Veer Bal Diwas:It is commemorated to honour the martyrdom of Baba Fateh Singh and Zorawar Singh, the Sahibzade of 10th Guru Govind Singh Ji on 26th December every year. Guru Gobind Singh, the leader of the Sikhs in Punjab during the Mughal reign, had four sons. They were referred to as the four Sahibzade Khalsa. In 1699, Gobind Singh established the Khalsa. This elite warrior band had devout Sikhs with the aim to protect the innocent from religious persecution. While two of Guru Gobind Singh’s sons were killed fighting the Mughals, two other sons were bricked alive on the orders of Aurangzeb’s governor of Sirhind. The two younger sons, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh ji and Sahibzada Fateh Singh ji, attained martyrdom after being sealed alive in a wall.
Guru Gobind Singh: He was the 10th Sikh guru. He became the Sikh guru at the age of nine, following the demise of his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru. He is known for his significant contributions to the Sikh religion, including the introduction of the turban to cover hair. He is renowned for founding the principles of Khalsa or the Five ‘K’s i.e. kesh (uncut hair), kanga (wooden comb), kara (iron or steel bracelet), kirpan (dagger) and kachera (short breeches).He fought against the Mughals later in the battle of Muktsar in 1705.In an unprecedented extension of its celestial duties, the spacecraft that delivered asteroid samples from Bennu, OSIRIS-REx, has embarked on a new mission, and NASA has renamed it as OSIRIS-APEX.
OSIRIS-APEX: It is a mission to study the physical changes to asteroid Apophis that will result from its rare close encounter with Earth in April 2029. That year, Apophis’ orbit will bring it within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometres) of Earth’s surface — closer to Earth than our highest-altitude satellites. The mission aims to observe the physical changes induced by Earth’s gravitational pull during Apophis’ flyby. These changes could include alterations in the asteroid’s orbit, rotation speed, and surface features such as quakes or landslides. Additionally, the OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft will dip toward the surface of Apophis.
MedTech Mitra portal: It is an online portal that aims to assist medtech innovators in clinical evaluation, regulatory facilitation, and uptake of new products. The portal will be coordinated collaboratively by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), under the guidance of NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission. The MedTech Mitra platform, along with the recent medical devices policy and the production-linked incentive scheme, will together provide a boost to the medical devices sector and encourage domestic manufacturing of these devices. The new initiatives would facilitate indigenous development of affordable, quality MedTech devices and diagnostics, leading to a considerable reduction in the import dependence of this sector. It will ensure ease of innovation and doing R&D for emerging start-ups. It would provide end-to-end guidance to startups, making their journey from idea to product smooth. The platform will also help them bridge gaps and help in animal as well as clinical trials. It would also foster partnerships between engineers, scientists and clinicians, which was lacking in the sector.
