As the only person to serve on five international commissions focused on global issues, Shridath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal became familiar with the daunting tasks that face the Global South.

It sounds cheeky to suggest that Shridath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal’s response to the crises that are tearing the world apart today might have been to appoint an eminent persons’ group to examine all aspects of every problem and suggest and execute remedies. If he agreed to a conference, ostentatious ceremony, table-thumping histrionics and thundering speeches would have yielded to quiet retreats that produced exhaustive reports on the impact of universal voting or the effects of a rising sea level.

When he was secretary-general of the Commonwealth — the second and longest-serving one — from 1975 to 1990, New Zealand’s prime minister, Robert Muldoon, known as ‘Piggy Muldoon’, noted (jeered?) that Sonny was “more general than secretary”. But the story starts much earlier. According to his son-in-law, the Caribbean diplomat, Ronald Sanders, the Reverend C.F. Andrews, who visited Guyana in 1929 at Mahatma Gandhi’s request, looked into the infant Ramphal’s eyes and declared, “This child will have a long and rewarding life.”

Some would push back the fight for equality and human rights even earlier to his great-grandmother who reputedly became an indentured labourer rather than commit sati. A speaker at the July 1 thanksgiving ceremony and celebration in the Queen’s Chapel of London’s Marlborough House, which has housed the Commonwealth Secretariat almost since the previous occupant, Queen Mary, died, traced the possible roots of Ramphal’s fierce opposition to any kind of injustice. I knew from his dedicated aide, the late Patsy Robertson, an old friend through whom I first met him, and as devoted a Commonwealth champion as he was, that after the group’s 1983 New Delhi summit, Ramphal slipped away to pay an incognito visit to the Calcutta docks from where his ancestors had set out for their indentured exile. I didn’t know until the fifth Patsy Robertson lecture which followed last Tuesday’s thanksgiving that the trip honoured a double act of defiance.

When Ramphal’s great-grandmother, who had gone to Dutch Guiana as an indentured labourer, returned after a few years, she was rejected by her Indian family because she had crossed the polluting kala pani. So she went back into a second indenture, this time in British Guyana. She cannot have known then that Cheddi Jagan, another ethnic Indian from the sugarcane fields of Guyana, who called the colony “a vast prison” and incurred Winston Churchill’s personal enmity, was to make history there in 1953 by becoming the first ethnic Indian to head a government outside the Indian subcontinent. As for Ramphal, the world was full of causes.

The challenges this time are global. Multilateralism is under severe attack. The United States of America is saddled with an eccentric egoist. Britain’s lacklustre Labour government has bought time but can collapse at any moment. No one dares thwart Vladimir Putin’s ambitious pursuit of the Czar’s empire. Nor has anyone told reckless Israelis that the phrase, ‘Next year in Jerusalem’, does not mean that Zionists will ride roughshod over world opinion next year. Or that all Muslims will be eliminated. The last is precisely what attracts Benjamin Netanyahu’s callous Asian admirers gloating over the privilege of being allowed to call him ‘Bibi’.

Shunning publicity, Ramphal tackled bravado with meticulous investigation. Interminable exchanges of views, exhaustive discussions and voluminous reports followed by action plans identified and strengthened areas of potential agreement. He helped to end Ian Smith’s rebellion in erstwhile Southern Rhodesia and that standing affront to humanity that was South Africa’s outrageous apartheid regime. As the only person to serve on five international commissions focused on global issues, he became familiar with the daunting tasks that face the Global South, the perceived conflict between democracy and development, climate change, protectionism, and threats to small and vulnerable entities.

The Brandt Commission on international development, Palme Commission on disarmament and security issues, the Brundtland Commission on environment and development, the Independent Commission on international humanitarian issues, and the South Commission, in all of which he laboured, were not platforms for garrulous politicians seeking votes. Nor for sycophants to applaud recitations of the master’s achievements. Nelson Mandela’s release in 1990 after 27 years of incarceration in an island prison is attributed to such quiet backroom diplomacy. When Sanders acknowledged his role at a reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth II, Mandela said, “Thank you for remembering me!” His understated style was again evident when I presented my wife to him at a Calcutta Raj Bhavan dinner. Mandela’s welcome “Ladies before governors!” pre-empted the ever-courteous Nurul Hasan easing himself out of his chair.

