NASA builds world's first flying observatory

NASA has fitted a 17-tonne telescope with an effective diameter of eight feet on a modified Boeing 747 jetliner that the US space agency is using as a flying observatory to study stars.

The infrared telescope called “Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy” (SOFIA) is mounted behind a sliding door that reveals it to the skies.

The jet can stay airborne for over 12 hours and its range is up to 6,625 nautical miles (7,624 miles).

According to NASA, “The data provided by SOFIA cannot be obtained by any other astronomical facility on the ground or in space.”

SOFIA is mobile, so it can better spot transient space events like supernovae and comets.

The telescope, built with the help from German Aerospace Centre (DLR), can easily be repaired or reprogrammed when necessary.

NASA plans SOFIA — now in Germany for its last extensive maintenance and refitting leg — to launch in 2015 which will keep flying for another 20 years, wired.com reported.

Russian award for Viswanathan Anand

Chess greats Viswanathan Anand (India) and Boris Gelfand (Israel) have been selected for the Russian Federation’s ‘Order of Friendship’ award, according to a FIDE release on Friday.

The awards recognise foreign nationals’ contribution to expanding friendship and cooperation with the Russian Federation and to the development of economic, scientific and cultural ties.

Anand and Gelfand played the FIDE world chess championship match at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in 2012.

Shariat court and fatwas have no legal sanction, Supreme Court says

 The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that fatwas have no legal sanction. The apex court said that either Darul Qaza or any mufti cannot issue fatwas and try to enforce against a person who has not approached for religious opinion.

The SC said religion or faith cannot be used to victimize innocents.

The SC said no law has given any recognition to fatwas.

The apex court cited the Imrana case and said fatwas can cause irreparable damage to the rights of an individual.

The SC said though religious opinion as fatwas have a laudable object, it cannot be enforced the moment it breaches the fundamental rights of a person.

A bench headed by Justice C K Prasad said that no religion, including Islam, allows punishing innocent persons and ordered that no 'Darul Qaza' should give verdict which affects rights of a person who is not before it.

The court passed the verdict on a PIL filed by advocate Vishwa Lochan Madam questioning the constitutional validity of Shariat courts which allegedly run a parallel judicial system in the country.

All India Personal Law Board had earlier submitted that fatwa was not binding on people and it was just an opinion of a 'mufti' (cleric) and he has no power and authority to implement it.

The counsel, appearing for the board, had said if a fatwa was sought to be implemented against the wish of the person concerned, then he could approach the court of law against it.

The petitioner had submitted that the fundamental rights of Muslims could not be controlled and curtailed through fatwas issued by 'qazis' and 'muftis' appointed by Muslim organizations.

Rangarajan defends poverty estimates; Says meet global norms

Defending his calculation that three out of 10 in India are poor, former PMEAC Chairman C Rangarajan today said poverty numbers provided by him are not conservative estimates and they are at par with global standards.

The expert group headed by Rangarajan dismissed the Suresh Tendulkar Committee methodology on estimating poverty and estimated that the number of poor in India was much higher in 2011-12 at 29.5 per cent of the population.

As per the Rangarajan panel's estimates, three out of 10 in India would be poor. Estimates based on Tendulkar committee methodology, had pegged the poverty ratio at 21.9 in 2011-12.

"I dont think that it is conservative (poverty) estimates. In my view it is reasonable estimates. We have derived poverty estimates independently," Rangarajan told 'Times Now'.

He was responding to the criticism that anyone spending more than Rs 47 per day in cities and Rs 32 in villages would not be poor.

Elaborating further he said, "The World Bank also talks about purchasing power parity terms. The minimum expenditure per day.

They are talking about about USD 2 per day whereas our estimates comes to USD 2.4. Therefore it (our poverty estimates) is in keeping with the international standards".

He explained that the benefits are not being provided on the basis of any poverty line as in the case of food security law which would benefit 67 per cent of the population.

The noted economist believes that it is measure of poverty and measure of understanding how economy is moving. But apart from it there is no immediate policy implication.

He urged the people to look at the poverty line in terms of a household's consumption expenditure per month which is estimated at Rs 4,860 in villages and Rs 7,035 for cities for a family of five people.

Apart from the private consumption expenditure, people also benefit from public expenditure on health, education and other facilities, he said, adding: "poverty line is at appropriate level".

"All of these spendings have gone up in the recent past. That explains why urban poverty ratio is much higher in our estimation," he said.

As per the report submitted by Rangarajan to Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh earlier, persons spending below Rs 47 a day in cities would be considered poor, much above the Rs 33-per-day mark suggested by the Suresh Tendulkar Committee.

As per Rangarajan panel estimates, a person spending less than Rs 1,407 a month (Rs 47/day) would be considered poor in cities, as against the Tendulkar Committee's suggestion of Rs 1,000 a month (Rs 33/day).

In villages, those spending less than Rs 972 a month (Rs 32/day) would be considered poor. This is much higher than Rs 816 a month (Rs 27/day) recommended by Tendulkar Committee.

In absolute terms, the number of poor in India stood at 36.3 crore in 2011-12, down from 45.4 crore in 2009-10, as per the Rangarajan panel. Tendulkar Committee, however, had suggested that the number of poor was 35.4 crore in 2009-10 and 26.9 crore in 2011-12

Law Commission of India Submits its Report on Setting Up New Courts in the Country

    Law Commission of India today submitted its report “Manpower Planning in Judiciary: A Blue Print” to Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law & Justice and Communications & IT. 

