29 MARCH 2015: Saina Nehwal gets World's no 1 defeating chinese rival

Ø  Soon after their dramatic expulsion from the Aam Aadmi Party’s national executive on Saturday, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan did not rule out the possibility of floating a new political outfit.

Ø  The National Democratic Alliance government, which is all set to announce names for filling gubernatorial positions in several States, on Saturday announced the removal of Dr. Aziz Qureshi as Governor of Mizoram, the sixth to go from the State in the last nine months.

Ø  Residents of villages around the site of the proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Theni district staged a demonstration at T. Pudukottai on Saturday urging the State government to instruct the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board not to give environmental clearance for the project.

Ø  Karnataka Folklore University plans to set up folklore museums on the premises of universities in the State and has sought assistance for the purpose. Prof. Hiriyanna said the university’s ambitious project of ‘Karnataka Grama Charitra Kosha’, an encyclopaedia of the history of the villages across Karnataka, was in full swing and two volumes were ready for print.

Ø  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join several world leaders, including Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the former U.S. President Bill Clinton, at the funeral service for Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, even as India marks an official day of mourning on Sunday. Mr. Modi, who flew to Singapore on Saturday evening, will return to Delhi on Sunday after attending the funeral and meeting Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and the former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. He will personally condole with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s son, at the funeral. Mr. Modi is accompanied by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and senior officials. After his return, he will begin preparations for his next international foray, a nine-day visit to Europe and Canada from April 9. On Saturday, he tweeted his expectations from the visit, saying “My France, Germany and Canada visit is centred around supporting India’s economic agenda & creating jobs for our youth.”

Ø  The Satish Dhawan Space Centre, located at Sriharikota in Nellore district, recorded yet another successful launch of the proven Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C27) from its second launch pad. The space scientists of the country’s main spaceport crossed another milestone in their continued journey towards reaping the fruits of technological and space progress to reach people and also help in nation-building. Today’s launch saw injecting the 4th navigation constellation satellite of India into a precise geosynchronous orbit. M.Y.S. Prasad, director of the Sriharikota space centre, asserted that it was because of the joint efforts of the scientists of all ISRO units and centres that the successive launches of PSLV proved to be a huge success throughout. Dr. Prasad said with the continued success of the launches, the ISRO centres would have to think ahead and come out with more such accomplishments to fulfil the country’s profound objective of reaching greater heights in space science. Right from the beginning, the spindle-shaped island of Sriharikota, located 100 km north of Chennai, came to be the home to India’s noteworthy space science achievements. From small beginnings a few decades ago, the space centre witnessed launch of sounding rockets which were used to study the earth’s atmosphere.

Ø  Folklore scholar Go.Ru. Channabasappa, popularly known as Go.Ru.Cha., will be honoured with a honorary doctorate, along with two others, at the first convocation of Karnataka Folklore University to be held on March 31.

Ø  The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, which met on Saturday, approved the development of an indigenous Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The council allocated Rs. 5,113 crore for two systems based on the A-330 aircraft, which will be procured from Airbus. Eventually, six systems will be built for use by the Air Force. In all, the DAC cleared deals estimated at Rs.7,400 crore. AWACS are radars mounted on an aircraft to provide seamless 360-degree coverage of the airspace. The Air Force is currently operating three Israeli Phalcons based on Russian Il-76 aircraft. In addition, the DRDO is developing two smaller Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) based on the Embraer aircraft, scheduled to be delivered this year.

Ø  Saina Nehwal has what it takes to be World No. 1. She is taking over the top spot from Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui. Officially, Saina will hold the coveted spot from April 3. With Li Xuerui — at the top for 119 weeks since December 20, 2012 — choosing not to defend the points earned in reaching the final of the Indian Open last year for being fully fit to defend her Malaysia Open title next week, the ranking points earned by Saina in reaching the final of the Indian Open here on Saturday were enough to overtake the Chinese.

Ø  The decks have been cleared for re-promulgation of the contentious Land Acquisition Ordinance with the Rajya Sabha’s Budget Session being prorogued. A statement by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat said President Pranab Mukherjee had prorogued the 234th session of the Rajya Sabha, which means cutting short the Budget Session of the Upper House which had gone into recess from March 20 and would have met again on April 20. The Cabinet can now recommend to the President reissuance of the land ordinance, which is due to lapse on April 5. The Bill on land acquisition was passed by the Lok Sabha during the first half of the Budget Session with some amendments but was blocked by the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, where the government falls short of numbers.

Ø  The national space agency has lined up many launches before March next year. A commercial satellite from the U.K., two navigation satellites, a GSAT-series satellite and three satellites in the IRNSS series are among the planned launches. A reusable launch vehicle will be tested this year as a technology demonstrator. ISRO has also installed a Multi-Object Tracking Radar at a cost of Rs. 245 crore for which the trials would be conducted soon. The radar is capable of tracking 10 objects in real time simultaneously.  Replying to another query, Mr. Kumar said the Mars Orbiter has been sending data from the red planet but said ascertaining whether methane was present there would take some time as the data had to be studied thoroughly. The configuration for a satellite for the use of SAARC countries as mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was being finalised and would be launched in 18 months, the ISRO chairman said. Cartosat satellites would be used to monitor illegal mining in the country. “The Indian Bureau of Mines has been given the task to draw the boundary lines for the mines,” V.K. Dadhwal, Director of National Remote Sensing Centre said. Attempting to reduce the mass of the satellites, ISRO was looking at the possibility of having an ion propulsion system, K. Sivan Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre in Valiamala in Kerala, said. “We are planning to test the proposed technology in a communication satellite,” he said. As for the semi-cryogenic engine, which LPSC is working on, he said the engine was tested for 20 seconds and the time duration would be extended in future.

Ø  The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) on Saturday cleared the procurement of 30 weapon-locating radars from Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for Rs.1,605 crore, Defence Ministry officials said. Each system is mounted on two high mobility vehicles. The DAC has also sanctioned two other projects for the Army. Tenders will be issued for 1,512 mine ploughs for the T-90 main battle tanks; the ploughs are systems fitted on existing tanks to clear mines on the path of the tanks. The second project was for procurement of 220 truck-mounted lifting devices for Rs.24 crore. The Navy is set to acquire Harpoon anti-ship missiles for its HDW submarines with the DAC approving certain deviations in the offset requirements for the 22 Harpoon missiles worth Rs.913 crore. The deal was approved last year in a government-to-government deal with the U.S. for around $ 200 million.