Given his implacable opposition to prejudice and discrimination, Ramphal “was seriously unloved in the upper echelons of the British government”, according to The Guardian. He bore the burden with equanimity because “it came with the territory”. There was no such problem with India’s political first family. Ramphal recognised Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision in making it possible for independent countries like India and Guyana to voluntarily become full members of the Commonwealth. He appreciated the importance of secularism in holding together in harmony the many faiths of a diverse nation instead of trying to force everyone into the straitjacket of one religion. He encouraged Rajiv Gandhi to welcome Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan back into the Commonwealth after 17 years of exclusion.

Unlike many other observers, he did not think Indira Gandhi was indifferent to this seeming relic of Empire. “I was close to her. I think she related to me”, he told Sue Onslow, now editor of The Round Table, the Commonwealth’s journal of record. “She was a very special kind of person. She was not effusive, but if she was with you, she was with you. And I think I have, by that personal relationship, [been able] to keep India with the Commonwealth.”

Of course, even the best of leaders are often also politicians with axes that need grinding. But there is undeniable scope for dispute resolution mechanisms beyond the stultifying bureaucracy of the United Nations and for using collective pressure (or action) by people whose lives are affected by conflicts such as Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza or Russia gobbling up Ukraine in bits and pieces. But coercive force to resist bullying is not to everyone’s liking. Listening to the tribute to Ramphal by the Nigerian chief, Emeka Anyaoku, I was reminded of the Australian tale that when Anyaoku and Malcolm Fraser were both candidates for the secretary-general’s job, Margaret Thatcher is believed to have said that of the two Blacks, she preferred the African.

Many in London believe that but for Queen Elizabeth’s stout support, the Commonwealth secretariat would long ago have been turfed out of Christopher Wren’s stately Marlborough House. While Thatcher called African National Congress activists “terrorists”, Patsy, heading the Commonwealth secretariat’s information department, was at the centre of a worldwide network of liberal politicians and journalists who helped to turn the tide of opinion. “The Commonwealth is not to be trifled with”, she warned me, arching an eyebrow in a telltale gesture.

Legend has it that Mandela was the only outsider to address Her Majesty by name. “Elizabeth!” he reportedly bellowed, ignoring protocol. I have always wondered what he called Britain’s formidable prime minister who fought and won the Falklands War. Whatever it was, the world can only benefit if the Commonwealth that was Mandela’s theatre regains its voice. “We cannot negotiate for the world,” Ramphal is quoted as saying. “But we can help the world to negotiate.”

The Commonwealth’s 56 member-nations boast 2.7 billion people, 95% of whom live in Asia and Africa. They provide a coherent voice for democracy, equality and international solidarity. India cannot forget that they also comprise the only global platform that is not overwhelmed by China.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

The Oscar-winning composers have scored the music for Nitesh Tiwari’s upcoming film ‘Ramayana’.

A.R. Rahman on Friday shared a selfie with German composer Hans Zimmer following the release of the first-look teaser of Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana, drawing reactions from celebrities and fans alike.

The two Oscar-winning composers have scored the music for the upcoming film, starring Ranbir Kapoor as Ram and Yash as Ravana.

“With @hanszimmer #ramayanamovie,” Rahman captioned the photo on Instagram.

Fans and celebrities flooded the comments section.

“Legends,” wrote singer Armaan Malik. Actor Ishaan Khatter dropped a goat emoji to describe the greatness of the two legends. Dancer-actress Lauren Gottlieb commented, “This is so iconic.”

Fans couldn’t keep calm after seeing the two musicians in one frame. “Goated selfie ever,” one of them wrote. “Apple needs to invent a new version of airpods for me to experience this fullyyyyyy,” another commented. “This will go down in history,” wrote an Instagram user.

Ramayana will be released in two instalments, with the first part hitting screens on Diwali 2026 and the second part slated for a release on Diwali the following year.

