25 November 2014: ISRO to send unmanned crew module in space

Ø  When a new Chief Information Commissioner is appointed, he or she will find a mammoth 10,000 Right to Information appeals pending. The new government’s delay in appointing a new chief has led to the pendency shooting up, much of it surrounding new policy decisions taken by the government.

Ø  If India wants to build a $ 10-trillion economy by 2034, growing at a rate of 9 per cent a year, it will have to focus on investments in R&D and undertake radical improvements in the Human Development Index, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said in a report.

Ø  The former Supreme Court judge Chandramauli Kumar Prasad has been selected to be the next Chairman of the Press Council of India. 

Ø  Lahore-based author Bilal Tanweer’s maiden novel The Scatter Here is Too Great has bagged the 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize. The award carries a cash component of Rs. 2 lakh.

Ø  National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval has been appointed Special Representative for talks with China on the boundary issue, an official release said.

Ø  Nepal, host of the 18th South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation summit here, is playing peacemaker, to try and ensure Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif have a bilateral “pull-aside” during the summit, even as both governments kept everyone guessing.

Ø  Visiting United States Trade Representative Michael Froman will meet Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the first Trade Policy Forum between the two countries in more than four years.

Capsule Recovery Experiment from Space

Ø  There is frenetic activity at Sriharikota for the maiden lift-off of India’s newest and the biggest launch vehicle in December, which will put an unmanned crew module into orbit. The mission is a stepping stone to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ultimately sending astronauts into space in the module. The 3.65-tonne module will get de-mated from the topmost cryogenic stage of GSLV Mark 3 at an altitude of 125 km and return to the earth. At an altitude of 15 km, there will be an “aerial ballet,” featuring three huge parachutes which will open up one after the other to slow down the module’s descent. The module is expected to splash down in the sea near the Andaman archipelago and will be recovered by the Indian Coast Guard and ISRO personnel. The entire flight from the lift-off to the splash-down will last about 20 minutes. It is a passive, experimental and sub-orbital mission.

Ø  Three global organisations on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to share best practices in the sanitation sector and help millions of Indians gain access to basic sanitation facilities. The organisations — the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), WASTE and the Financial Inclusion Improves Sanitation and Health (FINISH) — share the common goal of making sanitation accessible and affordable to all citizens.