PSLV-C31 Successfully Launches India's Fifth Navigation Satellite IRNSS-1E

ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C31, successfully launched the 1425 kg IRNSS-1E, the fifth satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) today morning (January 20, 2016) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the thirty second consecutively successful mission of PSLV and the eleventh in its 'XL' configuration.

• IRNSS-1E is the fifth of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C and ID, the first four satellites of the constellation, were successfully launched by PSLV on July 02, 2013, April 04, 2014, October 16, 2014 and March 28, 2015 respectively. All the four satellites are functioning satisfactorily from their designated orbital positions.
• IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. 
• IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) - provided to all users - and Restricted Services (RS), provided to authorised users.
• A number of ground stations responsible for the generation and transmission of navigation parameters, satellite ranging and monitoring, etc., have been established in eighteen locations across the country. 
• In the coming months, the remaining two satellites of this constellation, namely, IRNSS-1F and IG, are scheduled to be launched by PSLV, thereby completing the entire IRNSS constellation.

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Odisha School Girl wins Google Science Fair in 13-15 Age Category of Community Impact Award

Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai, a 13-year-old student of class 9th in DPS Damanjodi in Koraput district of Odisha, has made India proud by winning the ‘Community Impact Award’ at the prestigious Google Science Fair in California on Tuesday. Winning the award in the 13-15 years age group, she received 10, 000 USD as the prize money. She is also set to be supported by Google for a year to build her project. Lalita developed a low cost bio-absorbent based water purifier. It functions mainly on waste corn cobs. The Corn cob is the least utilized part of the maize plant. It is a very important agricultural waste. Having high mechanical strength, rigidity and porosity, corn cob is a suitable absorbent. This enables contaminants like oxides of salts, detergent, suspended particles, coloured dyes, oil and grease to be absorbed in the surface of the corn cobs. Some of the heavy metals are also absorbed.

About Low Cost Bio-Adsorbent: Aquatic ecosystems support various life forms. Discharge of contaminants into water bodies is a matter of concern all over the World. Thus, the waste water released from different sources should be purified at source. This project aims to clean waste water by flowing through different layers of corn cobs like long pieces of corn cobs, small pieces of corn cobs, powdered corn cobs, activated charcoal made from corn cobs and fine sand. This is a cost-effective and simple technique. This is useful for immobilizing the contaminants in domestic and industrial effluents, and in ponds, reservoirs and water tanks."
Check complete list of winners at : https://www.googlesciencefair.com/en/

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Wheeler Island is renamed as Abdul Kalam Island

Odisha government has named the wheeler island, the missile launching station of the Defence and Reasearch Development Organisation in the Bay of Bengal close to Dharma coast in the state after former President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam. Announcing the decision of the state government, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, the wheeler island had played a major role in the test fire of missiles and Dr Kalam has a major contribution in it.

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6 New IIM at Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Sambalpur (Odisha) and Amritsar (Punjab)

Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for setting up of six new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in the country. These new IIMs will be located at Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Sirmaur (Himachal Pradesh), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Sambalpur (Odisha) and Amritsar (Punjab). These IIMs will begin functioning from assigned temporary campuses and shift to their permanent sites after construction of their campuses. It is intended that these six new IIMs will commence their first academic session from 2015-16. Each Institute will start with an intake of 140 students in the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) courses. It is expected that the annual intake will increase to reach a level of 560 students each year by the end of seven years.
The PGP in Management would be the flagship programme of these institutions. Admission to the PGP will be through the open and competitive Common Admission Test (CAT) being conducted by the IIMs. The Institutes would train young graduates to undertake management responsibilities and carry out research and consultancy in the field of management and allied areas. Their programmes will provide the country, potential leaders in diverse fields of endeavour and enterprise.

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Rock-cut Elephant, Dhauli

Rock-cut Elephant at Dhauli: Dhauli is located in the ancient territory of Kalinga, now the state of Orissa, which the emperor Ashoka Maurya (reigned 272-231 BC) conquered with appalling loss of life in about 260 BC. Rock-cut Elephant at Dhauli is one of oldest monument which sculpted elephant faces east.  The prime Buddhist attraction of Dhauli are the rock edicts of the Indian emperor Ashoka. These rock edicts are on the northern face of the southern range and primarily carry instructions for local administrators to rule with gentleness and justice. The inscription on the edicts read : '...these are my instructions to you. You are in charge of many thousands of living beings. You should gain the affection of men. All men are my children, and as I desire for my children that they should obtain welfare and happiness both in this world and the next, the same do I desire for all men...'. Immediately above the inscription is a terrace, on the right side of which is a forepart of an elephant. This forepart has been sculpted out of a solid rock and is widely believed to be one of the oldest carvings in India. In Buddhism, elephants are quiet often, linked with the Buddha, either as a form in which He enetered His mother’s womb or as the sacred symbol of Buddhism itself. The sculpture of elephant, here therefore, is an object of venration. This elephant sculpture also aids in drawing tourists attention to the inscription itself.

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Odia become 6th classical languages after Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam

Odia on Thursday became the sixth language of the country to get “classical language’’ status after the Union Cabinet conceded a long-pending demand for putting it in the same league as Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.  Following demands, the Union Cabinet today gave its approval for putting Odia in the list of classical language.  The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for classifying Odia as classical language. This will give impetus to scholarship in this language. 

The following benefits are available for languages which are declared as classical languages:
1.  Two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in the concerned language.

2. A `Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Languages` can be set up.

3. The University Grants Commission can be requested to create, to start with at least in Central Universities, a certain number of professional chairs for classical languages, for scholars of eminence in the concerned language.
Background:
There has been a demand that Odia, which is one of the oldest languages and has no resemblance to Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Telugu, etc., be declared as a classical language. So far Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have been declared as classical languages.

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India successfully test-fires Prithvi-II missile

India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile, which has a strike range of 350 kms and is capable of carrying warheads of upto 1000 kgs, from a test range in Odisha. The launch was part of a user trial by the Army. Describing the trial of the sophisticated missile as a "complete success", Integrated Test Range Director M V K V Prasad said the launch conducted by the specially formed Strategic Forces Command (SFC) met all the parameters. The surface-to-surface missile was test fired from a mobile launcher in salvo mode from launch complex-3 of the ITR at Chandipur near here at about 0948 hrs.  

Inducted into India's SFC in 2003, Prithvi II, the first missile to be developed by DRDO under India's prestigious IGMDP (Integrated Guided Missile Development Program) is now a proven technology, a defence source said.

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