The script for Ramayana is written by Namit Malhotra in collaboration with Shridhar Raghavan. The film is directed by Nitesh Tiwari, known for his films Dangal and Chhichhore. Pankaj Kumar has served as the film’s cinematographer.

Ramayana also stars Sai Pallavi as Sita, Ravie Dubey as Lakshman, and Sunny Deol as Hanuman.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

According to data tracking site Chart Master, the ‘Bulleya’ singer claimed the top spot with 151 million followers.

Indian musician Arijit Singh has become the most-followed artist on music streaming platform Spotify with over 150 million followers, beating American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, according to data tracking site Chart Master.

Swift, a pop sensation with fans spread across the globe, has 139.5 million followers on Spotify.

According to Chart Master, Arijit surpassed Swift on Spotify on July 1. British singer Ed Sheeran occupies the third spot on the list with 121 million followers.

Earlier, in 2023, Arijit enjoyed a brief victory when he surpassed Swift to claim the third spot among the most-followed artists on Spotify. However, Swift quickly regained her position.

Indian musician Arijit Singh has become the most-followed artist on music streaming platform Spotify with over 150 million followers, beating American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, according to data tracking site Chart Master.

Swift, a pop sensation with fans spread across the globe, has 139.5 million followers on Spotify.

According to Chart Master, Arijit surpassed Swift on Spotify on July 1. British singer Ed Sheeran occupies the third spot on the list with 121 million followers.

Earlier, in 2023, Arijit enjoyed a brief victory when he surpassed Swift to claim the third spot among the most-followed artists on Spotify. However, Swift quickly regained her position.

Arijit became the first Indian music artist to cross 100 million followers on Spotify in January, 2024.

The other artists on the Spotify list include Billie Eilish (114 million) and The Weeknd (107.2 million). A.R. Rahman is the only other Indian musician in the top 20 with 49 million followers.

Recently, Arijit Singh collaborated with British singer Ed Sheeran on the latter’s latest release, Sapphire. The music video also features Shah Rukh Khan.

Swift released her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, in April this year. The music video Fortnight from the album earned her 10 nominations at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.

Swift kicked off her sixth concert tour, The Eras Tour, on March 17, 2023, and headlined 149 shows in a little more than a year. She wrapped up the tour with the last show on December 8, 2024, in Vancouver, Canada. The singer’s musical world tour generated over USD 2 billion in ticket sales.

Arijit, on the other hand, most recently sang Jaane Tu from Vicky Kaushal-starrer Chhaava, which hit screens earlier this year.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

The genetic ancestries and their proportions in the Adivasi and Sinhalese are most similar to Dravidian speaking populations who live in southern India today.

Analyses of whole-genome sequence data of urban Sinhalese and two indigenous Adivasi clans in Sri Lanka, which live in geographically separated regions in the country, shed light on the migratory history of these populations and their genetic relationship to each other and to many Indian populations. The study published recently in the journal Current Biology found that Sinhalese and Adivasi are genetically closest to each other and to South Indians, but, at a regional and fine-scale level, the two Adivasi clans are genetically distinct.

For the study, whole genomes of 35 urban Sinhalese individuals and 19 individuals from two indigenous Adivasi clans were sequenced. Of the 19 genomes of Adivasi clans that were sequenced, five were from Interior Adivasi and 14 were from Coastal Adivasi. The sampling and data generation became possible due to the outreach efforts of Sri Lankan collaborator, Dr. Ruwandi Ranasinghe from the University of Colombo. In addition, the whole genome data of 35 Sri Lankan Tamils sampled in the UK, which were already sequenced as part of the 1,000 Genomes Project, were included in the analyses.

Sinhalese chronicles and previous genetic studies had proposed that Sinhalese had migrated from northern or northwest India around 500 BCE, though their exact origins and migratory history are still debated. That Sinhalese speak an Indo-European language, Sinhala, whose present-day distribution lies primarily in northern India further supports the idea of their migration from northern India. But the current study contradicts the findings of the previous studies from a genetic perspective. “The genetic ancestries and their proportions in the Adivasi and Sinhalese are most similar to Dravidian speaking populations who live in Southern India today,” says Dr. Niraj Rai from Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow and one of the corresponding authors of the paper.

