Barack Obama's visit to India 2015

During his three-day visit starting January 25, US President Barack Obama will have a tight schedule in India. 

Here are 10 important things you should definitely know about Obama's visit to India:-

1. Obama will be the first US President to be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade in India. 

2. During his visit to attend the Republic Day celebrations in India, Obama will be accompanied by his wife Michelle Obama and a team of senior officials in his administration.

3. According to the sources

, the following are coming to Delhi from the US:

Six aircrafts, carrying security staff

President's cavalcade, with 30 cars. One of them might be the Cadillac One, among the world's most high tech cars. 

Marine One helicopters

Air Force One, Obama's plane  (equipped to protect Obama even from nuclear attack)

4. During the Day 1 of his three-day visit, the American president and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi are likely to hold comprehensive talks on the entire gamut of bilateral ties and discuss ways to enhance cooperation in key components, including civil nuclear and defence pacts.

The visit is also expected to boost the seven- year-old civil nuclear deal, facilitating the establishment of US-designed nuclear power plants in India.

5. On second day of the visit, Obama will attend the Republic Day parade and later, along with Modi, will reportedly take part in Indo-US CEO roundtable.

6. On the final day of the visit, Obama is expected to address a town hall.

7. Before his departure from India, Obama and his wife also have a plan to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra.

8. Ahead of Obama's visit, there is already a flurry of terror threats coming everyday from different parts of the country. 

While the Islamic State (ISIS) has threatened the Mumbai Airport by scribbling notes with threat messages twice, Indian Army has imposed high alert in Jammu and Kashmir with the news of militant insurgency in the state. 

9. After input from Intelligence agencies that bombs could be hidden anywhere, Special Cell and Crime Branch officers have been asked to be vigilant about the flower pots around Rajpath and India Gate, 24/7.

10. To beef up the security systems, high level of planning has been done that will cover both on-ground and air security for Obama.

The American team has put together the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) of the US. 

While India is putting together the Delhi Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Intelligence Bureau and Air traffic controllers to strengthen the security plan. 

India blocks 32 websites, including Vimeo and Github

The Indian government has blocked access to 32 websites based on the advice of an anti-terrorism team. The blocked URLs (uniform resource locator, an address to any website on the Internet) include files, videos and source code-sharing websites such as dailymotion.com, github.com, vimeo.com and archive.org. In an order, tweeted by Pranesh Prakash, policy director at the Bengaluru-based research organization Centre for Internet and Society on Wednesday, the department of telecom said the 32 URLs had been blocked under Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and under Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009. “The websites that have been blocked were based on an advisory by Anti Terrorism Squad, and were carrying anti-India content from ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria),” Arvind Gupta, head of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s information technology cell, said in a message on Twitter. His tweet came in response to a backlash to the move from Internet users. “The sites that have removed objectionable content and/or cooperated with the ongoing investigations, are being unblocked,” he added. If Internet service providers (ISPs) don’t comply with the demand, they are liable to being penalized, the order said. The rules give the central government powers to block access to information if it is in the interest of the “sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above.” Intermediaries failing to comply with the rules are punishable with fines and prison terms of up to seven years, it notes. “Pastebin is still blocked in India. We are getting many reports about this. The Indian government has blocked us...,” said one of the source code sharing websites, Pastebin.com, in a tweet. This is not the first time the government has cracked down on websites. A recent report by Freedom House, an independent watchdog, said the information ministry received a total of 130 court orders to block Web content between February 2009 and December 2013. In February 2014, the then minister of communication and information technology told Parliament that 62 URLs were blocked in 2013 under Section 69A for hosting objectionable information with the potential to disturb public order. As many as 82 URLs were blocked on 18 September 2013 in addition to 26 blocked a week earlier after violence escalated between Hindu and Muslim communities in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. A total of 362 URLs were blocked in response to communal violence in the northeast, the report said. “The problem isn’t just about the specific sites that are blocked; the prob(lem) always about the bad law...,” tweeted Prakash. “The 69A rules don’t allow for transparency, accountability, time-limits on blocks, etc.

ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission

An Indian space probe has successfully entered Mars' orbit, marking the first interplanetary mission for the country.

Scientists broke into wild cheers Wednesday morning local time as the orbiter's engines completed 24 minutes of burn time and maneuvered into its designated place around the red planet.

The success of India's Mars Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, brings India into an elite club of Martian explorers that includes United States, the European Space Agency and the former Soviet Union.

The Indian Space and Research Organisation described the mission as flawless.

"We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, standing alongside ISRO scientists at the command center in the southern tech hub of Bangalore. "We have navigated our craft through a route known to very few."

India is the first country to reach Mars’ orbit on a maiden venture and the first Asian country to launch a successful Mars mission, all with a much cheaper price tag than any Mars mission before it.

NASA congratulated the ISRO for the successful mission on Twitter(https://twitter.com/NASA/status/514606971450712064/photo/1).

And the ISRO amplified its moment in the spotlight with a little humor, referencing NASA's own historic Mars-related feat in a tweet after getting a welcome message from Curiosity's Twitter handle.

India is the least expensive destination for foreign education

This is according to HSBC's latest survey-The Value of Education:Springboard for success