Mars Orbiter Spacecraft Successfully Inserted Into Mars Orbit

India’s Mars Orbiter Spacecraft successfully entered into an orbit around planet Mars today morning (September 24, 2014) by firing its 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) along with eight smaller liquid engines. This Liquid Engines firing operation which began at 07:17:32 Hrs IST lasted for 1388.67 seconds which changed the velocity of the spacecraft by 1099 metre/sec. With this operation, the spacecraft entered into an elliptical orbit around Mars. Honourable Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi, was present at ISRO’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore to witness this important event. Other dignitaries who were present at ISTRAC include His Excellency Governor of Karnataka, Mr Vajubhai R Vala, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Mr D V Sadananda Gowda, Hon’ble Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mr Ananth Kumar, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr Siddaramaiah, Hon’ble Minister of State (Space), Dr Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Mr G M Siddeswara, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Mr Prahlad V Joshi, Hon’ble Minister of Transport, Government of Karnataka, Mr Ramalinga Reddy and Hon’ble Member of Legislative Assembly, Government of Karnataka, Mr Muniraju S. Prof U R Rao, former chairman, ISRO and Prof Yash Pal, former director, Space Applications Centre, were also present. The events related to Mars Orbit Insertion progressed satisfactorily and the spacecraft performance was normal. The Spacecraft is now circling Mars in an orbit whose nearest point to Mars (periapsis) is at 421.7 km and farthest point (apoapsis) at 76,993.6 km. The inclination of orbit with respect to the equatorial plane of Mars is 150 degree, as intended. In this orbit, the spacecraft takes 72 hours 51 minutes 51 seconds to go round the Mars once. Mars Orbiter Spacecraft was launched on-board India’s workhorse launch vehicle PSLV on November 05, 2013 into a parking orbit around the Earth. On December 01, 2013, following Trans Mars Injection (TMI) manoeuvre, the spacecraft escaped from orbiting the earth and followed a path that would allow it to encounter Mars on September 24, 2014. With today’s successful Mars Orbit Insertion operation, ISRO has become the fourth space agency to successfully send a spacecraft to Mars orbit. In the coming weeks, the spacecraft will be thoroughly tested in the Mars orbit and the systematic observation of that planet using its five scientific instruments would begin.

India's participation in the Thirty Metre Telescope Project at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for India`s participation in the Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT) Project at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA at a total cost of Rs. 1299.8 crores from 2014-23. The TMT will be constructed at a cost of US$ 1.47 billion (in 2012 Base Year Dollars) by an international consortium consisting of institutions from the USA, Canada, Japan, India and China. From the Indian side, this will be a joint project of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). With its contributions, India will be a 10 percent partner in the project and 70 percent of its contributions will be "in kind". This will translate into 25 to 30 observing nights on the telescope for Indian scientists per year. This will enable Indian scientists to access a state-of-the-art telescope to answer some of the most fundamental questions in modern science. Indian institutions and industry will acquire or gain access to sophisticated technologies of relevance to the country. India will also become a founding member of an important international scientific project. The TMT will enable scientists to study fainter objects far away from us in the Universe, which gives information about early stages of the evolution of the Universe. It will also give finer details of not-so-far-away objects such as undiscovered planets and other objects in the Solar System and planets around other stars. This partnership will also enhance India’s technological capabilities in high-technology areas such as primary mirror segment figuring and polishing, mirror support system and edge sensor assembly and testing, software for observatory controls, data analysis pipelines, adaptive optics techniques etc. The TMT will be one of the largest optical-infrared telescopes to come up in the next decade. Its 30 metre diameter primary mirror will consist of 492 segments of 1.44 metre diameter each. These mirror segments will be cleverly positioned relative to each other through sophisticated sensors, actuators and control systems, so that the entire assembly behaves like single monolithic mirror. Its performance will be further improved by employing "adaptive optics" techniques thereby achieving performance as if the telescope is located above the Earth`s atmosphere. This will be a national project anchored in the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore and led by IIA, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune. It will leverage the best of science and technology from wherever available in the country - from R&D institutions, higher educational institutions and industry. All interested scientists from the country will get time on the TMT for their scientific studies on competitive basis. The implementation of the project will be overseen by a high-level Executive Council co-chaired by Secretary, Department of Science and Technology and Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy.