“Even among South Indian populations, we find that the Sinhalese are genetically closest to those communities that have higher proportions of the so-called ASI or Ancestral South Indian ancestry. In contrast to many North Indians, these populations generally have lower levels of a genetic ancestry related to ancient groups from the Eurasian Steppe, proposed to have carried Indo-European languages into South Asia and that are today spoken widely in northern regions of India,” says Dr. Maanasa Raghavan, Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago and a corresponding author of the study. But how does one reconcile the fact that Sinhalese speak a language that is classified as Indo-European, which today is spoken mostly in North India?

The authors explain that genes do not reflect linguistic affinities, and biological and cultural evolution can have different trajectories. They speculate that this genetic-linguistic discordance may have been caused by the Sinhalese population having migrated from somewhere in North India geographically, but genetically speaking, the migration may have come from a group that resembles more South Indian Dravidian speakers today.

An alternative explanation is that a small group of Sinhalese, perhaps representing the elite, might have migrated to Sri Lanka and transmitted the language but not genes. “If the Sinhalese were derived from a North Indian genetic cluster with higher Steppe-related ancestry, mixing had to have happened with ASI populations to dilute their genetic ancestries and pull them genetically closer to South Indian populations in our analyses. More anthropological studies are needed to fully understand these differing genetic and cultural affinities of the Sinhalese,” Dr. Raghavan says.

The time of formation of the Sinhalese genetic pool was dated in the study to about 3,000 years ago, falling within the range of dates displayed broadly by Indian and other Sri Lankan populations and around the time of the proposed migration date of the Sinhalese in the chronicles (500 BCE). “The date our analysis reveals is interesting. It implies that the Sinhalese ancestors migrated to Sri Lanka fairly close in time to the dynamic genetic mixing events that were occurring about 2,000-4,000 years ago in India that created the ANI-ASI genetic spectrum we see in today’s populations,” Dr. Rai explains.

Sinhalese chronicles also say that when Sinhalese migrated from India to Sri Lanka about 3,000 years ago, Adivasi were already existing in Sri Lanka. This is also supported by anthropological studies that propose that Adivasi are descended from early hunter-gatherers in the region. The Adivasi are, in fact, traditionally hunter-gatherers and the Indigenous peoples of Sri Lanka.

“At a broad scale, Adivasi today look genetically very similar to the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil. This must mean that the Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, or other groups migrating from South India must have met the Adivasi, mixed with them heavily, and contributed to what is the present-day genetic structure of the Adivasi,” Dr. Raghavan says.

Sinhalese and Adivasi are close to each other and share broad-level genetic similarities, but on a fine-scale demographic resolution, the study found that the two Adivasi clans are a bit different from the Sinhalese. The Adivasi have slightly higher levels of ancient hunter-gatherer ancestry than the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils, and have maintained smaller population sizes over the course of their history, both of which support their traditional hunting and gathering lifestyle. The Adivasi genomes also display signatures of endogamy, which appear as long stretches of DNA inherited from a common ancestor. The study further reports that a consequence of the low population size and endogamy is that the genetic diversity in the Adivasi is lower than the urban populations, which may have an impact on their health and disease status.

While both Adivasi clans maintained lower population sizes compared to the Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils, the authors found that the Interior Adivasi clan seemed to have undergone a stronger reduction in their population size compared to the Coastal Adivasi, leading to a greater loss of their genetic diversity. “We find the two Adivasi clans — the Coastal Adivasi and the Interior Adivasi — also have some differences in their genetic ancestry arising due to distinct geographic separation between them,” says Dr. Rai.

This, according to Dr. Raghavan, indicates that the Interior Adivasi clan must have undergone stronger pressures, perhaps societal or environmental, to keep the population size lower compared to their Coastal counterparts. Explaining how the two Adivasi clans are more similar to each other, but still have genetic differences at a fine scale, she says that this basically means that at some point in time, due to geographic separation, the genetic and lifestyle attributes of the two clans started to drift apart.

In fact, the fragmented nature of the Adivasi clans also impacted the study sampling strategy. While 35 individuals representing the two large groups — Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils — have been included in the analyses, the numbers for the two Adivasi populations are small — five for interior Adivasi and 14 for coastal Adivasi.

