Today in History
The Nehru-Liaquat Pact, also known as the Delhi Pact, was a bilateral agreement signed on April 8, 1950, between India and Pakistan to provide a framework for treating minorities in the two countries. The pact allowed refugees to return to dispose of their property, abducted women and looted property to be returned, forced conversions to be unrecognized, and minority rights to be confirmed.
LIGO
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is an international network of laboratories to detect gravitational waves, which are the ripples in space-time produced by the movement of large celestial bodies like planets and stars. They were first predicted by Albert Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity in 1916, but were not directly detected until 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States. The Union Cabinet has approved LIGO-India, a project to build a gravitational-wave detector in Hingoli, Maharashtra.
Great Nicobar Island Project
The Eastern Bench of the National Green Tribunal ordered a stay on the Rs. 7,200 crore Great Nicobar Island (GNI) project and has set up a committee to revisit the environmental clearance granted by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The Great Nicobar Island Project is a mega infrastructure project for the Southern tip of the Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman Sea. NITI Aayog conceived the project to boost eco-tourism, coastal tourism, commerce and industry, logistics, and defence.
Genome India Project
The Genome India Project aims to sequence the genomes of 10,000 Indians from diverse ethnic groups and regions nationwide. The project aims to create a database of genetic variations that can be used to develop personalized medicine and improve public health. The project is being implemented by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in collaboration with other institutions.
Saudi-Omani team to talk to Houthis to end the Yemen War
A Saudi-Omani delegation is to visit Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, to work for a permanent ceasefire to end the eight-year-old Yemen crisis, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels ousted the internationally recognised Government from Sanaa in 2014.
