to address common security challenges. They underscored the importance of respecting international law and rules-based international order and expressed their commitment to upholding these principles,” the joint communique said. Both Parties reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening the partnership between their countries, and expressed common sentiments that they looked forward to continuing the dialogue and cooperation in the future, it stated.

Noting the progress made in ongoing defence cooperation between the two countries including joint exercises and exchanges of visits by military officials, the two Ministers also noted the “importance of sharing best practices and expertise in areas such as counter terrorism, disaster management, cyber security and maritime security.”

The Ministers agreed to explore additional avenues for cooperation, including in the areas of defence trade, capacity building and joint exercises, the communique said.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: ARTS & CULTURE / LANGUAGE: Braille Edition of Assamese Dictionary ‘Hemkosh’ enters Guinness World Records

The official letter was presented at a ceremony coinciding with the 127th death anniversary of Hemchandra Baruah, who compiled it in the 19th century.

The Braille edition of ‘Hemkosh’, the first etymological dictionary of the Assamese language, has entered the Guinness World Records, an official said on Monday. The official certificate recognising ‘Hemkosh’ as the world’s largest bilingual Braille dictionary was handed to its publisher, Jayanta Baruah by the official adjudicator for Guinness World Records, Rishi Nath here on Monday.

The official letter was presented at a ceremony coinciding with the 127th death anniversary of Hemchandra Baruah, who had compiled the ‘Hemkosh’ in the last part of the 19th century. The confirmation of the recognition was received by the publisher on April 24 through an email.

The seminal work was first published in 1919, four years after Baruah’s demise. Subsequent editions of the dictionary were published and the 15th edition is currently under production, its members said. The dictionary is considered to be the standard reference of Assamese orthography, which is the set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word boundaries, emphasis and punctuation.

The braille edition is the adaption of Hemkosh’s 14th edition of the regular dictionary and is an Assamese and English one. It has 90,640 words printed in 21 volumes and are divided into six parts, comprising a total 10,279 pages and weighing 80.800 kg, a release said. Jayanta Baruah, who is himself an heir of Hemchandra Baruah and is the owner of Hemkosh Prakashan, has donated copies of the dictionary to all educational institutions for the visually impaired students, besides to different libraries.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited0

NATIONAL: DEFENCE / INDIAN ARMY & I.T: Indian Army Creates New Cyber Operations Wing and ‘test bed’ Structures

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The decisions were taken by the top brass during the latest edition of Army Commanders Conference (ACC) which was organised for the first time in a hybrid model from 17-21 April 2023.

In a move to augment the operational capabilities along with the absorption of new technologies the Indian Army has decided to create a new wing to handle cyber operations and also plans to create structures to “test bed” the large number and variety of niche tech-enabled equipment being inducted into the Indian Army.

The decisions were taken by the top brass during the latest edition of Army Commanders Conference (ACC) which was organised for the first time in a hybrid model from 17-21 April 2023.

New Command Cyber Operations and Support Wings (CCOSW)

The Army in a statement on Thursday said, “With rapid migration towards net centricity, which entails an increased reliance on modern communication systems, the forum reviewed the requirement to safeguard the networks and decided to operationalise Command Cyber Operations and Support Wings (CCOSW) in the immediate future.”

The CCOSW being raised “will assist the formations to undertake the mandated cyber security functions to strengthen the cyber security posture of the Indian Army.”

To begin with, the new wing will have officers earmarked and will spend tenure, to begin with at the Command level, sources said. “Cyberspace has emerged as an important military domain both in grey zone warfare as well as conventional operations.”

The decision was taken as “the expansion of cyber warfare capabilities by our adversaries has made the cyber domain more competitive and contested than ever before.”

In another important decision, the Army Commanders during the ACC, in order to augment the capabilities of the forces by absorption of Niche Technologies and equipment, decided to nominate Lead Directorates and ‘Test Bed’ Formations to evolve optimal employment philosophies and scaling to facilitate better exploitation Pan Army.

Absorption of niche capabilities in Indian Army

Pointing to a large number and variety of niche tech-enabled equipment being inducted into the Indian Army., a need was felt that force structures are required to optimally exploit them. “Seamless exploitation of niche equipment also has an impact on the refinement of the existing TTPs and maintenance/sustenance philosophy that would have a direct bearing on the training and maintenance of the equipment,” sources said.

The structures will be created, “in order to augment the capabilities of the forces by absorption of Niche Technologies and equipment, it was decided to nominate Lead Directorates and ‘Test Bed’ Formations to evolve optimal employment philosophies and scaling to facilitate better exploitation of the Pan Army,” added the sources.

These equipments include a variety of Tactical/Mini/ Micro/Logistics Drones/ UAVs, Drone Swarms, Loiter Weapon Systems, Electronic Warfare, Ant-Drone equipment etc. These equipment being procured both through different routes by multiple agencies are intended to enhance the fighting potential of the field formations by infusion of niche capabilities in our force structures. The Army has announced the year 2023 as the “Year of Transformation.”

Army Commanders’ Conference (ACC) is an apex-level biannual event that is an institutional platform for conceptual level deliberations, culminating in making important policy decisions for the Indian Army. The apex leadership also brainstormed over wide-ranging Strategic, Training, Human Resource Development, and Administrative aspects and took key decisions in shaping the Army for the future.

More significant decisions regarding the process of induction of the Officers into the Force and the welfare of specially-abled children of those soldiers who die in harnesses were taken. It was decided to double the sustenance allowance to such children through the Army Group Insurance Fund (AGIF).

In regards to the Technical Entry Scheme (TES) for entry of officers into the Indian Army the training period will be brought down to four years instead of the present five years. It has been done under deliberations on training initiatives to optimise infrastructure, time and resources to maintain an effective and lethal fighting force.

The sources said that in the TES entry scheme, it was decided to transition from the existing 1+3+1 years Technical Entry Scheme (TES) model to the 3+1 TES model from Jan 2024 onwards.

“This change will also accrue benefits of the availability of more officers in the units and address officers’ shortages,” they said.

Simulator training is also planned to be given a significant push through the procurement of 435 simulators at an estimated cost of 791 crores this year.

In order to harness the indomitable spirit and never say die attitude of the soldiers who are Battle and Physical Casualties, Army Commanders decided “to identify and train selected motivated soldiers for Paralympic Events by training them at Army Sports and Mission Olympic Nodes in nine sporting events.”

source/contents: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: SPORTS / HOCKEY: INDIA RECORD: Stadium ‘Rani’s Girls Hockey Turf’ named after Hockey Star Rani Rampal, First Woman to get this Honour

The MCF Rae Bareli has renamed the hockey stadium as ‘Rani’s Girls Hockey Turf’.

Indian team’s star hockey player Rani Rampal has become the first woman in the sport to have a stadium named after her, in Rae Bareli.

The MCF Rae Bareli has renamed the hockey stadium as ‘Rani’s Girls Hockey Turf’.

Rani shared photos on her social media handles, where she is seen interacting with the players and inaugurating the stadium alongside other staff members.

“Words seem too less to express my happiness and gratitude as I share that the MCF Raebareli has renamed the hockey stadium to “Rani’s Girls Hockey Turf to honour my contribution to hockey,” Rani wrote on her Twitter handle.

Expressing her gratitude further, she said, “It is a proud and emotional moment for me as I become the first woman hockey player to have a stadium to my name. I dedicate this to the Indian women’s hockey team and I hope this inspires the next generation of women hockey players!” Rani made a comeback to the Indian team during the tour of South Africa earlier this year, when she was included in a 22-member squad.

Rani was returning to the squad after last playing against Belgium in the FIH Women’s Hockey Pro League 2021-22, where she won her 250th cap for India.

The 28-year-old had been dealing with a injury since the Tokyo Olympics and was subsequently left out of the World Cup and Commonwealth Games 2022 squads.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

WORLD RECORD: Odisha’s Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium gets into Guinness World Records Book as World’s Largest Fully-Seated Hockey Stadium

The Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium has been officially recognised as the largest fully-seated hockey stadium in the world.

Guinness World Records officials handed over a certificate to this effect to the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ahead of India’s Pro League game against newly-crowned World champion Germany in front of a cheering capacity crowd.

Built from scratch in just 15 months for the recently-held World Cup, the stadium can seat 20,011 with uninterrupted viewing experience and boasts of world-class facilities — for players and viewers.

“This recognition is a testament that our state Odisha has come a long way and has made a mark on the international sports map. It is a matter of great pride for all of us and I thank everyone who was part of this project, the people of Sundargarh and the hockey fans for their unconditional support to the sport. It inspired us to accomplish this Herculean task. I dedicate this recognition to the people of Odisha,” CM Patnaik said while receiving the award.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: INT’L BUSINESS : Tim Cook launches Apple’s First India Store in Mumbai, April 18,2023

Likely to meet PM Modi tomorrow; open second store in Delhi.

Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook on Tuesday launched the iconic consumer technology company’s first retail store in India, welcoming customers into the facility inside a mall in suburban Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai. Hundreds of customers had queued up since last night to be among the first ones to shop or get a feel of the store.

The added attraction of the presence of company’s CEO had added to the buzz and the fact that India will have an Apple store before Malaysia but after Singapore and Thailand.

Despite having 3% market share, the buzz around the Apple store indicated the mind space it has come to occupy. The day began with Tim Cook and his senior vice-president for retail Deirdre O’Brien standing behind the closed glass front doors of the store as co-workers in green shirts began a countdown.

Despite having carved out a special niche for its products, Apple wasn’t taking any chances with its competitors. The 20,000-sq ft space at Jio Mall in BKC has been taken on lease for 11 years at a cost of Rs 42 lakh per month provided there are none of the 22 competing brands in the vicinity. These include Amazon, Facebook, Google LG, Microsoft and Sony.

Cook is expected to open the second store in the national capital at Saket to a similar frenzy on Thursday and call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The first two customers, interviewed by the media, said they had been camping before the store since the previous night because of their love for Apple products. One had flown in from Rajasthan for the occasion and, undaunted after 15 hours spent in front of the Mumbai store, is planning to attend the opening of the Saket store as well. The first lot of customers took selfies with Cook and one of them got more time than the rest after he brought his Mac of 1984 vintage.

However, though there is local iPhone assembly, it still remains extremely expensive with hopes belied of a drop in prices. The base model iPhone 14 Pro costs $1,600 in India as against $999 in the US. Moreover, iPhone owners in India do not get several services such as News+, Fitness+, and Apple Pay.

source/content: tribuneindia.com (headline edited)