ISRO successfully launches Indo-French satellite 'SARAL', six mini satellites
The 'SARAL' is aimed at oceanographic studies. Apart from 'SARAL, 'six foreign mini and micro satellites were also launched on the PSLV from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C20 was launched from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 6.01 p.m., a television channel said.
It was initally slated for blast-off at 5.56 p.m. local time.
President Pranab Mukherjee was also present at the mega launch.
The 59-hour countdown for the launch commenced at 6.56 a.m. on Saturday.
This is the 23rd mission of PSLV, which has an impeccable record of 21 consecutive successful flights.
This is the ninth time ISRO is using the 'core alone' variant of the rocket.
The 668.5 kgs and 44.4 metres tall rocket will have a lift off mass of 229.7 tonnes. Besides SARAL, two micro-satellites-UniBRITE and BRITE from Austria, AAUSAT3 from Denmark, STRaND from United Kingdom, Micro-satellite NEOSSat and Mini-satellite SAPPHIRE from Canada, were launched from the spaceport on Monday evening.
ISRO had initially planned to launch SARAL on December 12 last year but postponed it to carry out additional tests to "address technical issues to ensure reliability".
The ISRO-built SARAL is a 410-kg satellite with payloads-Argos and Altika-from French space agency CNES for study of ocean parameters towards enhancing the understanding of the ocean state conditions which are otherwise not covered by the in-situ measurements.
SARAL will provide data products to operational and research user communities, in support of marine meteorology and sea state forecasting; operational oceanography; seasonal forecasting; climate monitoring; ocean, earth system and climate research, the officials said.
Altimeter (Altika) would help study the sea surface heights while Argos payload is a satellite-based data collection platform. (ANI with inputs)
Operation Three Star - codename for Afzal Guru hanging
NEW DELHI :'Operation Three Star' was the code name of the entire top secret plan in which Jaish-e -Mohammad terrorist Afzal Guru was hanged in the high-security Tihar Jail on Saturday morning.
The operation had started on February 4, a day after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the mercy petition of the Parliament attack convict paving the way for his execution.
The operation had started on February 4, a day after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the mercy petition of the Parliament attack convict paving the way for his execution.
"Every minute step of the operation was finalised extremely carefully so that the information does not go out. All those involved in the operation maintained highest level of secrecy," said the sources.
Guru, a medical college dropout and resident of Sopore in north Kashmir, was executed at 8 AM on Saturday and buried on the prison premises.
Under the operation, a magistrate was approached on February 6 to get a black warrant issued for hanging of Guru.
Tihar jail authorities received a copy of the black warrant at around 11:30 PM on February 6 and authorities got a letter ready to be sent to Guru's family past midnight at 12:10 AM (February 7).
Though letter was dated February 6, it was sent to the family on the morning of February 7 and reached his family today, 51 hours after he was executed.
'X' was the code name of the operation in which Ajmal Kasab, the lone Pakistani gunman caught alive after the Mumbai terror attack, was hanged to death at Pune's Yerwada Central Jail on November 21.
On death row for over 10 years after conviction for his role in aiding and abetting the attack, a special court had sentenced Guru to death in December 2002 which was upheld by the Supreme Court on August 4, 2005.
Guru was found guilty of conspiring and sheltering the militants who attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001, in which nine persons were killed.
The mercy plea of Guru was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on February 3.
Japanese aid agency appreciates Tamil Nadu governmentPTI Jun 19, 2013,
CHENNAI:
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is funding various
infrastructure projects in Tamil Nadu, today pledged its continued
support for the state in taking up such projects.
JICA President Akihiko Tanaka gave the assurance during a meeting with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at the secretariat here.
He appreciated the rapid implementation of many infrastructure projects by the Chief Minister and promised continued support for such projects in Tamil Nadu, an official release said.
JICA President Akihiko Tanaka gave the assurance during a meeting with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at the secretariat here.
He appreciated the rapid implementation of many infrastructure projects by the Chief Minister and promised continued support for such projects in Tamil Nadu, an official release said.
JICA is also assisting in Tamil Nadu Afforestation Project-II, Hogenakkal Water Supply and Fluorosis Mitigation Project, Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Project, Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Conservation and Greening Project and Chennai Metro Rail Project.
