Category: Life & Style

Scientists at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) in Pune have discovered a new low-altitude basalt plateau in the Thane region of the Western Ghats. The plateau is now listed as the fourth plateau-type in the mountain range. It houses 76 plant and shrub species from 24 families that the scientists say can hold clues to the impact of climate change on the survival of species.

Earlier, there were three known plateau types in the Western Ghats, namely, high-altitude laterite plateaus, low-altitude laterite plateaus, and high-altitude basalt plateaus. “We have only recently discovered that there is a fourth type here, the low-altitude basalt plateau,” said Dr Mandar Datar, lead scientist of the study.

The scientists have discovered the rare low-altitude basalt plateau in Manjare village of Thane. Surveying the plateau, the team documented various species of plants and shrubs from different families. The researchers believe this is an important discovery, as the plateau shares vegetation with the three other rock outcrops, concurrently holding a few unique species. This gives a unique model system to study the species’ interactions in varying environmental conditions. The ARI team was studying how exactly these plants survived in such hostile conditions and if there was a genetic component as well to their survival.

A Meerut-based jeweler, Renani Jewels, has been awarded the Guinness World Record title for the most diamonds set in a watch. The watch has 17,512 white diamonds and 12 black diamonds. This beat the previous record set by Aaron Shum Jewelry Ltd of Hong Kong with 15,858 diamonds in December 2018.

The diamonds set in the watch are sourced through the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), which ensures that all the diamonds are conflict-free, said Harshit Bansal, the CEO and Founder, Renani Jewels.

“We tried a lot of conceptual designs initially. But our idea was clear — to make it a classy and elegant piece that is 100 per cent wearable. Also, making a watch was a whole new experience for us, we accepted all the challenges and loved the whole journey,” Bansal said in an interview.

The record, verified on December 29, 2022, features the watch named Srinkia or “the watch of good fortunes.” It is inspired by ancient Indian mythology wherein Srinkia means flower. It also signifies Goddess Lakshmi. The watch weighs 373.030 gram and contains 54.70 carats of natural hand-cut diamonds. It took almost 11 months to make this beautiful watch. Guinness authenticated the diamonds with International Gemological Institute Lab (IGI) certificate to determine that actual diamonds were used.

The Tamil community in Singapore celebrated the annual Hindu festival of Thaipusam with pomp and fanfare on February 5, after a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic curbs in place.

Thaipusam commemorates Lord Murugan, the God of War and Fertility. In the celebrations, the devotees participate in a range of activities, including balancing brass pots of milk on their heads, piercing their bodies with hooks and skewers, and carrying wooden structures called kavadis decorated with peacock feathers and spears.

This year, the festivities started at 11.30 pm on Saturday and continued until late on Sunday night. More than 35,000 devotees were joined by Singapore’s Manpower Minister Tan See Leng at Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple. Tan interacted with devotees and volunteers and watched kavadi-bearers, and carried a milk pot around the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple. Around 450 kavadi-bearers made the 3.2 km journey barefoot between the two major Lord Murugan temples in this affluent city-state. Both the temples were built by the early settlers who migrated to Singapore from Tamil Nadu. The festival of Thaipusam was introduced during the colonial era by Tamil migrants working on rubber estates. It is a major event in Singapore and Malaysia due to the thriving Tamil population in the countries.

Indians have become the top homebuyers in Dubai, purchasing properties worth Rs 35,500 crore in the emirate in 2022, a report said. The amount is almost double the money spent by Indians to purchase homes in Dubai in 2021. In 2022, Indians made up a large chunk, 40 per cent, of all the homebuyers in Dubai.

According to the Times of India report, most such homebuyers come from Delhi, National Capital Region (NCR), Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad and Punjab. The average cost of houses bought by Indians ranges from Rs 3.6 crore to Rs 3.8 crore. Apart from Indians, Russians, Chinese, Pakistanis and the British are the other top buyers of Dubai properties.

The report added that Indians are also increasingly avoiding Indian metro cities and renting high-end apartments in Dubai. The emirate’s rental market saw a dip of 30 per cent during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has now bounced back to 2015-16 levels, a peak period for its real estate sector.

A reason for the rush of Indians to Dubai can be attributed to an expansion in the Golden Visa programme in 2022. The long-term visa allows foreign nationals to live, work and study in the UAE with special benefits. Its scope was increased to include more workers, skilled professionals, scientists and researchers. Other reasons are convenient travel from Dubai to India and the UAE being a global financial centre, providing more tech and finance jobs.

Pop superstar Beyoncé broke the record for most career wins at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards on February 5. British singer Harry Styles won the prestigious album of the year award. Music composer Ricky Kej, based out of Bengaluru, has won his third Grammy Award for the album Divine Tides.

Beyoncé added four Grammys to her collection. Her lifetime total now stands at 32, surpassing the tally of late classical conductor Georg Solti. The US singer was nominated for nine awards this year. She won the all-time Grammy record with her award for best dance/electronic album for Renaissance, and the best R&B song award for Cuff It.

In other awards, Lizzo’s upbeat About Damn Time won record of the year. Blues singer Bonnie Raitt’s Just Like That, about an organ donor, won song of the year, one of her three awards on Sunday. In other categories, Bad Bunny took home the award for best música urbana album for Un Verano Sin Ti. For best rap album, Kendrick Lamar succeeded with Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. American jazz singer Samara Joy was named best new artist.