Memorandum of Understanding between India and United States for cooperation in gas hydrates

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and the United States for cooperation in gas hydrates for a period of five years. Cooperation with the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) in the field of gas hydrates, will facilitate active participation of the National Gas Hydrate Programme (NGHP) and DOE scientists in data collection, analysis and identification of sites for pilot production testing. This would be under the planned NGHP Expedition-02 and 03 in deep water areas of the Eastern, Western and Andaman Sea. Exchange of scientific and technical information will help Indian scientists enhance understanding of Indian gas hydrates and keep them abreast with international developments. Gas hydrates are considered as vast resources of natural gas and are known to occur in marine sediments on continental shelf margins. Worldwide work on gas hydrates is at a Research and Development stage and no commercial exploitation has so far been reported. Gas hydrate resources in India are estimated at 1894 TCM and these deposits occur in Western, Eastern and Andaman offshore areas. Cooperation with the USDOE in the field of gas hydrates, will facilitate active participation of the NGHP and DOE scientists in data collection, analysis and identification of sites for pilot production testing, under the planned NGHP Expedition-02 and 03 in deep water areas of the Eastern, Western and Andaman Sea. Background:  The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) has formulated the NGHP in 2000. NGHP Expedition-01 launched in 2006, had established presence of gas hydrates in KG and Mahanadi basins and Andaman deep waters. NGHP Expedition-02 and 03 are under advanced stage of planning and are due in the period 2014 - 2017. 20 sand prone sites are planned to be cored and 40 wells are planned to be drilled. Based on this data, sites for pilot production testing will be identified and production planned to be carried out under Expedition - 03.

India and United States of America for cooperation in the field of higher education for implementation of Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN)

Joint Declaration of Intent between India and United States of America for cooperation in the field of higher education for implementation of Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) programme

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for signing a Joint Declaration between the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) of India and the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States of America, to initiate a new program entitled Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education. GIAN aims at tapping the talent pool of scientists and entrepreneurs to engage with the institutes of higher education in India to augment the country`s existing academic resources, accelerate the pace of quality reforms, and further strengthen India`s scientific and technological capabilities. The proposed India-US Cooperation will be beneficial for adoption of newer methods of pedagogy; infuse creativity and innovation driven learning and professional rigour at a relatively lower cost; boosting research in cutting edge technologies and to build stronger academic networks between both countries. The US faculty would undertake teaching at Indian Universities, networked research initiatives in topics of mutual interest and development of international entrepreneurship programmes by making the curriculum more industry oriented for better employability. The proposal envisages the creation of a channel for US academics in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to spend part of their time teaching in academic and research institutions across India. To start with, the programme would facilitate inviting up to 1000 faculty every year from amongst the best institutions in the US, who will be deputed to identified institutions in India.

Indo-US partnership for Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM)

Joint Declaration of Intent for cooperation in the field of higher education for Indo-US partnership for Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), a programme for Online Education

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for signing of a Joint Declaration of Intent between the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the U.S. Department of State for cooperation in the field of higher education for Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), a programme for online education. Under the cooperation, the SWAYAM platform server will be based in India and US universities will be invited to offer post-graduate academic programs with certification on the SWAYAM platform. The new Indo-US Partnership for Online Education (IUPOE) programme will comprise a mechanism that will enable the top universities of the US (top 100 in global ranking ) to create and share post graduate online courses (and associated assets) on the Indian "SWAYAM" platform. SWAYAM is an online platform of the Ministry of HRD through which online programmes/courses will be offered to students in India. Each American University will share courses created by its top educators. The cooperation programme will be integrated to strengthen the National Mission on Education through the use of ICT (NMEICT) in India.

Restructuring of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan into Swachh Bharat Mission

