19 MAY 2016

Ø  Prithvi 2 test fired successfully. Initially it was planned to undergo double missile tests but one missile was only tested. Due to some technical fault test of second missile was aborted.

Ø  The previous highest loss was reported by the Bank of Baroda — Rs. 3,342 crore in the third quarter of the financial year 2015-16.

Ø  AHMEDABAD: Farooq Mohammad Bhana, a key accused in the 2002 Godhra train carnage case who was on the run for more than 14 years, has been arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad.

Ø  NEW DELHI: To maintain its depleting sub-surface levels, the Navy has begun the process of upgrading six of its oldest submarines. The first of them is en route Russia for major refit and life certification (MRLC), which will extend its operational life by 10 years. INS Sindhukesari, a Kilo-class submarine commissioned in 1989, left India in early May and is scheduled to reach the Zvezdochka yard at Severodvinsk in Russia in two months, Navy sources said on Wednesday. The government had approved an ambitious “30-year submarine construction plan” in 1999 for building 24 conventional submarines under two different production lines. But not a single submarine has been inducted till date and the first Scorpene submarine under Project-75, after repeated delays, has just begun sea trials and is expected to join the force in October this year. Incidentally, the Scorpenes will roll out without their major weapon, heavy weight torpedoes, which are caught up in allegations of corruption in other defence deals.