PSLV-C33 successfully launches

PSLV-C33 successfully launches

India's Seventh Navigation Satellite IRNSS-1G

In its thirty fifth flight (PSLV-C33), ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully launched the 1425 kg IRNSS-1G, the seventh satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) today afternoon from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the thirty fourth consecutively successful mission of PSLV and the thirteenth in its 'XL' configuration.

The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, heartily thanked and congratulated all the ISRO scientists and team ISRO for completing IRNSS constellation and dedicated IRNSS to the nation as ‘NavIC’ (Navigation Indian Constellation). He appreciated India’s space community for making the country proud through such achievements which have helped in improving the life of common man.

After PSLV-C33 lift-off at 1250 hrs (12:50 pm) IST from the First Launch Pad with the ignition of the first stage, the subsequent important flight events, namely, strap-on ignitions and separations, first stage separation, second stage ignition, heat-shield separation, second stage separation, third stage ignition and separation, fourth stage ignition and satellite injection, took place as planned. After a flight of 19 minutes 42 seconds, IRNSS-1G was injected into an elliptical orbit of 283 km X 20,718 km inclined at an angle of 17.867 degree to the equator (very close to the intended orbit) following which the satellite successfully separated from the PSLV fourth stage.

After separation, the solar panels of IRNSS-1G were deployed automatically. ISRO's Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan, Karnataka took over the control of the satellite. In the coming days, four orbit manoeuvres will be conducted from MCF to position the satellite in the Geostationary Orbit at 129.5 deg East longitude.

IRNSS-1G is the seventh of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, ID, IE and 1F, the first six satellites of the constellation, were successfully launched by PSLV on July 02, 2013, April 04, 2014, October 16, 2014, March 28, 2015, January 20, 2016 and March 10, 2016 respectively. All the six satellites are functioning satisfactorily from their designated orbital positions.

IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. IRNSS provides two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) - provided to all users and Restricted Services - (RS), provided to authorised users.

A number of ground facilities responsible for satellite ranging and monitoring, generation and transmission of navigation parameters, etc., have been established in eighteen locations across the country. Today’s successful launch of IRNSS-1G, the seventh and final member of IRNSS constellation, signifies the completion of the IRNSS constellation.

Heritage Status to Indian Sites by UNESCO

Heritage Status to Indian Sites by UNESCO

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is the nodal agency for forwarding any request for World Heritage status to any Indian site whether cultural or natural. Based on the proposals received from the Central or State Government agencies as well as management Trusts, etc., and after their due scrutiny, the Government forwards the nomination dossiers to the World Heritage Center. The list of places in India which have been granted World Heritage status by UNESCO is given below in Table-1.

There are 10 enlisted criteria (given below) for determining Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) for World Heritage nomination. The proposed nomination must satisfy at least one of these 10 criteria.

TABLE-1

CULTURAL SITES

UNDER PROTECTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA

S.No	Name of Site	State
1.	Ajanta Caves (1983)	Maharashtra
2.	Ellora Caves (1983)	Maharashtra
3.	Agra Fort (1983)	Uttar Pradesh
4.	Taj Mahal (1983)	Uttar Pradesh
5.	Sun Temple, Konarak (1984)	Odisha
6.	Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram (1984)	Tamil Nadu
7.	Churches and Convents of Goa (1986)	Goa
8.	Group of Temples, Khajuraho (1986)	Madhya Pradesh
9.	Group of Monuments at Hampi (1986)	Karnataka
10.	Group of Monuments, FatehpurSikri (1986)	Uttar Pradesh
11.	Group of Temples, Pattadakal (1987)	Karnataka
12.	Elephanta Caves ( 1987)	Maharashtra
13.	Great Living Chola temples at Thanjavur, Gangaikondacholapuram and Darasuram (1987 & 2004)	Tamil Nadu
14.	Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi (1989)	Madhya Pradesh
15.	Humayun’s  Tomb, Delhi (1993)	Delhi
16.	Qutb Minar Complex, Delhi (1993)	Delhi
17.	Prehistoric Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka (2003)	Madhya Pradesh
18.	Champaner-Pavagarh Archaeological Park (2004)	Gujarat
19.	Red Fort Complex, Delhi (2007)	Delhi
20.	Hill Forts of Rajasthan  (Chittaurgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Jaisalmer and Ranthambhore, Amber and Gagron Forts)      (2013) (Amber and Gagron Forts are under protection of Rajasthan State Archaeology and Museums)	Rajasthan
21.	Rani ki Vav (2014)	Gujarat

Under Protection of Ministry of Railways

22.	Mountain Railway of India ( Darjeeling,1999), Nilgiri (2005), Kalka-Shimla(2008)	West Bengal,  Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh
23.	Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) (2004)	Maharashtra

Under Protection of Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee

24.

Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya (2002)

Bihar

Under Protection of Rajasthan State Archaeology and Museums Department

25.

Jantar Mantar, Jaipur (2010)

Rajasthan

NATURAL SITES

Under Protection of Ministry of Environment & Forest

26.	Kaziranga National Park (1985)	Assam
27.	Manas Wild Life Sanctuary (1985)	Assam
28.	Keoladeo National Park (1985)	Rajasthan
29.	Sunderban National Park (1987)	West Bengal
30.	Nanda Devi  and Valley of Flowers National Parks (1988, 2005)	Uttarakhand
31.	Western Ghats (2012)	Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra,Tamil Nadu
32.	Great Himalayan National Park (2014)	Himachal Pradesh

CRITERIA FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF OUTSTANDING UNIVERSAL VALUE (OUV) AS PER UNESCO’S OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES

(i)	to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;
(ii)	to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a   cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;
(iii)	to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;
(iv)	to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological   ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;
(v)	to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;
(vi)	to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria.
(vii)	to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
(viii)	to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;
(ix)	to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;
(x)	to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

Launching of GSAT-11

Launching of GSAT-11

India has plan to realise GSAT-11 spacecraft for launch during the end of 2016 or first quarter of 2017. GSAT-11 is a first generation high throughput communication satellite with a lift-off mass of about 5600 kg, operating in Ka/Ku bands. It is a multi-beam satellite with 32 user beams and 8 hub beams over India.

It is planned to launch GSAT-11 spacecraft using procured launch services. At present, the indigenous capability to launch this weight class of satellite is not available.

The in-orbit testing of GSAT-11 satellite is planned to be conducted from the Master Control Facility (MCF) in Hassan, Karnataka and other suitable locations of ISRO Centres.

The spacecraft capability includes providing broadband connectivity to rural areas with higher bandwidth as compared to traditional communication satellites.

Thirty Metre Telescope

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project is the joint responsibility of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) from India. As per the information provided by Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) under DST, the TMT is an international project being funded by scientific organisations of Canada, China, India, Japan and USA. The Evaluation process for an appropriate site includes scientific suitability (water vapour in the atmosphere, atmospheric turbulence and number of cloud-free nights in a year), infrastructure and logistics for setting-up of such a large international scientific project. While Mauna Kea, Hawaii is the preferred choice for the TMT project, given the large investments that have already been made and committed, the project is also looking at alternate sites both in the northern and southern hemispheres. Hanle, Ladakh is one of the sites being evaluated for hosting the telescope. Hanle being the protected area in the state of J&K, the project requires clearances from State and Central agencies such as environmental, defence, external affairs and home affairs.

The total cost of TMT project is about 1.5 billion US dollars. The Union Cabinet has given 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 2014-2023. 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 a DST share of Rs. 675.25 crores and DAE share of Rs. 624.55 crores.

TMT will enable scientists to study fainter objects far away from us in the Universe, which gives information about early stages of evolution of the Universe. Also, it will give us finer details of not-so-far-away objects like undiscovered planets and other objects in the Solar System and planets around other stars. TMT being the largest optical and infrared telescope in the northern hemisphere will enable several discoveries which will surely inspire future generations. Project will also provide state-of-the-art high end technologies to the country, which would benefit a number of industries and R&D centers in the country.

APPLY EARLIEST,UPSC PRE EXAM 2016 NOTIFICATION IS OUT

APPLY EARLIEST,UPSC PRE EXAM 2016 NOTIFICATION IS OUT



 http://www.upsc.gov.in/


 

Sun Pharma, ICMR join hands for malaria eradication

Malaria eradication project will be first launched at Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, covering 1,200 villages over three to five years

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and pharmaceutical major Sun Pharma on Monday entered into a public-private partnership (PPP) to eradicate malaria.

The partners will jointly set up management and technical committees to provide oversight for malaria surveillance and elimination. In its first phase, the project will be launched at Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, covering 1,200 villages over three to five years.

As part of this corporate social responsibility initiative, Sun Pharma will launch an independent not-for-profit foundation.

“The idea of this partnership is to use our understanding and knowledge for the success of this project. We will be working with global agencies to make the project a success,” said Dilip Shanghvi, managing director of Sun Pharma.

Shanghvi added that through the Malaria Free India initiative both the partners aim to achieve zero malaria incidence in Mandla district by FY21. According to data from the health ministry, there are 91 districts spread across 17 states which are highly prone to malaria. These will be taken up in future phases of the project.

“The first of its kind PPP agreement reiterates India’s commitment to eliminate malaria. ICMR and Sun Pharma will aim to reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by malaria in this demonstration project as well as prevention of re-introduction of malaria,” said J.P. Nadda, Union minister of health and family welfare.