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for restructuring of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) into Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and revision in the components of the programme as follows :- i. NBA will be restructured into the Swachh Bharat Mission with two sub-Missions - Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). Budgetary provisions for the two sub-Missions will be provided separately in the demand for Grant of the Ministries of Drinking Water and Sanitation (for Gramin) and Ministry of Urban Development (for Urban). Necessary changes will be made from the RE Budget for 2014-15 onwards. The Mission will be kick-started on 2nd October 2014. If necessary, funds may be provided by re-appropriation or from the Contingency Fund. ii. Enhance the Unit cost of the Individual Household Latrine (IHHL) from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 12,000 so as to provide for water availability, including for storing, hand-washing and cleaning of toilets. iii. Central share for IHHLs to be Rs. 9,000 (75 percent) from Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin). The State share to be Rs. 3,000 (25 percent). For North Eastern States, Jammu and Kashmir and Special category States, the Central share will be 10,800 and the State share Rs. 1,200 (90 percent:10 percent). Additional contributions from other sources will be permitted. iv. Provision to be included in the Indira Awas Yojana Programme for provision of functional toilets. Till such provision is made, existing arrangement of funding will be continued from the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin). v. Provision for Information, Education and Communication (IEC) will be at 8 percent of total project cost, with 3 percent to be utilised at the Central level and 5 percent at State level. vi. Provision for Administrative Cost will be 2 percent of the project cost. Sharing pattern will be 75:25 between Centre and State. vii. Discontinue the part funding from MGNREGA for the payment of incentives for the construction of IHHLs and pay the entire amount of Government of India share from the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin). viii. All other components of the NBA that is Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) and Community Sanitary Complexes (CSCs) will be retained. SLWM funding will be at 75:25 sharing pattern. For CSCs it will be 60:30:10 (Centre: State: Community). CSCs will be constructed only when the Gram Panchayat takes the responsibility of ownership and a sustainable operation and maintenance system is assured. CSCs will include public toilets at markets/bus stands/ peri-urban areas/census towns etc., wherever ownership and operation and maintenance is assured. CSCs/public toilets will also be considered under Public Private Partnership (PPP)/VGF mode. ix. Transfer of the responsibility of construction of all School toilets to the Department of School Education and Literacy and of Anganwadi toilets to the Ministry of Women and Child Development. x. The strategy of implementation of the Sanitation Programme will focus on behaviour change, triggering of the population with regard to toilet construction, and their use. Triggering of communities for behaviour change and usage of toilets shall be given top priority to ensure increased demand, which will lead to use of assets created. Effective use of technology and media shall be done to communicate the message of the benefits of safe sanitation and hygiene. xi. Monitoring mechanism will be strengthened. Outputs (construction) and outcomes (usage) will be monitored. There should be comprehensive re-appraisal of the programme at end of the 12th Plan. xii. States shall prepare an implementation strategy (Annual Implementation Plan) in consultation with the Mission. States performing as per their Plans will be incentivized. States achieving their targets prior to scheduled dates shall be further incentivized. xiii. A menu of accredited technology options for toilets and SLWM projects shall be made available to the States by the Swachh Bharat Mission. The Mission will provide a list of minimal acceptable technologies for which assistance under this programme will be available. However, use of any superior technology will be permitted at additional cost to be borne by the beneficiary. xiv. Guidelines for the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) shall be issued. xv. The date of Implementation for the revised proposal to be with effect from 2.10.2014. It is expected that this initiative will significantly enhance the cleanliness of our villages, tackle the problem of open defecation, improve the quality of life in our villages, enhance the dignity and safety of women and children and lead to significant improve in the health parameters of the population. Background:  Efforts of the State Governments for promoting rural sanitation have been supplemented by the Central Government, till 1999 under the centrally sponsored Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP), from 1999 to 2012 under the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) and thereafter under the NBA. However, the interventions so far, have as per Census 2011 resulted in 32.70 percent of rural households having access to toilets in rural areas, while as per the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) 2013 estimates 40.6 percent of rural households have such access. The goal now is to achieve Swachh Bharat by 2019, as a fitting tribute to the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by improving the levels of cleanliness in rural areas and making Gram Panchayats Open Defecation Free (ODF). For this, the Swachh Bharat Mission will be launched with a new thrust to the sanitation programme, by removing bottlenecks that are hindering progress currently, and focusing on critical issues affecting outcomes. Swachh Bharat is proposed to be achieved through:- a) coverage of all rural households with IHHLs, cluster toilets, community toilets (including through PPP mode), construction of school and anganwadi toilets and SLWM activities in all Gram Panchayats; b) creation of enhanced demand, convergent action through various agencies and stakeholders with triggering through enhanced IEC, Inter Personal Communication (IPC); c) Strengthening of implementation and delivery mechanisms; d) Monitoring Outputs (construction) and Outcomes (use) at the Gram Panchayat and household levels leading to Swachh Bharat. Funding for these new initiatives will be through the following: • Budgetary allocations; • Contributions to the Swachh Bharat Kosh; • Through commitments under Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) • Funding assistance from multilateral sources