With the agency's assistance of Rs 3,410 crore, a new Tamil Nadu Transmission System Improvement Project was to be implemented this year, it said.
Jayalalithaa also pointed out that more than 400 Japanese companies have already invested in the state, while many more, including small and medium enterprises, were very keen to invest.
She indicated her happiness that this programme came in for special mention in the bilateral communique issued after the recent visit of the Prime Minister of India to Japan and looked forward to the early signing of the loan agreement.
She also expressed hope that JICA will consider partnering with the state government in implementing Chennai Waterways Restoration Project, components of State Highways Development Project, upgrading Urban Infrastructure in extended areas of the city and the Madurai-Tuticorin Industrial Corridor, for which "JICA could consider for financing in the next financial year," the release said.
Masataka Nakahara, Director General, South Asia Department of JICA and Masanori Nakano, Consul General of Japan, were also present during the meeting.
India sharing largest boundary with which country?
India has 15,106.7 km of land border and a coastline of 7,516.6 km
including island territories. The length of our land borders with
neighbouring countries is as under :
Name of the country:Length of the border (in km)
Bangladesh:4,096.7
China:3,488
Pakistan:3,323
Nepal:1,751
Myanmar:1,643
Bhutan: 699
Bangladesh:4,096.7
China:3,488
Pakistan:3,323
Nepal:1,751
Myanmar:1,643
Bhutan: 699
Afghanistan: 106
Roshni will light the way for rural youth: Jairam
The HIndu
BRIGHT IDEA: Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh launches
Roshni, an initiative by the Centre to provide job-specific skill
development in areas worst-hit by Maoists, in New Delhi on Friday.
Photo: Rajeev Bhatt
Placement-linked skill-development for 50,000 beneficiaries
In a bid to further reach out to rural youth in the
country’s 24 most critical Left-Wing-Extremism-affected districts, the
Centre on Friday introduced a placement-oriented skill-development
scheme targeting 50,000 persons, mostly tribals.
Launching
“Roshni”, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said at least 50 per
cent of the candidates covered under the scheme would be women and
extra efforts would be made to proactively cover Particularly Vulnerable
Tribal Groups (PVTGs) on a priority basis.
Mr. Ramesh said Roshni would show a “new path” to the youths being targeted by the Maoists.
The
programme entails providing beneficiaries aged between 18-35 years with
requisite training for the trade or job chosen as per the Participatory
Identification of Poor.
The launch of Roshni comes
soon after the brutal Maoist attack on a Congress Convey in
Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district in which nearly 16 people, including two
senior Congress leaders, were killed.
Additionally,
Mr. Ramesh said the employment programme would be on the lines of
‘Himayat’, being run in Jammu and Kashmir, and two pilot projects being
run in Jharkhand’s west Singhbhum and Chhattisgarh’s Sukma districts.
The
training will be imparted through public-private and public
partnerships. Four training modules of durations ranging from three
months to one year shall be taken up to meet the diverse needs of the
youth, depending on their entry-level qualifications.
Placement-linked,
market-driven, fully-residential skills training will be provided in
fields such as tailoring, construction, mobile repairing, nursing and
retail.
Placement assurance
“The training
providers will ensure 75 per cent placement defined as continuous
employment for three months at higher than minimum wages. Placements
will be provided anywhere in India,” said Mr. Ramesh.
Several
training strategies will be used for diverse groups of youths, ranging
from school dropouts to those with college education.
“The
training providers will ensure 75-per-cent placement defined as
continuous employment for three months at higher than minimum wages.
Placements will be provided anywhere in India,” he said.
The projects will be funded jointly by the Central and State governments in the ratio of 75:25.
Six
districts each from Jharkhand and Odisha, five from Chhattisgarh, two
from Bihar and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,
Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have been chosen for the scheme, which
will be implemented at a cost of Rs.100 crore over the next three years.
International Union for Conservation of Nature:
 |
|
| Founded | October 1948, Fontainebleau, France |
|---|---|
| Type | International organization |
| Focus | Nature conservation, biodiversity, Nature-based solutions |
| Location |
|
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Julia Marton-Lefèvre (Director General) Zhang Xinsheng (President) |
| Employees | Over 1,000 (worldwide) |
| Mission | Influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable |
| Website | IUCN |
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