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Edusat to be launched today
Govt to announce gas price policy by Jan
Kharif output to fall: govt
Ultras infiltrate Pak forces
What Uma Bharti craves now
Congress Maharashtra list today
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Northern states to ease vehicle flow
Nod to project on seismology
Chandigarh student drowned in Ganga
Maoist terror hits trade
Gujarat to frame law against organised crime
Free medicare to AIDS/HIV patients mooted
OTA to induct 700 cadets from next year
8 killed as bus falls
into gorge
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Edusat to be launched today
Bangalore, September 19 The satellite, dedicated to beam educational programmes across the country, is ready for launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, off the Andhra Pradesh coast. Sources in the ISRO said preparations for launching the 1,950-kg Edusat by GSLV-F01 were in full swing and that the lift-off had been scheduled at 4.01 pm tomorrow. “The countdown is progressing smoothly. All launch vehicle systems have been checked out successfully after the spacecraft was encapsulated and integrated with the
GSLV,” an official said. A launch rehearsal was also conducted on September 16 at the space centre at Sriharikota, about 100 km from
Chennai. Touted to be the first of its kind in South Asia, the exclusive satellite with 12 transponders will be utilised to demonstrate
the concept of multicasting interactive multimedia for the educational sector. The spacecraft has multiple beams, with one Ku-band transponder to cover the footprint of the Indian mainland and five Ku-band transponders to cover northern, north-eastern, eastern, southern and western regions of the country. In addition, Edusat is carrying six C-band transponders for other communication and broadcasting services, covering the entire country. The GSLV launch will cost Rs 1.5 billion. As the satellite and the launch vehicle are indigenously built, no insurance cover has been provided. “Edusat will be placed in the 36,000-km-high geo-stationary orbit and co-located with Insat-3C and Kalpana-1 at 74 degree East longitude. The satellite, weighing 1,950 kg at lift-off, including 1,110 kg of propellants for orbit raising and maintenance, is designed to provide service for seven years,” the official said. Edusat has been configured to meet the growing demand for an interactive satellite-based distance education system for the country through audio-visual medium, employing direct to home (DTH) quality broadcast. The dedicated satellite is meant for providing connectivity to school, college and higher levels of education, besides supporting non-formal education, including developmental communication. The scope of the Edusat programme will be accomplished in three phases. In the first phase of pilot projects, a Ku-band transponder on board Insat-3B, which is already in orbit, is being used. In Karnataka, Visveswaraiah Technological University (VTU) is the main beneficiary of this pilot project. All engineering colleges of VTU are being networked with 100 nodes. Besides Karnataka, Maharashtra’s
Y.B. Chavan State Open University and Rajiv Gandhi Technical University in Madhya Pradesh are covered under the project. In the second phase, once the spacecraft is commissioned in the geo-synchronous orbit, the satellite will be used in a semi-operational mode with one uplink in each of the five spot beams. About 100-200 classrooms will be connected to each beam. In addition to Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, coverage will be extended to two more states and one national institution. In the third phase, when the satellite network becomes fully operational by the year-end, the ISRO will provide technical and managerial support in the replication of its ground systems to manufacturers and service providers. End-users are expected to provide funds for this. In this phase, ground infrastructure to meet the country’s educational needs will be built and Edusat will support 25-30 uplinks and about 5,000 remote terminals per uplink. While the ISRO will provide the space segment for the Edusat system and demonstrate the efficacy of the satellite system for interactive distance education, content generation will be the responsibility of the user agencies.
