Country dedicated to social justice due to Ambedkar's inspiration: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Paying tributes to Bhim Rao Ambedkar on his birth anniversary, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that it is due to his inspiration that the country is today dedicated to realising the dream of social justice.
His principles and ideas will strengthen and speed up the building of an 'aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant) and developed India, Modi said on X.
Later, Modi joined a number of other dignitaries, including President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and leaders of opposition in both Houses Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, among others, in Parliament to pay homage to Ambedkar.
Ambedkar is recognised for his lifelong struggle for the empowerment of Scheduled Castes and his key role in drafting the Constitution.
Born in a Dalit family in 1891, he was a brilliant student who went on to study in foreign countries. The discrimination he suffered in Indian society turned him into a committed social reformer.
He was India's first law minister. He died in 1956.
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Scientists detect “strongest evidence till date” of life outside our solar system
London: Astronomers have reported the strongest evidence yet of potential biological activity on a distant planet named K2-18b, located about 124 light-years away from Earth. The planet, which is more than twice the size of Earth, has shown signs of atmospheric molecules that, on Earth, are produced only by living marine organisms.
The discovery was made by an international team of scientists led by Indian Origin scientist Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge. Using data collected by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the team analyzed the chemical composition of the planet’s atmosphere. They found molecular signatures that suggest the possible presence of life-supporting processes.
“This is certainly the strongest sign we have seen yet,” said Dr. Madhusudhan in a television interview. “I can realistically say that we could confirm this signal within one or two years.” He added that if life is found on K2-18b, it could point to the likelihood of life being common across the galaxy.
The planet K2-18b is located in the habitable zone of its host star, a red dwarf. This is the region where temperatures could allow for the existence of liquid water—a key ingredient for life. The planet is about 2.5 times the size of Earth and sits roughly 700 trillion miles away.
The James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021, is equipped to detect and analyze the faint light that passes through a planet's atmosphere as it transits its star. This allows scientists to identify the presence of specific molecules. In the case of K2-18b, the molecules detected appear to be those that, on Earth, are associated with biological activity.
However, experts are urging caution. While the findings are promising, they remain inconclusive. The scientific team is in the process of preparing a detailed paper on the discovery and is expected to seek further observations to validate the results.
Catherine Heymans, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, noted that even more detailed data might not provide a definite answer. “Even with perfect data, you still won’t be able to say that this is definitely of biological origin,” she said. “There are many unknowns in the universe, and other non-biological processes could produce similar signatures.”
The research team hopes that continued observations using the James Webb Space Telescope and other advanced instruments will offer greater clarity in the coming years.
