Chandrayaan countdown to start on Monday

Countdown for the launch of Chandrayaan-1, the country's first unmanned moon mission, will start on Monday, a top ISRO official said.

"The countdown will start on Monday early morning," Satish Dhawan Space Centre Associate Director MYS Prasad said.

The spacecraft, which will be launched on 22^nd October, was moved to the launch pad on Friday’s evening, he said.

"Preparatory activities, including checking of various parameters in payloads, to start the countdown are going on," Prasad said.

He added that all operations are progressing satisfactorily for the launch of the spacecraft on Wednesday at 0620 hrs.

"About 42 tonnes of propellant would be filled during the countdown period," Prasad said.

According to the specifications given by officials, the spacecraft carrying 11 payloads (scientific instruments) weighs about 1,380 kg at the time of its launch.

 

The spacecraft is shaped like a cuboid with a solar panel projecting from one of its sides.

 

The state-of-the-art sub-systems of the spacecraft facilitates safe and efficient functioning of its 11 payloads.

It is powered by a single solar panel generating a maximum power of 700W.

 

A 36 Ampere-Hour (AH) Lithiumion battery supplies power when the solar panel is not illuminated by the sun.

"To make Chandrayaan-1 escape from orbiting the earth and to travel towards the moon, its Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) is used," an official said, adding, "Liquid propellants needed for LAM as well as thrusters are stored onboard the spacecraft."

The craft's dual gimballed antenna will transmit scientific data gathered by its 11 payloads to earth, officials added.

PM tells Rajapaksa to protect rights of Tamils

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to ensure that Tamils do not get "enmeshed" in the conflict with LTTE and that their rights and safety are upheld.

During a telephonic conversation initiated by Rajapaksa on Saturday, Singh said there could be no military solution to the conflict in the island country and asked the President to start a political process for a peacefully negotiated settlement within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister's Office said.

The Prime Minister also asked Rajapaksa to instruct the Sri Lankan Navy to desist from firing on Indian fishermen, saying their killing is "unacceptable", the PMO said in a statement.

Rajapaksa assured Singh that "all necessary measures" are being taken to ensure safety and well-being of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, it said.

"During the telephonic conversation, the Prime Minister expressed his deep concern on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the north of Sri Lanka, especially on the plight of civilians caught in the hostilities," the statement said.

Singh emphasised that the "safety and the security of these civilians must be safeguarded at all costs."

 

Singh told Rajapakse that the "rights and welfare of the Tamil community of Sri Lanka should not get enmeshed in the ongoing hostilities against the LTTE", the PMO said.

During the conversation, the Prime Minister said continued and uninterrupted relief supplies should be ensured for the internally displaced persons in order to address the humanitarian situation, the PMO said.

On the killing of Indian fishermen, Singh and Rajapaksa agreed to work on practical arrangements to prevent such incidents.

The conversation came amid a spree of resignations by DMK members in the Union Cabinet and MPs to their party chief to protest against the military offensive in LTTE-held areas in Sri Lanka.

The Prime Minister had on Wednesday said the situation in the island nation is a cause for "serious concern" and asked Colombo to find a negotiated settlement rather than looking for a "military victory".

He said India was concerned over escalating hostilities, losses suffered by civilians and increasing number of displaced persons in Sri Lanka.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on Friday summoned Lankan High Commissioner C R Jayasinghe and told him that Colombo should address New Delhi's concerns over the humanitarian situation in the island nation and stop harassing and killing Indian fishermen.

Menon said Sri Lankan government should ensure that the rights of its civilians are respected and they are protected from attacks.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also issued a statement on Thursday expressing worry over the situation and said India will do all "in its power" to ensure a political settlement to the ethnic problem in the island nation.

Mayawati returns land to Rae Bareli rail project

Making a U-turn, the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to return the land in Rae Bareli for construction of a rail coach factory, an issue on which she had a high-pitched spat with Congress President Sonia Gandhi during the week.

“The state cabinet today decided to give 189.25 hectares of land on lease to the Railways for 90 years as requested by it for setting up the rail coach factory in Rae Bareli and a letter to this effect is being sent to the Railways Minister today itself”, Chief Minister Maywati told newspersons at Lucknow on Saturday.

 

The report of Net Ram, the Chief Minister's Principal Secretary who was assigned to inquire into the matter after the land allotment was cancelled by the government last week, was presented in the state cabinet on Saturday which took a decision for leasing out the land, she said.

On the withdrawal of land allotment earlier which had stalled Sonia Gandhi's planned "bhoomi pujan" there and triggered a political storm, Mayawati said the action was "illegal" as proper cabinet approval was not taken for the same.

"A recommendation in principle for the same had been made by me earlier after which it had to be placed before the cabinet but it was not done", she said.

In an oblique attack on Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati said the "drama" over the land allotment was enacted by the Congress chief keeping in view coming Lok Sabha polls.

Referring to a notification published in newspapers a couple of days ago that 940 acre of land was in possession of the Railways, Mayawati said why bhoomi pujan was not done then and a hue and cry was made over it simply to gain political mileage by Congress.

 

"With today's cabinet decision, the whole controversy and the drama will be buried in the soil of Rae Bareli", Mayawati said.

The Chief Minister said that by leasing out the land which was very small in size as compared to the 940 acres already in possession of the railways, the state cabinet also tried to bury the controversy and the "drama which had been aimed at maligning her government" by branding it as against the development of Rae Bareli district.

