UNESCO to soon declare Visva-Bharati world’s first living heritage university

UNESCO to soon declare Visva-Bharati world’s first living heritage university

• Founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1921, Visva-Bharati University will soon get the ‘heritage’ tag from UNESCO to take the distinction of world’s first living heritage university.
• When founded in 1921 on 1,130 acres of land, it was named after Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore until Visva-Bharati Society was registered as an organisation in May 1922. Rabindranath donated some of his property, including land and a bungalow, to the society.
• Normally heritage tag is given to a dead monument. For the first time in the world, a living university which is functioning is going to get the heritage tag from UNESCO.
• The development comes 11 years after the Union Culture Ministry appealed for the second time to secure the status of UNESCO heritage site for Santiniketan [Visva Bharati] to get recognition for Tagore’s cultural ark in the run-up to his 150th birth anniversary in 2010.

Amit Shah Laid Foundation Stone for India’s Fifth Nano Urea Plant in Deoghar

• Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of a ₹450 crore nano urea plant and township of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) in Deoghar, Jharkhand. The nano urea plant will be the fifth such plant in India. 
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the world’s first nano urea plant in Gujarat in 2021. 
• According to Union Minister Amit Shah Nano Urea will benefit farmers and it is already being exported to five countries. 
• Nano Urea helps in improving the crop productivity, soil health, and nutritional quality of products and aims to address the imbalance and excessive use of conventional urea.

Legendary singer Vani Jairam passes away at 78

• Legendary singer Vani Jairam, who had collaborated with the biggest names in Indian cinema and the music industry, has passed away at her Chennai residence. She was 78. 
• According to reports, the National Award winner was found dead at her residence and further details are awaited, Thousand Lights Police officials have stated. 
• Vani Jairam was recently announced to receive the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India, and the news of her death has come as a big shock to those in the film industry and fans, with many pouring in their condolences on social media.
• She sang more than 10,000 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Tulu and Oriya languages recently completing 50 years as a singer, and also performed extensively around the globe.

Trilateral framework: India, France, UAE unveil cooperation plan

• India, France and the UAE announced an ambitious road map for cooperation in defence, energy and technology under a trilateral framework.
• The plan was finalised during a phone conversation among External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and his France and UAE counterparts, Catherine Colonna and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, respectively.
• The three sides agreed that the trilateral initiative will serve as a forum to promote the design and execution of cooperation projects in the fields of energy, with a focus on solar and nuclear energy, as well as in the fight against climate change and the protection of biodiversity, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.