Though it would be ideal to keep matched sample sizes of different populations for genetic analyses, the reason for including only small numbers for the two Adivasi clans was because the Adivasi communities today are very fragmented. “Historical, anthropological, as well as our genetic results all suggest that these communities live in small sizes and practice endogamy,” says Dr. Raghavan. “Because of endogamy, a lot of these individuals tend to be quite related to one another. Having really high relatedness in a group impacts the genetic analyses because then everybody’s going to look like each other. So that’s why our sample sizes were lower for the two Adivasi clans.”

Despite the number of individuals representing the two Adivasi clans being small, the researchers were able to recapture the entire population history of these two groups. The study was able to address the questions that the researchers set out to do despite the Adivasi sample sizes being small, says Dr. Raghavan. “Since every individual’s genome is a mosaic of their ancestor’s genomes, even a small number of individuals can represent their population’s genetic histories. Moreover, we didn’t find any genetic outliers within the Adivasi clans. So, all the sampled individuals fit into the model that we propose,” clarifies Dr. Rai.

“This is the first time that high-resolution genome data have been sequenced from multiple populations in Sri Lanka, including the Indigenous Adivasi and urban Sinhalese, to understand the deeply rooted ancestries and their population histories,” says Dr. Rai. Broadly, the study has important implications for how humans moved across South Asia and highlights the high degree of interconnectedness between India and Sri Lanka over millennia.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

India is carving out a new space for Foxconn and other high-end manufacturers, just as President Trump demands American companies do at home.

A new iPhone factory in an out-of-the-way corner of India looks like a spaceship from another planet. Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles most of the world’s iPhones for Apple, has landed amid the boulders and millet fields of Devanahalli.

The sleek buildings rising on the 300-acre site, operational but still growing, are emerging evidence of an estimated $2.5 billion investment.

This is what President Donald Trump wants Apple to do in the United States. What is happening in this part of India shows both why that sounds attractive and why it will probably not happen.

In India, Apple is doubling down on a bet it placed after the COVID-19 pandemic began and before Trump’s reelection. Many countries, starting with the United States, were eager to reduce their reliance on factories in China. Apple, profoundly dependent on Chinese production, was quick to act.

Analysts at Counterpoint Research calculated that India had succeeded in satisfying 18% of the global demand for iPhones by early this year, two years after Foxconn started making iPhones in India. By the end of 2025, with the Devanahalli plant fully online, Foxconn is expected to be assembling between 25% and 30% of iPhones in India.

This newest factory is the largest of several making Apple products in India. Its full frame is still rising from red dust. Cranes are at work above the skeletons of high-rise dormitories for female workers. But about 8,000 people are already at work on two factory floors. Soon there should be 40,000.

The effects on the region are transformative. It’s a field day for job seekers and landowners. And the kind of crazy-quilt supply chain of smaller industries that feeds Apple’s factory towns in China is coalescing in India’s heartland. Businesses are selling Foxconn the goods and services it needs to make iPhones, including tiny parts, assembly-line equipment and worker recruitment.

Some of the firms are Indian; others are Taiwanese, South Korean or American. Some were already in the area, while others are setting up in India for the first time.

The changes spurred by Foxconn are rippling broadly through Bengaluru, a city of 8 million people that had a start in the 20th century as home to India’s first aerospace centers. But its manufacturing base was pushed aside, first by call centers and then by flashier work in microchip design and outsourced professional services. Going back to the factory floor, as they’re doing in Devanahalli, is what Trump wants American workers to do.

To see the changes afoot here is to understand the allure of bringing back manufacturing. Wages are rising 10% to 15% around the Foxconn plant. Businesses are quietly making deals to supply Foxconn and Apple’s other contractors.

A factory that makes plastic parts for bank cash machines hosted a team from Foxconn for a tour. A foundry that makes yarn-spinning machinery was hoping it might start making the metal bits Foxconn might need in its new factory.

Neither Foxconn nor Apple replied to requests for comment about their operations in India.

