International Organizations, Defence, Books & Authors, World History

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The name of the upper house of the European union is Council of the European Union. It is composed of twenty-eight national ministers (one per state).

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The United Nation Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre is an executive agency of UN Environment Programme, which is based in Cambridge (UK). It was previously managed by IUCN, UN Environment Programme and WWF.

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The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool developed by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) that measures and tracks hunger at global, regional, and national levels. It takes into account factors such as undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting, and child mortality to provide an overall assessment of hunger and malnutrition in various countries.

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Brahmos missile is able to engage ground targets from an altitude as low as 10 metres for surgical strikes without any collateral damage.

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The BIS was formed in 1930. The main actors in its establishment were the then-Governor of The Bank of England, Montagu Norman, and his German counterpart Hjalmar Schacht, later Adolf Hitler’s finance minister. The Bank was originally intended to facilitate reparation payments imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War. The need for the bank was suggested in 1929 by the Young Committee, and was agreed to in August of that year at a conference at the Hague. A charter for the bank was drafted at the International Bankers Conference at Baden Baden in November. The charter was adopted at a second Hague Conference on January 20, 1930

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The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) is a joint venture between India and Russia. The plant is located in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. It is the largest nuclear power station in India.
The plant was built as a result of an inter-governmental agreement signed in 1988 by then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The agreement called for the construction of two reactors of 2 GW. The first concrete for unit 1 was poured in March 2002, and for unit 2 four months later.
The reactors are pressurised water reactors of Russian design. The thermal capacity is 3,000 MW, the gross electrical capacity is 1,000 MW, and the net capacity is 917 MW.

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The famous Sufi poet, Amir khusro wrote a famous masnavi on the love story of Laila and Majnu, “Laila Majnu”. Excerpts of the works done by him are Tughluq Nama, Wast-ul-Hayat, Nuh Sipihr, Ashiqa, Khamsa, Baqia-Naqia, etc. He was the court poet of Alauddin Khilji and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, Delhi.

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During 11th century, a spiritual drama, Prabodha Chandrodaya (Rise of the moon of intellect) was written by Krishna Misra to  teach the Advaita doctrine to those who were interested in Kavya and not philosophy. He belong to the period of the Chandela ruler, Kirti Varman.

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Dhurjati composed Sri Kalahasteeshwara Mahatyam (The grace/miracles of lord Shiva) and Sri Kalahasteeshwara Satakam (100+ poems in the praise of lord Shiva). He was in the court of the Emperor Krishnadevaraya (1509-1529 AD) and was one of the Ashtadiggajas (the group of eight Telugu poets).

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Ratnavali, Priyadarsika and Nagananda are famous plays written by the powerful Indian Emperor Harsha