Know India

The Motto of Indian Air Force has been taken from eleventh chapter of the Gita, the Discourse given by Lord Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra during the Great War of Mahabharata. The Lord is showing His Supreme Divine form to Arjuna and the great form of the Lord is reaching the sky with glory, evoking fear and loss of self-control in the mind of Arjuna.The Indian Air Force, similarly, aims to overwhelm the adversaries with application of aerospace power in defence of the nation.

Lord, seeing your form “Touching the Sky With Glory”, effulgent, multi-coloured, having its mouth wide open and possessing large flaming eyes, I, with my innermost self frightened, have lost self-control and find no peace.

Bharat Ratna.

The Bharat Ratna "Jewel of India" is India's supreme decoration and honor, awarded for the highest degrees of national service. This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievement, as well as "recognition of public service of the highest order.Throughout the history of the decoration, it has been very carefully stressed that the award of the Bharat Ratna carries with it no title, no knighthood," and no particular status. It was established by the President of India, 2 January 1954. The regulations were revised 8 January 1955 (to alter the design) and amended 26 January 1957 (to alter the depiction of the devices on the obverse and reverse). From 13 July 1977 to 26 January 1980, awards of the Bharat Ratna were suspended.

The idea of armed force fighting its way in India to overthrow British Raj originated during the first world war when the Ghadar Party and the nascent embryo of the Indian Independence League planned to rebel in the British Indian Army from the Punjab through Bengal to Hong Kong. But this plan ultimately failed after the information was leaked to British Intellegence. During the outbreak of war in Europe, Subhash Chandra Bose saw an opportunity to authorize on Britain`s weakness. In January 1941,Bose went to Russia from Calcutta via Afghanistan. He tried to secure support for an armed insurrection in India. Instead of paying attention on Bose had to say Russia sent him to Berlin where he started having discussions with the Foreign and PropagandaMinistries. For the next six months, Bose and his assistants led an intensive recruiting campaign amongst Indian POWs (prisoners of war).The plan that had failed during first world war was reopened by the Indian Independence League.

1411. The lower limit of tigers is 1165 and the upper limit is 1657

The Project Tiger Directorate, now the National Tiger Conservation Authority, initiated refinement of the ongoing process of tiger estimation using pugmarks (footprints) in 2002. This was a collaborative initiative with the Wildlife Institute of India and 17 Tiger States.Poaching, loss of quality habitat and prey are the main reasons for the decimation.Estimation could not be done in the Indravati Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh since the area is inaccessible owing to Naxalite engineered problems. The census suggests that four landscapes -- Nagarjunasagar Srisailam, Ranthambhore-Kuno, Indravati-Northern Andhra, and Bandhavgarh-Sanjay-Palamau -- are in need of inputs.An earlier survey in 2002 had estimated the number of tigers in India at 3,700 -- with the population of those in protected sanctuaries estimated at 1,500.

Our national animal: Will it be extinct over the next few decades?

The formal inauguration ceremony was performed on 16th April 1853, when 14 railway carriages carrying about 400 guests left Bori Bunder at 3.30 pm amidst the loud applause of a vast multitude of people and to the salute of 21 guns.The first passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined for Hooghly,a distance of 24 miles, on 15th August, 1854. Thus the first section of the East Indian Railway was opened to public traffic, inaugurating the beginning of railway transport on the Eastern side of the sub-continent.

In south the first line was opened on Ist July, 1856 by the Madras Railway Company. It ran between Veyasarpandy and Walajah Road (Arcot), a distance of 63 miles.