28 May 2016

Indian Air Force successfully test fires Brahmos missile at Pokaran

The Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test-fired a land-attack version of the supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos at the Pokaran field firing range in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
 Test: During the flight trial, the missile met its mission goals and destroyed a designated target. Two squadrons of IAF already have been equipped with the land-attack version of the missile version (One squadron has about 70 to 80 missiles). IAF is deploying this version of the missile in the border areas to take out the enemy’s communication towers, runways, and radar in case of a conflict.
 About Brahmos missile 
BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has been designed and developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of India and Russia.
 It has derived its name from the names of two rivers, India’s Brahmaputra River and Russia’s Moskva River. 
It operates on fire and forget principal and is capable of being launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against sea and land targets.
Features: It is capable of carrying a warhead of 300 kilogram and has top supersonic speed of Mach 3 (that is, three times the speed of sound). It can strike a target at maximum range of 290-km. It is two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant. BrahMos missile already has been inducted into the Indian Army and Navy

ARUSH - Name of Indian coast guard ship which is commissioned 

On 26th May 2016, Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) ARUSH was commissioned. It was commissioned by Coast Guard Commander (Western Seaboard) Additional Director General SPS Basra at Kochi.
ARUSH can run with speed of 33 knots with an endurance of 1500 nautical miles at economical speed of 13 knots.
It has advanced weapons, communication and navigation system.
Do You know :

• ARUSH means first ray of sun.
• ARUSH is an indigenous Fast Patrol Vessel beneficial for missions like surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue etc.

Name of first Union Territory to sign 24x7 Power for All document - Lakshadweep

On 27th May 2016, Lakshadweep inked 24x7 Power for All document thus it became first UT ( Union Territory ) to do so. 

It has been signed with an aim to provide access to electricity through 24x7 Power supply by 2019 to every household.
It will be increasing its solar capacity from 2.15 MW to 8.45 MW.

Important to mention here that 22 states of India has already signed the "24*7 Power for All" document.

Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh wins 2016 India Biodiversity Award

Pakke Tiger Reserve in East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh has won the ‘India Biodiversity Award 2016’. The tiger reserve was selected in the conservation of threatened species category for its Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme. Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme The Programme is a joint collaboration of Ghora-Aabhe Society, Nature Conservation Foundation and the State Forest Department. Under it, urban citizens contribute money to protect hornbill nests around Pakke Tiger Reserve. The programme has been a major step towards conservation of four hornbill species that are found in the adjoining areas of the reserve. Besides, Hong Niitii, Lower Subansiri has been awarded under category IV Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) award

About India Biodiversity Award: 
The awards recognise the contribution of a range of stakeholders towards the conservation of biodiversity. It is given in four categories viz. Conservation of Threatened Species, Sustainable use of biological resources, Successful models for access and benefit sharing and Biodiversity Management Committees. It is joint initiative of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and United Nations Development programme (UNDP). The winner in each category will receive a cash prize of 1 lakh rupees while the runners up receive 50,000 rupees.

Indian author Aditi Krishnakumar wins 2016 Scholastic Asian Book Award

Indian author Aditi Krishnakumar has won the prestigious 2016 Scholastic Asian Book Award. She has won the award for her 32,000-word manuscript titled Codex: The Lost Treasure Of The Indus. The manuscript will be now published by Scholastic Asia. Presently Aditi Krishnakumar is working with Agent Lila Raman to decipher the mysterious script of the Indus Valley civilization. He first published book ‘A Whole Summer Long’ in 2012 was also shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2014.

 About Scholastic Asian Book Award (SABA)
The SABA was founded in 1969 and is the joint initiative of the Scholastic Asia and National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS). It is a biennial award that seeks to promote reading and literature and champions literary works of Asians. It carries cash prize of 10,000 Singaporean dollars.

V Narayanasamy to be new Puducherry Chief Minister

· V Narayanansamy has been named the Congress's pick to be the new Chief Minister of Puducherry.
·  A heated contest had broken out within the party's local unit over who will occupy the Chief Minister's seat and this has delayed the government formation in the Union Territory.
· Narayanasamy had served as the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office in the second UPA government, after serving as MoS Parliamentary Affairs in the first UPA government.
· He did not contest the May 16 Assembly election, and will now have to seek election to the legislature in a bypoll.

USAID and ministry of power launch portal to promote net zero energy buildings

·  The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the union ministry of Power today launched India's first integrated web portal designed to promote and mainstream Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in India.

·  A first of its kind, the portal provides complete information about Net Zero Energy Buildings - those that generate as much energy as they use - as well as how to achieve near-zero energy status through the use of efficient lighting and equipment, integration of renewable energy technologies, and best practice design strategies.

· In addition, the portal hosts the NZEB Alliance, an industry-wide body setup to drive the Indian markets toward highly energy-efficient buildings.