Newsletters
🧘♀️ 🧘♂️ @Evening: Saudi Arabia Embraces Yoga
1. 📰 Catch Up
The CBI arrested Videocon group founder and chairman Venugopal Dhoot in connection with the ICICI Bank loan fraud case.
A total of 71 Chinese air force aircraft including fighter jets and drones entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone in the past 24 hours.
Former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray asked the central government to declare "Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra" areas as a Union Territory.
The Rs 10,683 crore PLI scheme for textiles sector has attracted investments to the tune of Rs 1,531 crore so far.
Tata Steel received the first all-India license to produce Corten Steel, will reduce the import of shipping containers from China.
2. 🧘♀️ 🧘♂️ Yoga In Saudi Arabia
The recent event: Representatives from 11 Arab countries participated in a workshop hosted by the Saudi Yoga Committee on Saturday.
The workshop focused on the benefits of yoga, its growing popularity in the Arab world and the current state of yoga practices in Saudi Arabia.
During Gujarat election campaign, PM Narendra Modi had highlighted that Yoga is now part of the official syllabus in Saudi Arabia.
Another development: Last week news reports came saying that the Saudi government has banned the abaya from examination halls.
Abaya is a loose cloak worn over the dress by Saudi women to hide the figure and is accompanied by a scarf, much like the ‘burqa’ common among Muslims in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In 2018, Saudi’s young Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had said that as long as the dress worn by women in public is “decent and respectful”, Abaya is not mandatory.
3. 🔍 The Darkest Planet Ever
TrES-2b is an exoplanet that is less reflective than coal which makes it the darkest planet ever discovered orbiting a star.
It is situated around 702 light-years away from the earth and reflects less than 1 percent of the light falling on it.
Its atmosphere is hotter than lava and it would incinerate any stocking it found itself in.
The discovery: NASA's Kepler spacecraft detected it lurking around the yellow sun-like star GSC 03549-02811 more than a decade ago.
The study lead-author David Kipping had that time exclaimed, "It's bizarre how this huge planet became so absorbent of all the light that hits it."
The red glow was explained by equating it with a burning ember or the coils on an electric stove.
4. 📘 Best Economics Book Of 2022
Chip War: The Fight For The World’s Most Critical Technology documents the history of semiconductors, and how the pandemic ushered a geopolitical storm around the established supply chains.
Simultaneously, the book, across chapters, has several lessons for aspiring chip production economies.
The Huawei angle and how the manufacturing prowess extends to military supremacy are also well explored and documented in the book.
The relevance: The world has seen that chipmaking is more to do with diplomacy than technology and the book documents the fusion between changing diplomatic equations and challenging technology demands.
It has lessons like chipmaking, unlike China’s manufacturing decade, is not about cheap labour and loose regulations.
It highlights that the key is to invest in long-term chipmaking goals while forging partnerships with the likes of Intel, TSMC, and Samsung.
5. 🙏 First 'Veer Bal Diwas' Celebrated
The celebration: On 9 January 2022, the day of the Prakash Purab of Guru Gobind Singh, the PM Modi had announced that 26 December would be observed as ‘Veer Bal Diwas’.
The day marks the martyrdom of sons of Guru Gobind Singh - Sahibzadas Baba Zorawar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh.
Modi attended a ‘Shabad Kirtan’ performed by about 300 Baal Kirtanis and flagged off a march-past by about 3,000 children in Delhi today.
The story: On 26 December 1705, 9-year-old Zorawar and 7-year-old Fateh were brutally murdered by Wazir Khan, the Mughal Governor of Sirhind.
The two boys were captured by Khan and offered riches and gifts and were asked to convert to Islam.
When they refused to convert, they were order to be bricked alive. However, watching them stand unflinchingly, their throats were slit.
Support Swarajya's 50 Ground Reports Project & Sponsor A Story
Every general election Swarajya does a 50 ground reports project.
Aimed only at serious readers and those who appreciate the nuances of political undercurrents, the project provides a sense of India's electoral landscape. As you know, these reports are produced after considerable investment of travel, time and effort on the ground.
This time too we've kicked off the project in style and have covered over 30 constituencies already. If you're someone who appreciates such work and have enjoyed our coverage please consider sponsoring a ground report for just Rs 2999 to Rs 19,999 - it goes a long way in helping us produce more quality reportage.
You can also back this project by becoming a subscriber for as little as Rs 999 - so do click on this links and choose a plan that suits you and back us.
Click below to contribute.
Latest