India has been working toward a breakthrough like this for a long time. Its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, called hydroelectric dams, steel plants and research institutes the “temples of modern India.” In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a “Make in India” policy. Since 2020, his government has committed $26 billion to subsidizing strategic manufacturing goals.

India’s most urgent reason for developing industry is to create jobs. Unlike the United States, it does not have enough: not in services, manufacturing or anything else. Nearly half its workers are involved in farming. With India’s population peaking, it needs about 10 million new jobs a year just to keep up.

It also wants to achieve the kind of financial power and technological autonomy that China found as it became the factory to the world.

One problem is that India’s electronics factories still import the most valuable of the 1,000 components that go into a finished iPhone, like chips and camera modules. Skeptics disparage India’s success with the final assembly of iPhones as “screwdriver work,” complaining that too little of the devices’ value is made in India.

But the government, dangling subsidies, is persuading companies like Apple to source more of those parts locally. It is already getting casings, specialized glass and paints from Indian firms. Apple, which opened its first Indian stores two years ago, is required by the Indian government to source 30% of its products’ value from India by 2028.

Indo-MIM, an Indian company with an American-born boss, is the kind that contributes to the neighborhood forming around Apple’s production and also benefits from it. At a plant near Devanahalli, in southern Karnataka state, Indo-MIM’s engineers perform metal-injection molding for hundreds of companies around the world. It makes parts for airplanes, luxury goods, medical devices and more.

The company is already making jigs or brackets for use in the Foxconn plant. In addition, a “critical mass” of specialty firms means that Indo-MIM no longer needs to make many of the tools it uses to make its products, said Krishna Chivukula, its CEO.

“You don’t want to have to make everything yourself,” he said, adding it means Indo-MIM can concentrate on what it does best.

Chivukula said the workforce made Devanahalli fertile ground for factories. “The people here are very hungry,” he said. “They’re looking for opportunity, and then on top of that millions of them are engineers.”

Still, despite the surplus of engineers, companies are bringing in talent from East Asia. Prachir Singh, an analyst for Counterpoint, said it had taken 15 years to figure out what would work in China and five years to import this much of it to India.

Centum is an Indian-origin contract manufacturer, like Foxconn is to Apple. Centum makes circuit boards that go into products like air-to-air missiles, forklifts and fertility scanners. Nikhil Mallavarapu, its executive director, said the company was in talks to customize testing equipment for the Foxconn factory.

Newly hired engineers and other professionals are pouring into the area. Many moved hundreds of miles while others must commute hours a day to get to work. Some rise at 3:30 a.m. to make the 8 a.m. shift.

But India is thick with people. A five-minute walk away, a village called Doddagollahalli looks the same as it did before Foxconn landed. Nearly all the houses clustered around a sacred grove belong to farming families growing millet, grapes and vegetables.

Some villagers are renting rooms to Foxconn workers. Many more are trying to sell their land. But Sneha, who goes by a single name, has found a job on the Foxconn factory’s day shift. She holds a master’s degree in mathematics. She can walk home for lunch every day, a corporate lanyard swinging from her neck.

It is people like Sneha, and the thousands of her new colleagues piling into her ancestral place, who make Foxconn’s ambitions for India possible. Trump wants to revive the fortunes of left-behind American factory towns, but the pipeline of qualified young graduates is not there.

Josh Foulger has recruited lots of motivated Indian workers like Sneha. He heads the electronics division of Zetwerk, an Indian contract manufacturer with factories in Devanahalli that sees itself as a smaller competitor to Foxconn. He said he routinely got 700 job applications a year from local tech schools. It is a matter of scale: Karnataka state alone, he pointed out, has a population half the size of Vietnam’s.

All of India’s “states are very keen on getting manufacturing,” said Foulger, who grew up in southern India and made his home in Texas before moving back to India, where he set up shop for Foxconn. India has jobs for engineers and managers and all the way down the ladder. “Manufacturing does a very democratic job” of meeting the demand for good jobs, he said.

The New York Times News Service

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

Teghbir began his trek to Mount Elbrus on June 20 and walked all the way to reach the summit, the highest point of the mountain, on June 28.

