1) ISRO’s PSLV-C38, carrying 31 satellites, lifts off from Sriharikota
•Adding another feather in its cap, Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) workhorse rocket PSLV C-38 blasted off from the spaceport of Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh carrying the Cartosat-2 series satellite - a dedicated satellite for the defense forces - along with 30 co-passenger satellites.
Here is all you need to know about the launch-
1.The 30 satellites will together weigh 243 kg and the total weight of all the 31 satellites, including Cartosat, is about 955 kg.
2.The rocket will sling the satellites into a 505 km polar sun synchronous orbit (SSO).
3.The co-passenger satellites comprise 29 nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Britain, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and the US as well as one Indian nanosatellite.
4.PSLV-C38 was launched from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
5.According to ISRO, the images sent by Cartosat satellite would be useful for cartographic, urban, rural, coastal land use, utility management like road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps, change detection to bring out geographical and man-made features.
2) Union Government launches VAJRA scheme to attract Indian scientists abroad
•The Department of Science and Technology (DST) under Ministry of Science and Technology has launched the Visiting Advanced Joint Research Faculty (VAJRA) scheme in a bid to bring together the Indian scientists abroad and India-based researchers for conducting joint researches in India.
•The web portal of VAJRA was launched by Union Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan. The motive behind the launching of VAJRA scheme is to bring the best of the world to India and conduct research in the country itself. It aims to convert brain-drain into brain-gain.
3) Uttarakhand 4th and Haryana 5th ODF States in the country
•Under the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G), rural Uttarakhand and rural Haryana have declared themselves as the 4th and 5th Open Defecation Free (ODF) States of India, respectively.
•The two states joined the league of Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, and Kerala, which were the first three states to be declared ODF. Nationally, the sanitation coverage has increased from 42% to over 64% in just two and a half years since the launch of SBM.
4) AMRUT Scheme: 53 New Projects for 9 Cities Approved in Odisha
•Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Berhampur, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Baripada are the nine places where the scheme is being implemented with fund sharing patter of 50:50 between the Centre and state government.
5) Bengaluru firm Mypetrolpump, 1st in India to deliver diesel at home
•Bengaluru has become the country's first city where one can have fuel delivered at one's doorstep, just like milk and newspapers, only weeks after oil ministry announced that the Centre was thinking of rolling out such a system.
•Mypetrolpump, a one-year-old startup, conducted a soft launch with three delivery vehicles -each with a capacity of 950 litres. Diesel is delivered at the day's running price with a fixed delivery charge. For up to 100 litres, the one-time delivery charge is Rs.99. Above 100 litres, one needs to pay the diesel price plus one additional rupee per litre.
6) RBI reconstitutes Oversight Committee; appoints three more members
•The Reserve Bank of India reconstituted the Oversight Committee by appointing three more members. The high-level panel was formed to examine the process to resolve mounting bad loans in the banking sector. According to the RBI former chief vigilance commissioner, Pradeep Kumar will head the now reconstituted 5-member panel.
•Besides Kumar, the other members of the committee are former SBI Chairman Janki Ballabh, former Canara Bank Chairman and MD MBN Rao, former Chairman of L&T Finance YM Deosthalee and S Raman, member SEBI. Raman would be inducted into the panel from September 7, 2017 after he completes the term at SEBI. The expansion follows promulgation of the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 last month.
