ISRO successfully launched PSLV-C29
Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully placed six
commercial satellites from Singapore in their dedicated orbits. These
satellites were launched using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C29)
from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota,
Andhra Pradesh. This successful launch coincides with the 50th
anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India
and Singapore in year 2015. The major payload was TeLEOS-One remote
sensing satellite weighing 400 kg. It would be used for urban planning
and disaster monitoring of Singapore. The other five satellites included
two micro satellites and one nano satellite. These satellites are
VELOX-CI (123 kg), VELOX-II (13 kg) 6U-Cubesat technology demonstrator,
Athenoxat-1, Kent Ridge-1 (78 kg) and Galassia (3.4 kg) 2U-Cubesat.
Pakistan successfully tests Shaheen-IA ballistic missile
Pakistan
has successfully tested its nuclear-capable Shaheen-IA ballistic
missile with a range of 900 km. This was Pakistan’s second test of a
nuclear-capable missile in December 2015. On December 11, Pakistan
tested the Shaheen-III surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range
of 2,750 km. The test of the Shaheen-IA was aimed at re-validating
several design and technical parameters of the weapon system .
Shaheen-IA ballistic missile (In English means Falcon) is a land-based
supersonic and short-to-intermediate range surface-to-surface guided
ballistic missile. It is an improved version of the Shaheen 1 with
better accuracy and double the range of its predecessor. The missille
has been designed and developed by the joint venture of NESCOM and the
National Defence Complex (NDC).
World bank loan for swach bharat abhiyan
The
World Bank has approved a loan of 1.5 billion dollars to support the
Central government’s flagship cleanliness drive Swachh Bharat Mission
(SBM). The loan disbursed over a five year period will be used for the
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Support Operation Project. Funds will also
be used to develop the capacity of MDWS in programme management,
advocacy, monitoring and evaluation. The World Bank will also provide a
parallel 25 million dollars technical assistance to build the capacity
of select state governments in implementing community led behavioural
change programmes targeting social norms to help ensure wide spread
usage of toilets by rural households.
Justice Virendra Singh as UP Lokayukta
Supreme
Court has appointed Justice (Retd) Virendra Singh as new Lokayukta of
Uttar Pradesh. This appointment is rare display of Supreme Court’s
extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to enforce
its own orders in order to do “complete justice”, the Supreme Court for
the first time in its history has appointed a Lokayukta after state
machinery failed to appoint it.