Interview Times

  Koraput district is known for the existence of different tribal groups. How were you inclined towards taking up research on the ‘Kandh’ tribe? In Odisha, out of 62 tribal groups, 52 are residing in Koraput district. Among those, the language spoken by the Kandh tribe is quite different. I once got an opportunity to listen to their language and was determined to take up research on their language, culture and tradition. Has modernization impacted the Kandh tribal community? Of course yes! After getting exposed to the modern civilized world, the Kandh tribes have adopted modern means in their culture, tradition and lifestyle. To bring them to the mainstream, the District Cultural Society took initiative in 1996 and introduced PARAB, a tribal festival that provided them an opportunity to interact with the outside world. Besides this, they have also proved their worth at the Adivasi Mela held in Bhubaneswar. What is the role of a woman in the Kandh tribal community? In Kandh soci...

  The U.S. space agency NASA is set to bring the world’s most expensive thing to Earth. NASA will bring dust and soil collected from Mars to Earth, which will cost a lot of money. A lot of research will be done after this soil is brought to Earth. NASA will bring 2 pounds (about a kilogram) of soil from Mars during three missions. NASA will bring the soil of mars to Earth to explore ancient signs of life on Mars. NASA’s three missions will cost $ 9 billion. It will cost about two hundred times more than the value of two pounds of gold to bring two pounds of soil from Mars. If this soil are brought to Earth, it will be a great achievement for scientists. Because surface information is still being collected through rovers on Mars. According to the first mission, the Perseverance Rover was launched in July 2020. Rover landed on Mars on February 2021. According to NASA, the sample collection will be completed by 2023. But it could take about a decade to bring it back to Earth

Celebrating World Environment Day 2021 with the theme of ‘Ecosystem Restoration’, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) organised an extensive plantation programme in the residential area and pellet plant premises at Barbil on June 5. According to the report, while maintaining the Covid guidelines ad protocol of social distancing, more than 100 workers, employees and their family members of various age groups took part in the event. The report further added that everyone holds placards with ‘Ecosystem Restoration’ slogans, where the children took the pledge and showed their determination to give back to nature and save the environment. Further, the Unit Head of JSPL Barbil Shri Brij Badhadra, other officials and employees planted fruit-bearing and saplings of several species in the plant and colony premises. Interested children were also seen planting saplings and watering them. While celebrating the occasion , Badhadra stated that every one of us needs to proactively take action t...

Bhubaneswar : In a major step towards enhancing famers’ income  in watershed and adjacent areas the State Government set target to cover  a total of around 5.26 lakh hectors of land spreading over 705  micro-watersheds under the proposed REWARD projects. In February this year, the State Cabinet under the chairmanship of  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had approved a proposal to implement  ‘REWARD’ project with an expenditure of Rs 500 crore. The modalities and  contours of REWARD were discussed at a high-level meeting held at Lok  Seva Bhavan recently. Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra who chaired the meeting  said, “Focus on enhancing productivity and opening up new sustainable  livelihood opportunities for increasing the net income of the farmers.  He also directed to treat the watershed and adjacent areas on saturation  mode through the adoption of new technology and data-driven approaches. Secretary Agric...

  New Delhi, : Union Education Minister , Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ approved the release of Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for States and Union Territories of India today, informed the Ministry of Education. The Government has introduced the Performance Grading Index with a set of 70 parameters to catalyse transformational change in the field of school education. The PGI for States and Union Territories was first published in 2019 with reference year 2017-18. The PGI : States/UTs for 2019-20 is the third publication in this series. The PGI exercise envisages that the index would propel States and UTs towards undertaking multi-pronged interventions that will that will bring about the much-desired optimal education outcomes. The PGI helps the States/UTs to pinpoint the gaps and accordingly prioritise areas for intervention to ensure that the school education system is robust at every level. Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Isla...

  Panaji,: Indian Coast Guard (ICG) successfully conducted a swift sea-air coordinated medical evacuation off Goa on June 6, informed the Ministry of Defence. Information was received at 0430 hours at Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (Mumbai) that the captain of a ship, MT ELIM, a 50-year old South Korean national needed emergency medical assistance. The Marshall Island flag vessel, which was about 109 nm southwest of Goa at that time, was directed to proceed towards Goa, while a swift operational plan was drawn by Coast Guard District HQ Goa for the safe evacuation of the patient. At 0530 hrs, ICG ship C-158 sailed out from Goa, maintaining continuous communication with MT ELIM. For speedy evacuation of the patient, ICG Chetak helicopter was deployed from Coast Guard Air Enclave (Goa). Braving gusting monsoon winds, the helicopter reached the vessel and airlifted the patient with the help of an aircrew diver. The patient was safely brought ashore and shi...