Establishment of the Clean Ganga Fund

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for establishment of the Clean Ganga Fund (CGF). The following broad activities will be financed from the Fund: a) Activities outlined under the ‘Namami Gange’ programme for cleaning of river Ganga. b) Control of non-point pollution from agricultural runoff, human defecation, cattle wallowing, etc. c) Setting up of waste treatment and disposal plants along the river around the cities. d) Conservation of the biotic diversity of the river. e) Community based activities to reduce polluting human interface with the river. f) Development of public amenities including activities such as Ghat redevelopment. g) Research and Development and innovative projects. h) Research and Development projects and innovative projects for new technology and processes for cleaning the river. i) Independent oversight through intensive monitoring and real time reporting. j) Any other activity as approved by the Trust. Considering that the measures taken till now are inadequate and a national effort is required to mobilize resources for improving the condition of the river Ganga, the Government announced the setting up of an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called "Namami Gange" and an initial sum of Rs. 2,037 crore has been allocated in the Union Budget 2014-15. The Cabinet has now agreed to set up "Clean Ganga Fund (CGF)" with voluntary contributions from residents of the country and Non-Resident Indian (NRIs) / Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and others to harness their enthusiasm to contribute towards the conservation of the river Ganga. The Fund will have the objective of contributing to the national effort of cleaning of the river Ganga. Domestic donors to the Fund shall be eligible for tax benefits as applicable in the case of the Swachh Bharat Kosh. The Fund would be managed by a Trust to be headed by Finance Minister. The secretariat of the Trust will be set up in Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation under the Mission Director, Clean Ganga. Background:  The Ganga Action Plan was launched on 14th January 1986 with the main objective of pollution abatement, to improve water quality by interception, diversion and treatment of domestic sewage and toxic and industrial chemical wastes present, from identified grossly polluting units entering in to the river. After reviewing the effectiveness of the "Ganga Action Plan", the Government announced the "Mission Clean Ganga" project on 31st December, 2009 with the objective that by 2020, no municipal sewage and industrial waste would be released in the river without treatment, with the total budget of around Rs.15,000 crore. The Government also established the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), chaired by the Prime Minister, with the objective to ensure effective abatement of pollution and conservation of the river Ganga, by adopting a river basin approach for comprehensive planning and management. The proposal to set up CGF is to attract private contributions globally for increasing people`s participation in this massive task. As this would also cover NRIs, CGF would also fulfil the Budget announcement in the Regular Budget 2014-15. Considering that the measures taken till now are not adequate and a national effort is required to mobilize resources for improving the condition of the river Ganga, the Government has announced the setting up of an Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called "Namami Gange". Considering that there is a need to increase people`s participation from across the country and abroad, it is proposed to set up a "Clean Ganga Fund (CGF)" with voluntary contributions. The main features of CGF are: i. CGF will have the objective of contributing to the national effort of improving the cleanliness of the river Ganga with the contributions received from the residents of the country, NRIs/ PIO and others. ii. CGF will be operated through a bank account by a Trust. iii. Domestic donors to the fund shall be eligible for tax benefits as in the case of "Swachch Bharat Kosh". Foreign donors could get suitable tax exemptions in domestic law, wherever permissible. iv. CGF will explore the possibility of setting up daughter funds in other jurisdictions/countries of high donor interest such as USA, UK, Singapore, UAE, etc. to enable tax benefits to donors in their respective jurisdictions. v. CGF will be catalytic in nature and will identify and fund specific projects which could be pilot projects, R&D projects, innovative projects or other focused projects. The Fund will define specific and measurable objectives to form the basis for planning, funding, and evaluation. vi. Broad activities proposed to be financed from CGF include, inter alia, Activities outlined under the `Namami Gange` programme for cleaning of river Ganga; control of non-point pollution from agricultural runoff, human defecation, cattle wallowing etc.; setting up of waste treatment and disposal plants along the river around the cities; conservation of the biotic diversity of the river; community based activities to reduce polluting human interface with the river; Development of public amenities including activities such as Ghat redevelopment; R&D and innovative projects; Research and Development projects and innovative projects for new technology and processes for cleaning Ganga; independent oversight through intensive monitoring and real time reporting; any other activity as approved by Governing Council. This is an indicative list and can be expanded within the overall objective by the Governing Council. The Fund shall not be utilised for activities such as dredging. vii. CGF will be subject to such audit as required by law as well as audit by any agency determined by Government. CGF would be administered by a Trust to be chaired by Finance Minister and upto 8 members from different fields including NRIs, nominated by the Government. Secretary (Economic Affairs), Secretary (Overseas Indian Affairs), Secretary (Environment, Forest and Climate Changes) and Secretary (Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation) will be members. The CEO of the Fund will be the Member Secretary of the Trust. Two Secretaries from the concerned state governments shall be additional members on a rotation basis. Government may also nominate experts and / or persons of eminence in public life as expert invitees. The Secretariat of the Governing Council shall be set up in Ministry of Water Resources. The Mission Director shall be the CEO of the Fund unless a separate CEO is appointed. The Governing Council will prepare the norms, procedures, cost norms and operational guidelines for obtaining financing from the Fund, which will be notified by the National Mission for Clean Ganga.