SNIPPETS 28 APRIL 2026

NAMASTE Scheme: Launched in: 2023 as Central Sector Scheme+ Objective:  Formalize and rehabilitate persons engaged in hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks+ Jointly initiated: By the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs+ Implemented by National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC)+ Target Group: Sewer and Septic tank sanitation Workers (SSWs); Wastepickers added in 2024.

Tathagata Relics: Relics of Tathagata symbolize physical remains of Buddha and associated memorials, emphasizing reverence, protection from conflict+ It is name which the historical Buddha Sakyamuni used when referring to himself as recorded in tripitaka of Pali Canon+ Refers to as “The one thus-come” or “The one thus-gone”+ Regarded as an Important term in Mahāyāna for understanding two types of lineages (textual transmission and realization transmission) found in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions.

Twisters: It is another name for a tornado which is a violently rotating column of air (500 km per hour) that extends from a thunderstorm cloud down to the ground+ They develop when moist and warm air collides with dry and cold air, creating atmospheric instability and strong updrafts within a thunderstorm+ The resulting wind shear causes the air to spin, and if this rotation is tilted vertically and intensifies, a tornado (or twister) forms+ Highest number of tornadoes occur in the USA’s region called “Tornado Alley” (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska)