Daily News Notes: 23rd to 29th August, 2012

· Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has termed the observations of the CAG report on coal block allocations including presumptive loss of 1.86 lakh crore rupees to private parties, as clearly disputable, baseless and unsupported by facts. The Prime Minister also took full responsibility for the decisions of the Coal Ministry while he was incharge. He said the policy (of competitive bidding) followed had existed since 1993 and previous governments also allocated coal blocks in precisely the same way that the CAG has now criticized.
· Railway Minister (Mukul Roy) has informed that the Railways will carry out a safety audit of its rolling stock like coaches and other movable assets and track infrastructure to prevent mishaps and loss of lives, and will submit a report within three months. He said that accidents at unmanned level crossings still remain an area of concern.
· The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea for making Finance Minister P Chidambaram as a co-accused in the 2G spectrum case. The court said that there is no prima facie material against him of any criminal conspiracy or of procuring of any pecuniary gain. A two judge bench said criminal conspiracy cannot be inferred merely on the suspicion that there was a meeting for taking decision between the officials of the department of telecom and two ministers--Raja and Chidambaram. The judges said that the poor management in allocation of spectrum cannot be said to be an outcome of criminal conspiracy. The petition was filed by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy and others. Earlier, Special CBI Judge O P Saini had held that Chidambaram had not indulged in any criminal conspiracy or derived any pecuniary advantage in the decisions taken with Raja. However, Subramanian Swamy has said he will file a review petition against the Supreme Court decision dismissing his plea for a probe against Finance minister P Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum case.
· The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Human Resource Development for mobilization of external funds in the form of FDI totaling 3315 crore Rupees approximately for implementation of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) for the period 2012-2016. The students, their parents, teachers and headmasters will be the direct beneficiaries of the scheme. The programme is being implemented in all States and Union Territories. Since universalisation of elementary education has become a Constitutional mandate, it is absolutely essential to push this vision forward to move towards Universalisation of Secondary Education.
· The government has allowed housing financing companies (like the National Housing Bank and Housing Finance Companies) to raise funds through the external commercial borrowings, ECB route to finance low-cost housing projects.
· The apex court extended the ban on tourism activities in the core areas of tiger reserves at least till next hearing on August 29, 2012. The apex court made the observation after the Centre made a mention of its affidavits filed in the court for permission to review its earlier guidelines for conservation of tiger. The apex court earlier on July 24 had imposed an interim ban on tourism in core areas of tiger reserves on the basis of same guidelines.
· The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) panel on black money (established in 2011) have came out with a report elaborating ways to to beef up laws to check the generation of black money in India, its illegal transfer oversees and its recovery. However, the panel did not provide any estimate of the black money. The report focused bolstering of laws in following areas: Investments by FIIs; Participatory Notes (P-Notes); Funds routing through Mauritius; and Investments made through transactions in property, bullion and the equity market.
· Aiming to save cost on printing and ensuring a longer life, government would shortly launch plastic currency notes with enhanced security features. The Govt. has said that initially RBI will introduce Rs 10 notes in polymer on a trial basis. The trials would soon begin in five cities of Jaipur, Shimla, Bhubaneswar, Mysore and Cochin, keeping in view of varied geographical locations and climatic conditions.
· The Minister of Panchayati Raj ( V. Kishore Chandra Deo) has said that the functioning of the Panchayats is governed by the provisions contained in Part IX of the Constitution. As per Article 243G, States are to empower the Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self government and to plan and implement schemes for economic development and social justice including those in relation to matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule. Similarly Article 243A states that a Gram Sabha may exercise such powers and perform such functions at the village level as the legislature of a State may by law provide. The functioning of the Panchayats and the Gram Sabha varies across States depending on the extent of their empowerment by the States.
· Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology has informed that a well developed Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMCs) can give a unit located in it a cost advantage of 5 to 8 percentage due to increased supply chain responsiveness, consolidation of suppliers, decreased time-to-market, superior access to talent and lower logistics costs. Recently, the Cabinet approved a proposal to offer financial support for the development of both Greenfield and Brownfield EMCs as it would aid the growth of Electronics Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector, help development of entrepreneurial ecosystem, drive innovation and catalyze the economic growth of the region by increasing employment opportunities and tax revenues.
· Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences (Vayalar Ravi) has in formed that a multi-year research observational campaign entitled, “Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement (CAIPEEX)” was conducted by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune during the period 2009-2011 over different parts of the country. It is established that there is approximately a natural 30-year cyclicity in the monsoon rainfall. The objectives of the program were: (1) to understand the role of aerosols in the rainfall processes in the clouds and (2) to carry out cloud seeding experiments in research mode for rain enhancements using modern techniques.
· Defence Minister has informed that DRDO is primarily engaged in design and development of strategic, complex and security sensitive systems for the Armed Forces. However, many systems developed by DRDO for the Armed Forces during the last five years can also be used for civilian applications. These include composite materials; steels; computing systems; kits for detection of swine flue, malaria, typhoid, leptospirosis, dengue, chickengunia; lucoskin ointment to cure luecoderma; water poison detection kit; mosquitoes repellent; parachutes; stent; ready to eat food items; textile and clothing items; unmanned vehicles; riot control vehicles; bullet proof vehicles; night vision devices; laser dazzler, survival kits; bio-digesters; integrated shelters; fire retardant materials / equipment; emergency escape chute; walking robot; snow gallery; lubricants; paints; fuel cells; etc.
· Union Labour & Employment Minister has informed that the Government is implementing National Child Labour Project (NCLP) since 1988 for rehabilitation of children rescued/withdrawn from work. Under the Project, children rescued/withdrawn from work are enrolled in the special schools, where they are provided with bridge education, vocational training, nutrition, stipend, health care, etc. before being mainstreamed into formal education system.
· The Minister of New and Renewable Energy (Farooq Abdullah) informed that use of solar energy is increasing in the country. The total grid connected solar capacity, as on August, 2011 was 2.5 MW which has increased to 1040.67 MW as on July, 2012. He also said that India has an estimated potential of about 19,750 MW of Small Hydro Power (SHP) projects. So far, SHP projects with an aggregate capacity of 3411 MW have been set up and some projects aggregating to 1309 MW are under implementation. He said that the Setting up of small hydro projects comes under the purview of State Governments. The minister informing the House said his Ministry is providing Central Financial Assistance (CFA) to set up small / micro hydro projects both in public and private sectors. Financial support is also given to the State Government for identification of new potential sites including survey and preparation of DPRs, and renovation and modernization of old SHP projects.
· Union Minister for Health has informed that the Ministry of Environment has notified Bio-medical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules (BmWR) in 1998 (amended in the years 2000 & 2003) to provide a regulatory framework for segregation, transportation, storage, treatment and disposal of the bio-medical waste generated from the Health Care Facilities (HCFs) in the country so as to avoid adverse impact on human health and environment. However, Health being a state subject, it is the responsibility of the concerned State Government to take necessary steps to monitor the disposal of biomedical wastes through the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) in the Union Territories, as per the provisions made under the BmWR, 1998.
· Health Minister has also informed that the Government of India had launched a comprehensive National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases & Stroke (NPCDCS) in 100 districts across 21 States during 2010-2012 of the 11th Five Year Plan. The district hospitals have been funded to provide chemotherapy drugs required for cancer patients to treat 100 patients per district @ Rs. 1.00 lakh per patient. Financial assistance is also provided to the patients who are living below the poverty line and suffering from major life threatening diseases including Cancer and AIDS from the ‘Health Minister’s Discretionary Grants (HMDG)’ and ‘Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN)’.
· Environment and Forests Minister has given some details of the 12th India State of Forest Report, 2011 (1st report was published in 1987): [1.] Forest and tree cover of the country is ~80 million hectare, which is ~24% of the geographical area. This includes ~3% of tree cover; [2.] In the hill and tribal districts of the country, a decrease in forest cover of ~550 square kilometre and ~700 square kilometre respectively has been reported as compared to the previous assessment; [ 3.] The north eastern States of the India account for one-forth of the country’s forest cover; [4.] The total carbon stock in the country’s forests is estimated to the ~6666 million tones; [5.] As per the assessments of ISFR-2011and ISFR-2009, there has been a marginal decrease of ~350 sq. km in the forest cover of the country; [6.] The loss of forest cover in the seven northeastern States has been primarily due to prevailing socio-cultural practice of shifting cultivation in these states; [7.] Loss in other states like Andhra Pradesh and Kerala is reported due to harvesting of short rotation plantations like Eucalyptus, Acacia mangium, rubber etc.
· Health Minister has informed that his ministry have closely monitors the cases and deaths due to outbreak of different vector-borne diseases viz. Japanese Encephalitis (JE)/Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), Malaria, Dengue and Chikungunya in different parts of India. In 2011-12, the proportion of funds devoted to prevention and control of vector-borne diseases out of total expenditure on disease prevention & control programs was about 53%.
· The Urban Development Ministry has said that satellite images of 152 towns have been procured by Survey of India under the National Urban Information System, NUIS scheme. In order to facilitate the preparation of ‘Master Plan’ of cities, the Ministry of Urban Development had launched the NUIS Scheme in March 2006. Such a comprehensive information infrastructure with a spatial database and the Geographic Information System can be made available to all departments in states so that plan formulation is done in a cost effective and efficient manner. The City Master Plan is a fundamental planning document which may provide solutions to many city problems. A Geographical Information Database has been generated for 142 towns under the scheme.
· The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict 25-year-old Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, saying that waging war against the country was the primary and foremost offence committed by the Pakistani terrorist. The bench rejected his contention that he was not given a free and fair trial in the case. The bench held that evidence showed that the conspiracy and planning of the 26/11 carnage was hatched in Pakistan. Kasab along with nine other Pakistani terrorists had landed in south Mumbai on November 26, 2008 night after travelling from Karachi by sea and had gone on a shooting spree at various city landmarks, in which 166 people were killed. Welcoming the Supreme Court verdict, both BJP & Congress demanded his quick execution.
· Lakshya-1, which is the Air Force version of micro-light pilot-less target aircraft successfully test-flown from the launch complex-2 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, Orissa. Lakshya is part of the Indian Air Force since 2000. It is launched by a solid propellant rocket motor and has 30 to 35 minutes flight time.
· Defence Minister has informed that India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO has successfully developed a system which can identify a friend or enemy. He said another system called Airborne Early Warning and Control Programme has also been developed to meet the futuristic needs of the three services.
· India today successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable Prithvi-II missile from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur-on-Sea in Balasore district off Odisha coast as part of a user trial by the Army. The whole exercise was aimed at studying the control and guidance system of the missile besides providing training to the Army, which happens to be the user of the missile. The sleek missile is handled by the strategic force command. It has features to deceive anti-ballistic missiles, uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring capabilities and reaches its target within a few metres of accuracy. Prithvi, the first ballistic missile developed under the country’s prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme has the capability to carry 500 kg of warheads with a strike range of 350 km. Some features of Prathvi-II: surface-to-surface missile with liquid propulsion twin engine; range of 350 km; flight duration of 483 seconds reaching a peak altitude of 43.5 km.
· Defence Minister has inaugurated the first phase of the Static Sensors Project of the Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN) of Coast Guard. The ‘Maharashtra and Gujarat cluster of chain of static sensors’ has been envisaged at improving real time surveillance cover along India’s sensitive coastline (25 nautical miles) and aims at preventing undetected intrusion of vessels along the coastline. High-end surveillance gadgets such as frequency diversity radar, electro-optic sensor, VHF sets and metrological equipment have been installed on either existing light houses or masts erected at each of the sites. The project is based on the recommendations made by a group of ministers on reforming the national security system, post the Kargil conflict.
· Minister for Culture has informed that no financial assistance has been directly provided by the govt. Chhau dance for preservation, promotion & dissemination of Chhau dance of Mayurbhanj region of Odisha during each of the last 3 years. However, Chhau dance has been promoted by way of conducting various programmes. The dance was included in the Republic Day Folk Dance Festival, 2002 held at New Delhi.
· Onasadya or traditional Onam is a festival celebrated by all, irrespective of religion or caste. The harvest festival is a celebration of Kerala's rich culture and her glorious past. People visited temples this morning and laid elaborate pookkalams or floral carpets at homes, as a symbolic gesture welcoming King Mahabali. In many homes, Onam is a time for family reunion, an occasion for meeting relatives who have come from distant places and for exchanging pleasantries and gifts. Although the celebration has undergone tremendous change over the years, Onam still retains its charm, and continues to be a strong bonding force linking different generations, spreading the concept of universal love, equality and brotherhood.
· Some students from North Kashmir met the President of India. These students, from Army Goodwill School, Bandipora in J&K were in Delhi under a Student Exchange Programme "DOSTI" which is part of the Indian Army Sadhbhavana Programme. The aim of the programme is to provide exposure to the students from Kashmir to the world outside Kashmir Valley with the purpose that the students on their returning to the State of Kashmir would spread goodwill and the message of peace and prosperity. The Programme would inculcate the spirit of communal harmony in their young minds for achieving the ultimate aim of national integration.
· The Delhi to Jaipur double decker train was flagged off from Delhi. The Delhi (Sarai Rohilla) to Jaipur train will have 12 coaches in the beginning with 120 seats in each compartment, up from 78 in Shatabdi coaches. But at 4.36m high, it is only 12cm taller than an ordinary train. All the coaches are made of stainless steel to lessen weight. The train is so designed that the coaches will not pile up in an accident — a first in India. Capable of travelling at 160kmph, the train has a special air suspension for a smooth ride. Each of these coaches costs Rs 3 crore, against Rs 2.5 crore for a Rajdhani coach and Rs 1.5 crore for a normal AC coach.
· Union Tourism Ministry has granted heritage status to the Castle Naggar (Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation's prime hotel in the Kullu valley). Naggar was the capital of the former Kullu state for about 1460 years. The castle was established by Raja Sidhi Singh in the 16th century.
· As per the data of the Drug Controller-General of India, India recorded 2061 drug trial-related deaths during the period (January 2008- January 2012). Maharashtra registered maximum number of 268 deaths due to SAEs (Serious Adverse Events) during drug trials while Madhya Pradesh recorded the least number of such deaths.
· A 97-year old audio recording of the great freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak has come into light. The voice of Tilak was captured during the recording of a music concert held in Pune on September 21, 1915 to celebrate Ganesh festival, started by Tilak himself to mobilize the masses. According to Dipak Tilak, the great grandson of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, while a vast collection of Lokmanya's articles and books have been carefully preserved over the years at the 'Kesari' trust library in Pune, no audio of his voice was available.
· The year-long country-wide celebration has begun to mark the Centenary of Indian Cinema. Many landmark Indian films are being screened during the festival. The event is jointly organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals and National Film Archives of India. Puducherry is the first state capital to host the film festival as part of the centenary celebrations of Indian cinema.
· Ten more cities of Madhya Pradesh have been included in centre sponsored Rajiv Awas Yojna. With this, the number of cities of the state included in the scheme has risen to 16. The newly included cities are Burhanpur, Dewas, Khandwa, Ratlam, Rewa, Satna, Singrauli, Mudwara, Neemuch and Chhindwara. Earlier, six cities of the state were included in Rajiv Awas Yojna including Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain and Sagar. Under the scheme, houses are constructed for poor to make cities slum-free.
· The Madhya Pradesh Government has announced wheat export to Iran this year from selected districts of the state. Food Corporation of India will be nodal agency for it. The Corporation has identified wheat quality for export procured by the farmers on minimum supporting price in the state. Hoshangabad, sehore, Vidisha, Harda, Gwalior, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Ujjain are included for the first phase of export. Several state and center owned agencies were engaged for the procurement to avoid middleman.
· Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik has been transferred. Home Minister R R Patil told that Patnaik has been promoted as Director General and posted as Managing Director of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. Patnaik was in the news for the handling of the August 11 violence at Azad Maidan in Mumbai during a rally to protest incidents in Assam and Myanmar. Several policemen were injured in the melee.
· The National Consumer Helpline received more than 11,000 calls during July this year. Besides this, around 1,000 complaints were received through an online complaint system on its website. An official release says, the maximum calls were received from Delhi followed by Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana. Consumers from across the country can access a toll free National Consumer Helpline number to seek telephonic counseling for consumer related problems faced by them. The number is 1800-11-400. Complaints can also be registered also on the website www.nationalconsumerhelpline.in.
· The re-designed website of the President of India was launched at Rashtrapati Bhavan. While the historical perspectives from the earlier websites have been retained, the re-designed website has some new features, which include direct connectivity from the website to social networking media of the President i.e. Facebook and You-Tube. The new website also has a Video Gallery. Citizens can connect to the President directly by clicking the button ‘Write to the President’, which will take them directly to the helpline portal.
· Orissa's state Leprosy Officer P.K.B. Pattnaik, has been chosen for the prestigious Damien-Dutton award for the year 2012 for his efforts in the field of leprosy eradication. This award is given to people who make significant contribution in the fight against Leprosy. Some of the other renowned personalities to have received the award in the past are Mother Teresa, Baba Amte and Dr. Dharmendra. Odisha was the first State in India to accomplish the leprosy elimination goal of the World Health Organisation in 2006. Leprosy is a tropical disease that mainly affects the skin and nerves, and can cause tissue change. It is transmitted following close personal contact and has a long incubation period (1–30 years). It can now be cured if treated with a combination of drugs.
· The V.V. Giri Memorial Award 2011 was given to Prof. Utsa Patnaik, a Professor in the Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi in recognition of her outstanding contributions to labour studies. Prof. Patnaik, in her academic and policy oriented research studies, has strongly argued for the promotion of labour-intensive small-scale production, which ensures sustainable agrarian development. Besides stressing the necessity of enhancing public investment in rural development, Prof. Utsa Patnaik has also emphasized the need to provide poor households with greater access to land and other productive assets.
· In pursuance to the decision taken at the first meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission (JCC), held in New Delhi, on May 07, 2012, the first meeting of the Sub-Group on Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Project under the India-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission was held in New Delhi on August 27-28, 2012. During the meeting, India restated its offer to Bangladesh to take a stake in the Tipaimukh project and in this context handed over the Detailed Project Report to the Bangladesh delegation. India also reiterated the assurance, given at the highest level, that it would not take steps on the Tipaimukh project that would adversely impact on Bangladesh.
· Minister of State of Home Affairs has informed that there are reports that Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs) have been using Myanmar territory for safe sanctuary. Manipur based Meiti insurgent groups like People’s Liberation Army (PLA), United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK); Naga insurgent group like National Socialist Council of Nagaland/ Khaplang (NSCN/K) and United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) Anti-talk faction and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) have their camps / hideouts in Myanmar Naga Hills (MNH). In the recently held National Level Meeting (NLM) between India and Myanmar at Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar) in January, 2012 and Sectoral Level Meeting (SLM) held at Kolkata in June 2012, the issue of continued presence of IIG groups in Myanmar was raised again and it has been assured by Myanmar to co-operate closely to address the Indian concerns.
· To improve relations with Pakistan, India is likely to cut the peak tariff rate to 5 % within three years. The Union Cabinet might allow a diminution in the sensitive list by 30% for Non-Least Developed Countries (NLDCs), under the SAFTA trade liberalisation programme [NLDCs are IND, PK, SL; LDCs are AF, BU, BD, MD, NL]. The commerce ministry also proposed the expansion of the list of tradable commodities b/w India and Pakistan through the Attari border to boost bilateral trade ties. India imports items worth $171 million from Pakistan and exports goods worth $604 million.
· Pakistan is against India’s move to fill the Nimoo-Bazgo dam in Jammu and Kashmir, worrying it could slash Islamabad’s share of water from the Indus River. Nimoo-Bazgo is a hydro-electric project in Leh district. It has power generation capacity of 45 MW.
· India - Iran trade and economic ties have the potential to grow more as the two countries expand the areas of co-operation. India has been a major exporter of rice, soya and medicines and is looking forward to export wheat to Iran. The bilateral trade between the two countries has gone up by 18 percent since 2010-11 to $15.90 billion in 2011-12. Highlighting the historical and cultural linkages between India and Iran, India’s Ambassador in Iran said the findings of Iranian inions in India, the influence of Persian language on Hindi and visit of Guru Dev Ravindra Nath Tagore to Iran in 1932 are testimony to the age old ties between the two great civilizations.
· Food security, Energy issues and sustainable development are the major issues to be discussed during the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (120 member bloc) meet to be held at Iranian capital Tehran. Other issues includes the developments in Syria & Palestine, UNSC reforms, Human Rights etc. The movement is expected to reiterate its support for the Palestinian state. As a convention the NAM meetings are held first at the official level followed by the Ministerial level and then the Summit of the Heads of States or their representatives. Further, over 51 Heads of States and International Organizations have confirmed their participation in the summit. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has also confirmed his participation despite the protests from US and Israel.
· The Egyptian Prime Minister Qandil confirmed the decision to seek loan worth $4.8 billion from International Monetary Fund, IMF and said the loan agreement is likely to be signed by the end of this year. The loan agreement is based on an interest rate of 1.1 percent and a five-year repayment period following a 39-month grace period. Christian Lagarde said that the IMF would be a partner to Egypt as it embarks on a journey of economic reform to restore stability, boost investor confidence and create jobs.
· The leaders of France and Germany are met in Berlin to consider an appeal from Greece Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to ease the terms of its international bailout. The head of the Euro group, Jean-Claude Juncker, has warned the people of Greece that they are facing their last chance to stay in the Euro. But he said he is totally opposed to Greece being forced out of the single currency.
· The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the government needs more time to win the battle against terrorists. Mr Assad also dismissed as unrealistic the idea of creating humanitarian buffer zones within Syria. He said the Syrian government was fighting a battle both regionally and internationally. The president also addressed the proposal by Turkish Foreign Minister to set up a United Nations-sanctioned buffer zone inside Syria to shelter refugees and help distribute humanitarian aid.
· One of the most powerful typhoons (Bolaven) in decades churned towards the Korean peninsula after lashing Japan's Okinawa with heavy rain and wind. In Japan, more than 75,000 households suffered power cuts after a powerful typhoon lashed the southern island of Okinawa. Meanwhile, three more US states Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have declared a state of emergency, as tropical storm (Isaac, Category-I hurricane, winds of 130 km/hr) approaches. Earlier, Florida had done the same to make federal funds available for flood preparations and possible relief work. It now seems to be heading for Louisiana, where almost seven years ago hurricane Katrina destroyed much of New Orleans, killing more than 1800 people.
· Charles L. Bennett, a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, US, received the Gruber Cosmology Prize 2012. Bennett led a 26-member team that worked on NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. The findings of the study aided in much clear understanding of the age, shape and structure of the universe. Charles L. Bennett has done pioneering studies confirming that our universe was born in a hot Big Bang.
· X-51A built by U.S. which was designed to travel from London to New York (around 5570 km) in 45 minutes crashed into the Pacific Ocean in its test flight. The test was conducted off the coast of California at Mach 6 speed (up to 7,300 kmph) which means six times the speed of sound. X-51A is an unmanned U.S. military jet specially designed to fly at hypersonic speeds.
· National Sports Day is being celebrated across the country on 29th August to mark the birth anniversary of legendary hockey player Major Dhayn Chand. The President will give away the prestigious Sports Awards like Arjuna award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Dhyan Chand Award and Dhronacharya award at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Dhyan Chand award, regarded as the country’s highest award for lifetime achievement in sports is bestowed annually since 2002. The day is also celebrated as the Annual Sports Day in many schools across India. In addition, the youth is made aware about the importance of sports in the country and is also motivated to make a successful career in different fields of sports.
· The Rajya Sabha today congratulated the Indian Cricket Team (Captain Unmukt Chand) for winning the Under-19 One Day International Cricket World Cup for the third time. Mohammed Kaif and Virat Kohli led their respective teams to victory in 2000 and 2008 editions respectively. The victory has added another feather in India's cricketing crown as the country now holds both the senior and junior ODI World Cups.
· The 44th edition of the US Open Tennis Championships begins in Queens, New York today. This year, World Number One Roger Federer of Switzerland will aim to cap his dramatic renaissance by becoming the first man in 87 years to win six US Open titles. At present, Federer has five New York trophies, a mark he shares with US legends Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors. Last year, Serbia's Novak Djokovic bagged the Men's Singles title, while Aussie Samantha Stosur hogged the limelight as she stunned local favourite Serena Williams to become the first Australian woman to win the US Open title.
· Tennis star Roger Federer clinched a record 5th Western & Southern Open Title (Cincinnati Masters) at Cincinnati by defeating Novak Djokovic. In women’s singles China’s Li Na vanquished German Angelique Kerbar to bag the title.
· The Paralympic games (first recognised sports events for people with disabilities) get underway in London tonight with an opening ceremony involving 7,000 athletes and performers. It is expected to be the best attended paralympic games ever. India has participated in the game with10 athletes.
· South African cricket player, Hashim Amla became the fastest player to score 3,000 one-day international runs during the course of his 150 that set up the Proteas' 80-run win over England in Southampton. He reach the landmark in 57 innings compared to the 69 it took West Indies' Vivian Richards, one of cricket's all-time great batsmen. He is the third South African in a top 10 that also includes current Proteas' coach Gary Kirsten.