Brahmos flight test from IAF’s Su-30MKI Fighter Aircraft
The world's fastest supersonic cruise missile ‘BrahMos’ has been successfully tested for the first time from a Sukhoi-30MKI fighter of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The two-stage missile's engine fired up and propelled towards the intended target at the sea in the Bay of Bengal.
Now, BrahMos is capable of being launched from land, sea, and air (earlier fired from ships or ground-based).
The world's only supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was built as an India-Russia collaboration, named after the rivers Moscow and Brahmaputra.
President visits INA Army Complex at Moirang, Manipur
Today, President Ram Nath Kovind visited the Indian National Army (INA) War Memorial and Museum at Moirang in Manipur and paid tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
President Kovind also visited the INA museum which houses wartime relics, photographs and other documents related to INA.
Moirang was the headquarters of Azad Hind Fauz during World War II.
India climbs three steps to 51 on IMD talent rankings
India has improved its ranking by three notches to 51 globally in terms of ability to attract, develop and retain talent.
The rankings are based on a country’s performance in three main categories.
India was ranked (investment and development- 62nd), (appeal-43rd) and (readiness-29th) on these terms.
Switzerland topped the list compiled by leading global business school IMD.
Note: The annual IMD World Talent Ranking covered 63 countries and assessed the methods the countries adopted to attract and retain talent.
Actor Trisha becomes UNICEF celebrity advocate for child rights
Actor Trisha Krishnan has been conferred the UNICEF celebrity advocate status for child rights at an event held in Chennai.
She is the first actor from the South Indian film industry to receive this honor.
Logistics sector gets infrastructure status
According to the Economic Affairs Secretary Subhas Chandra Garg, the Union Govt. has conferred infrastructure status to logistics sector.
The decision will help logistics sector access longer term finance and on better financing terms.
This status will help the sector get credit at competitive rates and on a long-term basis as rising logistics cost impacts the global competitiveness of exporters.
Logistics include industrial parks, warehouses, cold storages, and transportation.
CMB-IIRR tie-up for low Glycemic Index rice
The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in association with the Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR) has developed an Improved Samba Masuri (ISM) variety rice with low Glycemic Index.
Rice is considered suitable for people with diabetics and resistant to bacterial blight.
The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) has done extensive human trials on the new variety and concluded that the ISM has lowest Glycemic Index of 50.99 against the normal 53 to 70 in several rice varieties.
The new variety is not a transgenic one and they did molecular breeding in CCMB and traditional rice breeding at the rice research institute.
Zimbabwe Prez Robert Mugabe resigns
Today, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe (93-year) resigned succumbing to a week of overwhelming pressure from the military that put him under house arrest.
Lawmakers from the ruling ZANU-PF party and opposition who started impeachment proceedings.
Mugabe said in his letter that legal procedures should be followed to install a new president.
Open Forum to begin at IFFI Goa today
Today, an integral part of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) ‘The Open Forum’ has begun at Panaji in Goa.
The Open Forum is a platform where filmmakers, actors, jury members, senior government officials, organisers of film festivals from India and abroad exchange their views and ideas in a free & frank manner.
The Speakers are Sunit Tandon (IFFI Director), Amey Abhyankar (Entertainment Society of Goa CEO) & Kiran V Shantaram (Federation of Film Societies of India).
Volcano in Bali erupts for the first time in 54 years
According to the country's National Disaster Mitigation Agency, a volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali has erupted for the first time in 54 years.
The agency has advised people to stay away from areas within a 7.5 kilometer radius of the volcano.
The volcano belched smoke as high as 700 meters above its summit.
In 1963, around 1,600 people died when Mount Agung erupted.
Centre bans use of LED lights on mechanized fishing vessels to protect marine ecology
According to the Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, the union govt. has banned the use of LED lights and other artificial lights on mechanized fishing vessels to protect the marine ecology.
The govt has also prohibited the practice of bull-trawling, purse seining and gill netting operations in the Indian exclusive economic zone beyond territorial waters.
Note: The decision was taken after coastal states including Goa made a representation to the Centre to prohibit these activities to save the marine ecology.
Maharashtra govt to sell Tur dal at subsidized rates through PDS
The Maharashtra state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister ‘Devendra Fadnavis’ has decided to sell tur dal at subsidised rates Rs. 55 rupees per kg through its public distribution system (PDS).
They decided to mill tur and sell it to the various departments including tribal development, women and child development & medical education department for their respective establishments.
The state govt. has procured around 25 lakh quintal Tur for 1,263 crore rupees.