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the report will guide the Government in overcoming the shortage of judges in the judiciary.  Efforts made by the Government for filling up vacancies of judges and setting up new courts would soon lead to curbing of delays and timely delivery of justice to citizens.   Government has already written to Chief Justice of India for filling up the existing vacancies of High Courts and subordinate Courts.  Law Minister gave the assurance that the Government would give serious consideration to the recommendations of the Report and in principle decision has already been taken to increase the number of judges by 20 per cent.  Six States in India: Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Odisha and Punjab have already acceded to this request.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Ajit Prakash Shah, Chairman, Law Commission of India, said that the Commission has tried to use scientific formula to the extent possible to estimate the number of judges needed in the country.

Some of the highlights of the conclusions and recommendations are as below:-

i)             Recruitment of new judges should focus, as a matter of priority, on the number of judges required to breakeven and to dispose of the backlog, in a 3 year time frame;



ii)            Age of retirement of Subordinate judges be raised to 62.



iii)           Special morning and evening Courts be set up for dealing with Traffic/ Police Challan cases which constitute 38.7% of the institutions and 37.4% of all pending cases in the last three years before the Subordinate Judicial Services.

iv)           Recent law graduates may be appointed for short durations, e.g. 3 years, to preside over these special traffic Courts.



v)            Adequate provisions be made for staff and infrastructure required for the working of additional Courts.



vi)           High Courts be directed to evolve uniform data collection and data management methods in order to ensure transparency and to facilitate data based policy prescriptions for the judicial system.



vii)         Creation of additional Courts is one amongst various measures required to ensure timely justice and facilitate access to justice. The Commission recognizes that apart from increasing judge strength, many other measures have to be undertaken for reducing delays, including the application of good judicial management practices such as putting into place timeliness and performance benchmarks.

Solar panels will be installed on the platform roofs to generate 1 MW power

The Railways is planning to generate 1 MW solar power at the New Delhi railway station by installing solar panels on the platform roofs. Officials said the power project that will be implemented on a public private partnership model is a part of the Railways’ initiative to convert some of its stations into ‘green buildings’.

“A consultant has been roped in to conduct the feasibility study. While we plan to install solar panels on roof tops of the platform and the station building, the consultant has been asked to identify the exact locations on the station premises where solar panels can be installed, apart from the cost of installation,” said Anurag Sachan, Divisional Railway Manager (Delhi).

“As per the initial plans, the private partner will install the solar panels and generate power and the Railways will buy power at a pre-determined rate,” he added.

According to railway officials, the New Delhi railway station is spread over an area of the 6,38,467 sq m, including the yard area. Around 4,21,388 sq m of the total is built-up area. The station has 16 platforms. Officials said with no major high rises located in the vicinity of the station premise, generating 1 MW solar power is achievable.

“Once operational, around 25 per cent of the energy requirements at the New Delhi station, which has an average daily demand of over 4 MW, can be met just by solar power,” a senior Northern Railway official said.

Apart from the New Delhi station, the public transporter is also working at converting more stations in the Delhi Division like Bahadurgarh, Deewana and Gurgaon into green buildings. Solar power plants will also be installed at other major stations in the city like Old Delhi, Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar and Bijwasan.

“Once the pilot project at the New Delhi station becomes successful, we will have a model that could be replicated at other stations in Delhi,” a senior Northern Railway official said.

With the Narendra Modi government emphasising on harnessing solar power and taking lessons from solar projects in Gujarat, sources said the initiatives in the field are likely to get priority and easy clearances from the Ministry.

Sources said after senior railway officials made a presentation before the Prime Minister, he instructed the department to “use solar energy more aggressively and install them on the roofs of station buildings and other areas, apart from considering installation of solar panels atop the train coaches”.

“Installation of solar panels on train coaches is possible. It can meet the general requirements like lighting bulbs and running fans in the trains. An experiment is also being done with a toy train running on the Shimla-Kalka route,” an official said.

4 Indian-Americans honoured in US on Independence

Microsoft Corp chief executive Satya Nadella, Comedian and actor Aasif Mandvi, Carnegie Mellon University president Subra Suresh and former president of the University of West Georgia, Beheruz Sethna were honoured along with 36 others, the Wall Street Journal reported. File photo -Reuters

Four Indian-Americans were among 40 people who were honoured for their contributions to the US in the annual Great Immigrants tribute in New York on the country's independence day.

Microsoft Corp chief executive Satya Nadella, Comedian and actor Aasif Mandvi, Carnegie Mellon University president Subra Suresh and former president of the University of West Georgia, Beheruz Sethna were honoured along with 36 others, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Hyderabad-born Nadella created quite a stir recently by becoming one of the most powerful leaders in technology after taking over as head of the Microsoft Corp. He studied electronics and communication engineering before heading to the US in the 1980s.

Mumbai-born Mandvi first moved to England before migrating to the US when he was 16. He became famous as a correspondent on "The Daily Show," where he was known for his satire on issues such as Islam, the Middle East and South Asia.

Suresh, who is an engineer and scientist, was born in Chennai and moved to the US to work on a postgraduate science degree, graduating in 1979. He is the ninth president of the Carnegie Mellon University.

He served as director of the National Science Foundation from 2010 to 2013. Appointed by US President Barack Obama, he led the federal science agency in its mission to advance the fields of science and engineering research.

Sethna was born in India in 1948 and served as the sixth president of the University of West Georgia – the first Indian-American to lead a university in the US.

The July 4 event was sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation, a foundation started by a Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie who spearheaded the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and was himself one of the most well-known philanthropists of his time