— IANS |
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Govt to announce gas price policy by Jan
New Delhi, September 19 Union Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar had earlier announced to postpone the deregulation of gas price by at least two years. Mr Tripathy said, “We plan to ‘rationalise’ the gas prices against deregulation. From January 2005 there could be a scenario where power and
fertiliser companies continue to get gas at a regulated price, while other
industries would have to pay the market price for their supplies.” He said this rationalisation would happen “gradually and in a phased manner.” The regulated gas prices for power and fertiliser would also be removed gradually and in a phased manner, he added. The power and fertiliser sectors together account for 75-80 per cent of the gas consumption in the country. Public sector Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the country’s principal producer of natural gas, sold gas at over 50 per cent discount to the market price. The ONGC and Oil India Ltd (OIL) would be benefited with the rationalisation in gas prices as the two state-run companies would be allowed to sell gas from their joint venture fields at market-determined prices. The ONGC had to bear heavy burden each year on account of buying gas from the joint venture fields at market prices and selling it to customers at the capped price. The country’s gas production, at about 67 million cubic metres a day, met only 70 per cent of domestic demand. Gas demand for the current fiscal was estimated at 112 mmt with a growth rate of 3.7 per cent. With increased usage of gas replacing demand of naphtha and FO/LSHS in future, demand for 2006-07 was estimated at 120.4 mmt. |
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Kharif output to fall: govt
New Delhi, September 19 Union Agriculture Secretary Radha Singh said to recover the shortfall in Kharif production, determined effort was needed to bring additional areas under coverage during the coming Rabi season. As per the assessment made on the September 13, the area sown under kharif was 957 lakh hectares as compared to 1016 lakh hectares during the corresponding period last year meaning a
shortfall of 59 lakh hectares, she said while inaugurating a two-day National Conference
on Agriculture for rabi campaign here. Meanwhile, the Centre has asked the states to strengthen public
distribution system by checking diversion of foodgrains from ration shops and
ensuring authentic identification of below poverty line families. “There have been frequent complaints about the diversions of foodgrains meant for PDS. If there is any truth in such insinuations, it is a very serious matter,” Agriculture, Food and Public Distribution Minister Sharad Pawar said at a conference on
strengthening the targeted PDS here. “We have to keep a close watch on such
malpractices so that the targeted group of people do not suffer,” he said in a speech read
out in absentia. The operational responsibility of the scheme, including allocation of foodgrains, identification of BPL families and issue of ration cards, within
the state rests with respective state governments, he said, asking states to ensure effective implementation of the PDS. |
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Ultras infiltrate Pak forces
New Delhi, September 19 “Of even more serious concern to the authorities is that some of these new terrorist groups have penetrated into the ranks of the military, police and intelligence agencies,” the Karachi-based journal, Newsline, reported, adding that the “growing influence of militant groups within the police force has got the alarm bells ringing”. It said at least three policemen acted as suicide bombers in the attacks on Shia mosques in Karachi and Quetta and a security officer posted at the Punjab Chief Minister’s house was arrested for his links with Al-Qaida. Pakistani officials felt that the recent rise in terrorist activities in Karachi and other cities was “a direct result of the latest campaign against Al-Qaida” and the recent “botched military operation” in Waziristan could lead to an escalation in terrorist activities in the country, it said. Pakistan’s Home Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat has said the upsurge in terrorist activities was a sign of desperation and the terrorists “are on the run”. The journal quoted several instances of a new breed of educated middle-class youths joining terrorist ranks, saying, “This new cadre boasts of highly qualified professionals and university graduates”.
— PTI |
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What Uma Bharti craves now
Bhopal, September 19 She would campaign in Maharashtra for a week and then push off to a place which she would not disclose to anyone, Ms Bharti told a press conference here this morning before leaving on the next leg of her “Tiranga yatra”. She said she had been craving such an opportunity from the time when she was six years old; now it appeared that the opportunity had come. The firebrand leader appealed to the BJP leadership not to saddle her with any responsibility but leave her free. She rejected the idea that she wanted to remotely control the state government, saying that she had seen the piteous condition of (Prime Minister) Mr Manmohan Singh and did not want the same fate for (Chief Minister) Mr Babulal Gaur. Ms Bharti said the “Tiranga yatra” had given her a new vision and she was overwhelmed with the response of the people. Asked about her reported tiff (over the telephone) with BJP President Venkaiah Naidu,
Ms Bharati curtly said, “ask Naidu”. |
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Congress Maharashtra list today