Six-year-and-nine-month-old Teghbir Singh, hailing from Ropar in Punjab, has become the youngest ever in the world to scale Mount Elbrus, the highest peak of the European continent, located in Russia at a staggering height of over 18,510 feet (5,642 metres).

Teghbir began his trek to Mount Elbrus on June 20 and walked all the way to reach the summit, the highest point of the mountain, on June 28.

It is worth mentioning that this is a low-oxygen trek, and one needs preparation to tackle problems associated with altitude sickness. However, conquering all these challenges, he finally reached the summit, where the normal temperature is -10°C, and fulfilled his dream.

After reaching the peak, he received the Mountain Climbing Certificate issued by the Mountaineering, Rock Climbing and Sports Tourism Federation of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (Russia). “It is to certify that Teghbir Singh from India, the world’s youngest summiter on Mount Elbrus at the age of 6 years, 9 months and 4 days,” states the certificate.

Elated over the achievement, Teghbir said, “I knew where I was to reach and finally I reached and had a picture with my father there. I was walking first time on snow, my shoes were heavy but I had practised it back,” added the second standard student of Shiwalik Public School, Ropar.

With this feat, he sets a new world record of summiting Mt Elbrus at the age of 6 years and 9 months, surpassing the previous world record held by Wagah Kushagra of Maharashtra, who set the record last year at the age of 7 years and 3 months.

In August last year, he became the youngest Asian to scale Mt Kilimanjaro (the highest peak of the African continent), and his name features in the Asia Book of Records and the India Book of Records. He also reached the Mt Everest Base Camp in Nepal in April last year.

Delighted over the new achievement of scaling Europe’s highest peak, his father Sukhinderdeep Singh said, “Teghbir started preparing for this feat almost a year back. He was trained by Bikramjit Singh Ghuman, a retired coach, who used to help him with the exercises related to increasing cardiovascular health and lung capacity to deal with altitude sickness. He used to go on weekly treks with me and the coach to different hilly locations.”

“Our stays were in mountain huts and it took eight days to scale the summit. Due to bad weather and a fierce snowstorm, the summit push was cancelled twice,” he said, adding that Teghbir shall return to India on July 1.

“The climb was different as compared to Mt Kilimanjaro and other treks he did before. It was the first time he was walking in snow with high boots, crampons, harness and oxygen support on. It increased the weight on his feet by almost three to four kilograms. He walked and stayed in a low-oxygen altitude in minus-grade temperature for almost a week,” said his father, who accompanied him during the journey.

In a brief safe window, when the wind speed lowered, they set off for the summit on June 27 night at 1 am in freezing temperatures around -20°C. It was a challenging moment for the entire crew, which consisted of his father, two guides and one support staff. They reached the summit at 7:56 am on June 28 after walking for around six hours in the freezing temperature.

A gynaecologist, Teghbir’s mother Dr Manpreet Kaur said, “Diet played a very major role in his journey and he followed a strict diet schedule as laid by his coach.”

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

The anti-lock braking system is designed to prevent wheel lock-up during sudden braking, reducing the likelihood of skidding and crashing.

The Transport Ministry has made the anti-lock braking system mandatory for all new two-wheelers manufactured after January next year, irrespective of engine capacity, to enhance riders’ safety.

The Ministry, in a notification, said that at the time of purchase of a two-wheeler, the manufacturer will supply two protective headgear, conforming to specifications prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

“Provided further that vehicles of category L2 manufactured on and after 1st January 2026, in case of all models, shall be fitted with Anti-lock Braking System conforming to the IS14664:2010,” a notification said.

What is the anti-lock braking system?

The anti-lock braking system is designed to prevent wheel lock-up during sudden braking, reducing the likelihood of skidding and crashing.

According to the government’s latest data, two-wheelers were involved in nearly 20% of India’s 1,51,997 road accidents in 2022.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with Group Captain and Axiom-4 mission pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, who scripted history by becoming the first Indian on the International Space Station.

The slogan ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ echoed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, calling his journey the first step towards India’s ambitious Gaganyaan mission.

Speaking from space, Shukla, the first Indian to board the ISS, told the Prime Minister on Saturday that India looks “grander and bigger from space than it does on a map.” Shukla is currently serving as the mission pilot of Axiom Space’s fourth commercial mission, Ax-4.