Apparently to counter the charge that her government is meting out a step-motherly treatment to Rae Bareli and Amethi, Lok Sabha constituencies of Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, the BSP chief said she is sending a letter to Prime minister Manmohan Singh seeking a Rs. 5000-crore special package for reviving sick and non-functional factories in the two districts.

 

A detailed report on the number of such factories and the number of people rendered unemployed by them has been sent to the Prime Minister and its copy to Sonia Gandhi urging her to use her good offices for getting them cleared, Mayawati said.

To questions that her government's earlier plea for a Rs 80,000-crore special package for UP has not yet been cleared by the Centre, she said she hoped that it would not be the case with Rae Bareli and Amethi.

 

The UP government's withdrawal of land allotment on Saturday last had come three days ahead of Sonia Gandhi's visit to Rae Bareli for 'bhoomi pujan' on Tuesday.

The Rae Bareli district authorities had also clamped prohibitory order at Lalchawk in Rae Bareli, scuttling a proposed rally to be addressed by the Congress President.

On Wednesday, the state government's cancellation of land allotment for the rail coach factory was challenged in Allahabad High Court which ordered a virtual stay on the cancellation.

 

 

Mayawati tells partymen to prepare for LS polls

 

Gearing up with the announcement of assembly polls in five other states, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has started motivating her party workers to prepare for the coming general election scheduled later next year.

 

Bahujan Samaj Party supreme on Saturday exhorted partymen to start all out preparations so as to give "surprising" results on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

"With good results in the Lok Sabha elections, I am sure, when the new government is constituted at the centre, the situation would be entirely different", Mayawati said while addressing a seminar on 'Scheduled Caste/Tribes and OBCs -- Problems, Reasons and Remedy,' at Lucknow on Saturday.

"Though every section of society has come with the BSP, those who are left out should also be motivated through the ideology and principals and brought in the party," she said.

Blaming the Congress for social, educational and economic backwardness of SCs and STs, Mayawati said that they continued to suffer because of the casteist mentality and policies adopted by the party which ruled the state and the country for the maximum time period since independence.

“That Congress as also the other parties discriminating these sections of society could be judged from the fact that neither the Congress-led UPA government nor the Samajwadi Party-led Uttar Pradesh government declared national mourning on the death of BSP founder Kanshi Ram who had dedicated his life for the upliftment and welfare of the most deprived sections.”

“As the Congress votebank has been shifting towards the BSP both its leaders and the "yuvraj" (Rahul Gandhi) have been indulging in every sort of drama to bring them back but it would have no effect”, she said.

 

Perhaps to ally the fears of her traditional votebank due to inclusion of upper caste in the BSP, Mayawati cited figures to stress that the party's success in the last assembly elections became possible only with their support and backing.

Earlier, only with the support of the SCs and the OBCs we had not been able to make such success, she said adding that this support and help of the "Sarv Samaj" was also required for BSP to get hold of the Centre.

She also warned the BSP workers against internal rift and asked them to work not just among their castes but also among others and develop understanding to strengthen the party.

Referring to Taj corridor and disproportionate assets case against her she said, it had been done to deviate her from her mission to work for the downtrodden.

Sensex ends below 10k level, touch over 2-year lows

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday sank to more than two-year lows under 10,000 points on panic selling by funds and general investors.

After a promising start, the Sensex dropped by 606.14 points, or 5.73 per cent, to 9,975.35, a level last seen in June 2006.

The key-index dipped to 9,911.32 during the day and a high of 10,786.93.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty tumbled by 194.95, or 5.96 per cent, to 3074.35 after touching the day's low of 3046.60 and a high of 3335.95 points.

Marketmen said the Sensex dipped to the lowest level in over two years on concerns of a sharp global economic slowdown and sluggish corporate earning.

They said a series of measures announced by the government and the Reserve Bank of India failed to check rising capital outflow by foreign funds.

The market barometer turned significantly down as market major Reliance Industries dropped by 6.58 percent, DLF Ltd. by 10.34 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 7.47 per cent, ICICI Bank by 5.61 per cent and State Bank of India by 8.42 per cent.

Sector-wise, Realty stocks suffered the most as segment index meltdown by 10.25 per cent at 2,524.89 followed by Power sector index by 8.09 per cent at 1,712.27.

Praful Patel rules out bailout for aviation companies

Jet Airways' sudden U-turn on Friday triggered speculation whether the Centre was behind reinstatement of 1,900 sacked employees as parties in Maharashtra and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel appeared to take credit for the airline's decision.

Patel, who had initially washed his hands off the whole episode on the ground it was a corporate action, said the controversial decision was reversed within a day of his asking the airline's boss to solve the problem.

"I called the Chairman (Naresh Goyal) yesterday morning to meet me in Hyderabad... I had also told him that in 24 hours, we must find a resolution to this problem otherwise we in the ministry would certainly not be very happy with the approach of Jet Airways," he told reporters in New Delhi.

Petroleum minister Murli Deora said the sacking decision was "amateurish which made us very upset."

Goyal while announcing the decision had said the reinstatement was not under political pressure and I have not met anybody... There was no internal or external pressure.

He said the decision stemmed from a "conscience call".

In Mumbai, Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray-led MNS sought to claim credit for the reinstatement decision.

Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said "Jet must have now realised the power of Sena's force" while MNS chief and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray said "no matter what others may claim, people know what led to Jet reinstating the staff".

Raj's apparent reference was to his party's threat after the airline announced the lay-off that no Jet flight would be allowed to operate in Maharashtra till the sack order was rescinded.