New Delhi, September 19 “The party’s (Congress) list of candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly elections is unlikely today. The list is expected tomorrow,” AICC media department Chairperson Girija Vyas said here. The NCP and the Congress had arrived at a seat-sharing agreement for the October 13 elections to the 288 member Assembly at a meeting between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and NCP Chief Sharad Pawar last night. The NCP had said it would release the list of its candidates today. The AICC General Secretary in charge of
Maharashtra affairs Margaret Alva had yesterday hinted the list would be released today. Meanwhile, senior Congress leaders, including Mrs Alva and state Chief Minister Sushilkumar
Shinde, today discussed the issue. As per the arrangement, Mr Sharad Pawar’s NCP is likely to get 127 seats and Congress 161, consequently leaving 20 odd seats for like-minded parties, including the CPI and the
CPM, for the October 13 polls. |
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Northern states to ease vehicle flow
New Delhi, September 19 Punjab Tourism Minister Jagmohan Singh Kang, who presided over a meeting of senior tourism and transport officials of Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and
Uttaranchal, said the task force would submit its report about uniform tax and permit structure in a month. Tourism ministers and officials of states concerned will meet in Shimla later next month to consider the suggestions of the task force. Transport commissioners of the states are members of the task force. Officials who attended the meeting yesterday said unhealthy competition among neighbouring states in levies like passenger tax
benefited unscrupulous elements and caused unnecessary delays in movement of tourist vehicles. They said effort was to move towards a cooperative regime and ensure “seamless movement” of tourists. Mr Kang said other states would be involved once a consensus was reached. Calling for a uniform tax regime, he said southern states had already taken such an initiative. Mr Kang said as part of state government’s resolve to promoting tourism, a direct flight from Singapore to Amritsar was being introduced from October 1. |
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Nod to project on seismology
New Delhi, September 19 The project aimed at the development of technology for reliable prediction and upgrading the national capacity to reduce damage by earthquakes. Mr Sibal, after assuming charge of the ministry, had been advocating the setting up of the mission mode as the Delhi and its surrounding areas were a quite prone to earthquakes. Mr Sibal had been trying to sensitise the issue at different levels, including to the MPs of the Standing Committee, sources said. The India Meteorological Department, which is part of the Department of Science and Technology, maintained, the national seismological network in the country, had implemented several projects in this regard during the past few years. The report, tabled by the committee recently in the Lok Sabha, stated that the proposal envisaged strengthening of the seismological network in the Himalayas and its contiguous region with the state-of-the-art robust earthquake monitoring system for fine-scale mapping of earthquake hazard areas and ascertaining seismogenic sources. The project also envisaged deployment of strong motion accelographs and a dense network of the GPS. Necessary approvals by the Minister of Science and Technology and the Finance Minister had been obtained for the implementation of the project with an outlay of Rs 50 crore over a period of five years. The project would be implemented in a consortium mode by involving relevant government agencies, research and academic institutions, social scientists and NGOs. An apex steering committee, chaired by the Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, and assisted by the Project Implementation Committee would be set up to oversee the implementation of the project. Several activities would be carried out under the project, including setting up multi-parametric geophysical laboratories, upgradation of national strong motion instrumentation network, seismotectonics model of the Uttaranchal Himalayas and Gujarat, estimation of strong ground motion in Delhi, Guwahati and Ahmedabad and schooling earthquake monitoring laboratory programme for the North-East, Uttaranchal and the Sikkim Himalayas. |
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Chandigarh student drowned in Ganga
Dehra Dun, September 19 Ankush was rafting in deep waters with 12 of his friends around 5 pm when the river flow jerked his raft near the Golf Post, the police said. Ankush lost balance, slipped into the waters and began to drown. Even as the divers pulled him out and took him to the Government Hospital Rishikesh, the doctors declared him brought dead. The body was sent for a post-mortem this morning after which it was handed over to relatives of the student, said SSP P.V.K. Prasad. A case under section 304 B, IPC, has been registered at the Munikireti police station against the rafting company, Ganga Adventure Club, he said. Eighteen-year-old Ankush Sharma was on an adventure tour with a group of 180 students from the Chitkara Institute of Engineering & Technology Rajpura in Patiala district of Punjab. The group of boys and girls came to Rishikesh on Friday for river rafting and water sports organised by the Ganga Adventure Club, and were to return on Monday. Ankush, son of IAS officer Ashok Sharma, was a student of B. Tech first year. He was putting up at a camp along with his companions between Shivpuri and Neembeech set up by the adventure club. The deceased was a resident of Sector 45 in Chandigarh. The group of students most of whom were from Patiala left for Chandigarh this morning. Meanwhile, 25 of these engineering students suffered food poisoning at a rafting camp in Rishikesh yesterday. Some students ordered for “pakoras” laced with “bhang” for the evening tea. Most of the students who ate these snacks fell sick . District officials sent medical aid for the students late at night and rushed those seriously ill to the Government Hospital, Rishikesh. The students left for Chandigarh this morning after most of them had recovered. |