Describing his perspective from orbit, Shukla said, “You can truly feel a sense of oneness. There are no borders, no lines. It feels as if this entire Earth is our home and we are all its citizens.”

In a video interaction, Prime Minister Modi hailed Shukla’s achievement, saying, “Though you are far away from the motherland, you are the closest to the hearts of all Indians.” The Prime Minister also drew a personal connection, noting, “Aapke naam mein bhi shubh hai aur aapki yatra naye yug ka shubharambh bhi hai (your name itself means auspicious, and your journey marks the beginning of a new era).”

Shukla made history on Wednesday by becoming the first Indian in 41 years to travel to space, following in the footsteps of Rakesh Sharma, who flew aboard a Russian spacecraft in 1984. His journey marks India’s return to human spaceflight after nearly four decades.

The Ax-4 mission, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, successfully docked at the ISS’s Harmony module after a 28-hour journey aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Shukla is joined on the mission by commander Peggy Whitson from the United States, mission specialist Sawosz Uznanski from Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.

Shukla, now officially astronaut number 634 after receiving his Space Station pin, described his initial moments aboard the ISS as both thrilling and slightly challenging. “It may look easy on camera, but my head feels a little heavy,” he admitted, adding, “The next 14 days are going to be exciting and great.”

In a heartfelt message before docking, Shukla had greeted the nation with a simple but powerful “Namaskar from space,” saying he was proud to carry the dreams of 1.4 billion Indians into orbit.

The Ax-4 crew is set to spend approximately two weeks aboard the ISS, collaborating with the Expedition 73 crew. Their mission includes more than 60 scientific experiments and outreach activities, covering fields such as cancer research, DNA repair, and advanced manufacturing — the most ambitious scientific programme yet for an Axiom mission.

The Ax-4 flight also highlights the growing importance of international cooperation and commercial partnerships in the future of space exploration.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

These 3300 HP diesel locomotives feature many special facilities for the loco pilot or the driver such as refrigerator, hot plate, mobile holder, aesthetic cab design, toilet etc., in accordance with international standards.

Amid the Indian Railways’ push for export of rail equipment, the Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) has exported two locomotives to Mozambique. Officials said that the export was done as per the major contract awarded by Mozambique Railways (CFM) for manufacturing and supply of 10 diesel locomotives.

BLW, a flagship production unit of Indian Railways, will dispatch the remaining eight locomotives by December 2025, said the officials. “The global contract for 10 locomotives was awarded to RITES, a public sector undertaking (PSU) of Ministry of Railways, who further got the locomotives manufactured at BLW. These are advanced diesel locomotives of 3300 horse power. It is capable of running at a maximum speed of 100 kmph on Cape Gauge (1067 mm). BLW has exported locomotives to Mozambique earlier as well,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Railways.

These 3300 HP diesel locomotives feature many special facilities for the loco pilot or the driver such as refrigerator, hot plate, mobile holder, aesthetic cab design, toilet etc., in accordance with international standards.

The data available with the BLW shows that it has supplied a total of 10 Cape Gauge diesel locomotives (3000 HP, AC-AC) to Mozambique’s state-owned rail company CFM so far, with the oldest locomotive being sent in 2008-09. During 2021-22 and 2022-23, it supplied a total of five locomotives, which are currently in successful operation in Mozambique.

Apart from BLW, other production units such Marhowra Plant in Bihar has also started exporting locomotives. On June 20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off a state-of-the-art locomotive built at the Marhowra Plant, for export to the Republic of Guinea. This is the first export locomotive manufactured in this factory.

Officials said that since the establishment of Banaras Locomotive Works (formerly Diesel Locomotive Works) on 23 April 1956, it has manufactured more than 10,000 locomotives for Indian Railways, steel plants, mines, ports and export.

In January 1976, the first exported locomotive went to Tanzania. After this, the locomotive manufactured here were sent to countries like Vietnam, Mali, Senegal, Angola, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mozambique, Sudan etc. In all, a total of 174 locomotives have been exported by the BLW so far.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)