US First Lady Jill Biden presented a new honour for a song that tackles social issues. The accolade went to Iranian singer and songwriter Shervin Hajipour for Baraye, a powerful and poetic call for freedom and women’s rights.

The Biodiversity Management Committee, the panchayat of Chumathang village, and SECURE Himalaya Project have resolved to declare Yaya Tso as Ladakh’s first biodiversity heritage site (BHS) under the Biological Diversity Act.

Yaya Tso is among the most beautiful lakes in Ladakh. It is known as birds’ paradise for its beautiful lake located at an altitude of 4,820 metres. A nesting habitat for a large number of birds and animals, such as the bar-headed goose, black-necked crane and brahminy duck, it also has the distinction of being one of the highest breeding sites of the black-necked crane in India.

The lake could be reached from Mahe monastery on the way to Tsomoriri lake after driving up to the nunnery and then crossing a small mountain pass. The proposed Yaya Tso site will have an approximate area of 60 square kilometers, which will also include the lake’s watershed.

The project will facilitate the official notification of the BHS after taking the application up with the Ladakh Biodiversity Council. SECURE Himalaya has also proposed to develop a management plan for the BHS and pilot interventions to support conservation of this lake.

Long-haul carrier Emirates successfully flew a Boeing 777 on a test flight on January 30 with one engine entirely powered by sustainable aviation fuel. The test flight comes as carriers worldwide try to lessen their carbon footprint.

The fuel powered one of Boeing’s two General Electric Co. engines, with the other running on conventional jet fuel for safety. Flight No. EK2646 flew for just under an hour over the coastline of the United Arab Emirates. It took off from Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, and headed out into the Persian Gulf before circling back to land.

The state-owned airline Emirates described the sustainable fuel as a blend that mirrored the qualities of jet fuel. It included fuel from Finnish firm Neste and US-based Virent, which describes itself as using plant-based sugars to make the compounds needed for sustainable jet fuel. Neste’s fuel comes from vegetable oils and animal fats. Those fuels reduce the release of greenhouse gas (GHG) carbon dioxide let off by flight engines.

Aviation releases only one-sixth the amount of carbon dioxide produced by cars and trucks, according to the World Resources Institute, but as airplanes fly by far fewer people per day, the sector becomes a higher per-capita source of GHG emissions.

Hong Kong is giving away 5,00,000 airline tickets worth more than €250 million in an effort to woo tourists back to the region.

On February 1, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee launched the $2 billion (€1.8 bn) ‘Hello Hong Kong’ campaign. Under the campaign, flight tickets will be given away beginning March 1, going on for about six months, with tickets distributed in phases.

The city has rolled back several COVID-19 travel restrictions in recent months, including mandatory isolation on arrival. It now hopes to bounce back from the massive impact that the pandemic had on its tourism industry. The city’s GDP last year fell 3.5 per cent from 2021.

The free air tickets will be distributed by Hong Kong-based airlines Cathay Pacific, HK Express and Hong Kong Airlines. Tickets will be distributed gradually on the airlines’ overseas platforms beginning with Southeast Asian countries, followed by mainland China and Northeastern Asia. The free air tickets include 80,000 tickets for Hong Kong residents, to be given in the summer, and 80,000 tickets for those living in the Greater Bay Area. Visitors can also enjoy special offers and vouchers among other incentives in the city.

India has jumped 26 spots globally in case of median mobile speeds, from rank 105th in November 2022 to rank 79th in December 2022, said a report by Ookla.

Ookla released an update on the Speedtest Global Index for the month of December 2022. In its report, the network intelligence and connectivity insights provider said median mobile download speeds in India increased from 18.26 Mbps in November to 25.29 Mbps in December. However, the country fell in overall median fixed broadband speeds category to 81st position from 80th. Its performance in fixed median download speeds witnessed a slight increase from 49.11 Mbps in November to 49.14 Mbps in December.

Qatar led the chart for global median mobile speeds. Rwanda leapt 47 spots and Burkina Faso jumped 22 spots in their ranks globally. Singapore gained the top position in fixed broadband download speeds.

In October, India recorded a 13-month high in mobile and fixed broadband download speed. Moreover, in November last year, it had recorded the highest median mobile download speed, from 16.50 Mbps in October to 18.26 Mbps in November.

Reliance Jio recently recorded almost 600 Mbps median download speed on its 5G network in Delhi, while the country’s overall 5G speed hit 500 Mbps as it rolled out 5G services in October.

India and South Africa (SA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to translocate more than 100 cheetahs to India over the next decade, said the SA government on January 26, 2023, in a press release.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment release said that 12 big cats may arrive in India sometime in February. The plan is to translocate 12 cheetahs every year for the next eight to 10 years to establish a healthy and genetically diverse cheetah population in India.

The terms of the MoU on Cooperation in the Re-introduction of Cheetah to India will be reviewed every five years. For India, restoring cheetah populations is considered to be a priority. It will have crucial and far-reaching conservation consequences, which would aim to achieve a number of ecological objectives, such as re-establishing the functional role of cheetahs within their historical range in India and improving the livelihood options and economies of the local communities, the release said.

Under the MoU, the two countries will collaborate and exchange best practices in large carnivore conservation through the transfer of technology, training of professionals in management, policy, and science, and establish a bilateral custodianship arrangement for cheetah translocated between the two countries.