Sixty percent of malaria cases in India are take place in the Northeastern region and five states— Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra—said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, director general of ICMR.

India is the biggest virtual exporter of water

Except for Brahmaputra and Mahanadi, all river basins with a population of more than 20 million face water shortage for the major part of the year

How much water does it take to cook a cup of rice? Recipe books would say two cups. Now consider this: It takes 2,173 litres of water to produce a kilogram of husked rice. That is a global average. Out of this, 1,488 litres is typically rainwater, 443 litres is surface or groundwater and 242 litres of water is required to carry off pollutants produced during the process.

For India, the figure is 2,688 litres. The number is worse for several states, including some of the largest rice producers, as the first story in this series pointed out. In the case of goat meat, the requirement can go up to 8,763 litres per kilogram. Looking at it in terms of nutrition, more than 10 litres of water are required to produce a kilocalorie of nutrition from red meat, while only half a litre is required to produce the same amount from cereals.

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These numbers become all the more important when you consider exports. In 2014-15, India exported 37.2 lakh tonnes of basmati . To export this rice the country used around 10 trillion litres of water. Put it another way, the nation virtually exported 10 trillion litres of water. At least one-fifth of this would have been surface/groundwater. In these times of global climate change, water is the one commodity where you don’t want a trade surplus (i.e exports are higher than imports).

According to the Water Footprint Network (WFN) database, India had the lowest virtual imports of water in the world. How does it compare with China, which is the only other nation with a comparable population size?

China is the eleventh largest country in the world in terms of virtual water imports and it runs a virtual water trade surplus in crop and animal products, that is, it has higher virtual water imports. But China ends up exporting more water than importing because of its overseas sales of industrial products.

In contrast, India is a large virtual net export of water because of agricultural products. One policy implication: While the country strives to increase manufacturing exports, care should be taken to maximise water use efficiency lest it ends up virtually exporting more water.

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Rudimentary trade theory suggests that a country should be exporting things which it has in abundance and import those which are scarce. By that logic, India should be a virtual importer of water, especially so, when its report card of water scarcity looks very grim.

The WFN database gives data on water scarcity for more than 400 river basins in the world. Water scarcity is defined as the ratio of total surface/groundwater footprint to surface/groundwater availability in a given river basin. If the ratio is 1, it means that available surface/groundwater is being fully utilised. But ideally speaking, averting water scarcity requires that not more than 20% of the water that flows on the ground is used by human beings. So, even a ratio of 1 denotes moderate scarcity.

The WFN database recognizes four kinds of water scarcity situations: low (ratio <1), moderate (ratio between 1 to 1.5), significant (ratio between 1.5 to 2) and severe (ratio>2). Water scarcity is measured for each month. This is because water flow situation can be extremely skewed over a year. There could be excess flow on account of rains in a couple of months, whereas the rest of the period can witness abysmally low levels. Due to this reason the WFN database classifies river basins by scarcity levels for different months in a year.

Data for India shows that except for Brahmaputra and Mahanadi, all river basins with a population of more than 20 million experience water scarcity for a major part of the year. The two most populated basins—Ganga and Indus—suffer from significant to severe level of water scarcity for 7 and 11 months in a year, respectively. A caveat: a large part of the Indus river basin population would be located in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan.

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The upshot is India is exporting large amounts of virtual water despite being an extremely water scarce country. Should it be doing this is the question?

Indo- Mongolia Joint Military Exercise, Nomadic Elephant- 2016 Commences at Mongolia

Indo- Mongolia Joint Military Exercise, Nomadic Elephant- 2016 Commences at Mongolia

The Eleventh Indo-Mongolia joint training Exercise, ‘Nomadic Elephant - 2016’ to promote military associations between India and Mongolia has commenced today at Mongolia. The exercise will culminate on 08 May 2016. The aim of this exercise is to develop synergy and inter operability between the two armies to fight in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism environment under the United Nation mandate.

A platoon of the Kumaon Regiment of the Indian Army alongwith a team of two observers will be taking part in the event. From the Mongolian Armed Forces, a total of 60 personnel will take part in the exercise. The event will culminate in a 48 hours joint outdoor exercise covering specialised operations in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism environment.

The Indian contingent will share their practical experiences of Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism operations through a series of classroom lectures and outdoor demonstrations which include aspects like House Clearing and Room intervention techniques in hostage situation, road opening, establishing mobile check posts, intelligence gathering and drills for countering Improvised Explosive Devices. Besides, military training both the contingents will also share their techniques of unarmed combat, specialised rappelling and participate in various sports events during the two weeks exchange.