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Maoist terror hits trade
Dehra Dun, September 19 Panic has gripped the region after poster threats pasted by Maoists warning India of violence if the Indian government helps Nepal fight Maoists. Fear had already spilled over with the incident of an Indian businessman’s two-year-old daughter being injured in Maoist firing in Jhulaghat town of Pithoragarh district. Trade worth over Rs 15 crore per year through about eight cross-over market clusters on either side of the border had suffered a blow after the imposition of the ban. Even as it is bad business in Betari, Dharchula, Bajang, Daldeldhura districts of Nepal under Maoist control, the mandi at Baitari has been hit the most with Indian traders being put at bay there. Indian traders stopped going to these mandis in view of the disturbed law and order situation and even though the ban has now been lifted, the fear remains, said Mr Gopal Sahi, a businessman from Pithoragarh. Traders in this region trade in various goods, primarily readymade clothes and woollens, items of daily use, local crops, tobacco and electronic goods. The rising Maoist activities in Nepal have affected both sides of the border rendering people jobless and forcing them to migrate said Mr Mayukh Mehar, President, of the Zila Panchayat, Pithoragarh. The business in the markets of Jauljibi, Dharchula, Tanakpur, Banbasa in Udham Singh Nagar district and Jhulaghat in Pithoragarh district is grim. The situation has seriously hit hundreds of local business people. |
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Gujarat to frame law against organised crime
New Delhi, September 19 “We are in the process of enacting Gujarat Control of Organised Crimes Act (GUJCOCA)...,” Mr Modi told newspersons here. “It was the need of the hour to have a law like POTA and the BJP has made its view clear on this issue,” Mr Modi, who was here to attend the conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, said. He said the draft for the law on the lines of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act had already been prepared by the government and referred to President A.P.J. Kalam, who has given some suggestions. “The President has asked us to incorporate some features of a High Court judgement and after considering those, the draft has again been sent to the Centre and the reply was awaited,” the Chief Minister said. |
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Free medicare to AIDS/HIV patients mooted
Chennai, September 19 The centrally sponsored project will be implemented in three phases covering 206 districts in nine states, including all four southern states in the first phase. The diseases which will be brought under surveillance are malaria, cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, measles, polio and plague. Road traffic accidents and unusual clinical syndromes will also be surveyed. The surveillance of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and C, which are now being run as separate surveys, will be brought under this project. Dr Ramadoss said as far as the number of HIV/AIDS cases was concerned, India was far behind with 0.5 per cent of its total population affected. “However, I have ordered a reassessment and it would be done by an external agency like either one of the Indian Institute of Managements or Tata Consultancy Services. We have shortlisted the organisations and will soon take a decision,” he said. The minister promised free treatment to HIV/AIDS patients within three or four years. The six high-incidence states regarding HIV/AIDS cases are Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Nagaland and Manipur. |
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OTA to induct 700 cadets from next year
Chennai, September 19 After inspecting the passing-out parade here on Friday, Lieut-Gen B.S. Takhar, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, said at present the academy could accommodate 600 cadets but from next year the number would go up to 700. Once the training facilities were upgraded and modernised, the academy would be able to train 1,000 cadets, he said. However, the number of lady cadets would remain the same at 75. In fact, the largest contingent of cadets in the last decade passed out yesterday. The 346 cadets comprised 275 gentlemen and 75 lady cadets who will be commissioned into the Indian Army while the rest were foreigners. The OTA Commandant, Major-Gen S.D. Avasti gave away awards to meritorious cadets. |
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8 killed as bus falls
into gorge
Dehra Dun, September 19 Thirtytwo passengers were injured in the accident, which took place about 80 Km from New Tehri, officials said. Four persons died on the spot while four succumbed to their injuries in the hospital. The injured were admitted to the nearby Pilkhi hospital while those who sustained serious injuries have been referred to Doon Hospital, Dehra Dun. The bus was on its way to Jagdigad, near Rishikesh, with 44 passengers on board. At least 12 passengers, including the driver and the conductor, were seriously injured. |
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