Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla’s journey to the International Space Station (ISS) has already found a place in a new NCERT textbook for Class 5 released this month. The book for environmental studies has a chapter on Earth, which begins with what Shukla said in a conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the ISS on June 28: “The Earth looks completely one, no border is visible from outside. It seems that no border exists, no state exists, no countries exist.”
Words Worth
Addressing a gathering at a book launch in Delhi on Thursday, RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said on a lighter note that he had requested Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav, who spoke before him at the event, to make a long speech so that he could get some time to formulate his thoughts. “But he did not listen to me… I keep talking and when I do, people are troubled,” Hosabale said, making the whole auditorium break into laughter. Some wondered if this was a reference to Hosabale’s recent statement seeking a debate on the inclusion of “secular” and “socialist” in the Preamble during Emergency. On authoring a book, Hosabale said he did not have that capacity to write one, but when people ask, he simply says he has no time.
VVIP Awardees
When President Droupadi Murmu gave away the awards for the cleanest cities on Thursday, the awardees queuing up to go to the stage included some VVIPs, apart from the mayors and municipal commissioners representing their cities. While Punjab Governor and Chandigarh administrator Gulab Chand Kataria received the award for Chandigarh, Delhi Urban Development Minister Ashish Sood collected the award on behalf of New Delhi Municipal Council, though NDMC does not function under the Delhi government. For Noida, the award was handed over to UP Urban Development Minister A K Sharma. Before the award ceremony began, the awardees were reminded of the protocol — not handshakes or touching the feet of the President.
New Assignments
Two former US ambassadors have been in the news for their high-profile appointments in the past one week. As Harsh Vardhan Shringla, former foreign secretary, gets nominated to the Rajya Sabha, his former colleague, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, has been appointed as an advisor to the US India Strategic Partnership Forum. Sandhu will also helm the foreign policy advocacy organisation’s geopolitical institute. Sandhu had contested the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat in 2024 but lost to Congress’s Gurjeet Singh Aujla.
