Next PSLV launch in November-December

Real problem is certifying a technology, says Kiran Kumar

The next launch of the PSLV will be in November-December, ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said here on Friday.

He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the two-day national seminar on Emerging Trends in Aerospace Technologies, AseT 2017, organised by the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI) and the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

Earlier, in his inaugural address at the seminar, Mr. Kumar said there was a real problem in certifying a system or a technology for actual usage. This was a problem faced by developing countries. Government agencies and industry partners could design, build, and realise products.

“The real question mark is certification. Another problem is in quickly establishing a mechanism for translating design into product. There is a real need to adopt enabling technologies and incorporate them in the systems we build. Otherwise, technology will remain the forte of the Western countries. We need to identify technologies and incorporate them into our designs and provide cost-effective solutions to the nation. While there have been many developments on the aerospace front, nothing much has been done by way of designing passenger aircraft to be used for domestic flights,” he said.

In his presidential address, society president and member, NITI Aayog, V.K. Saraswat said technology had to be consistently upgraded so that India was globally competitive. There was a need to accelerate commercialisation of technologies we developed. The nation faced a major lacuna in terms of design capabilities.

The chairman of the AeSi, Thiruvananthapuram S. Pandian, VSSC director K. Sivan, AeSI secretary general Lalit Gupta and secretary of the Thiruvananthapuram branch A. P. Beena were among those present for the inaugural ceremony.

The 68th AGM of the Society is also being held along with the conference.

Sena activists shut meat shops forcibly

Around 200 ‘illegal’ meat shops were shut in Old Gurugram on Thursday

Several meat shops in Old Gurugram have been forcibly closed by Shiv Sena activists in view of Navaratri festival, which began on Thursday.

Claiming that most of these shops were being run illegally, the activists said the district administration had not taken any action against them.

Shiv Sena media co-ordinator Ritu Raj said the party’s activists went around the city on Thursday and closed around 200 meat shops in Sectors 4, 7 and 9, Basai Road, Khandsa Road, Rajiv Nagar, Sanjay Gram, Dundahera, Ashok Vihar and Palam Vihar.

‘Religious sentiments’

Stating that around 20-odd licensed meat shops were already closed in view of Navaratri, he claimed that illegal slaughtering and meat hanging outside shops hurt religious sentiments of those observing fast during Navaratri.

Aslam, who runs UP Halal Meat shop in Rajiv Nagar, said 40-odd Sena activists had forced him and others to shut their shops on Thursday. He conceded that his shop was within 900 m radius of the Indian Air Force Ammunition Depot and did not have a licence.

Gurugram police spokesperson said a Police Control Room vehicle was stationed near meat shops in Masjid area to prevent any untoward incident.

Mr. Raj objected to the police providing protection to meat shops running “illegally” in Masjid area and claimed that the Shiv Sena had also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner in this regard earlier this week but the district administration was yet to take action.

Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said that he had received a memorandum seeking closure of meat shops and restaurants serving meat during Navaratri but there was no such provision in law. He claimed the district administration is yet to receive a formal complaint against forcible closure of meat shops.

“We will act as per law if there is any complaint,” assured Mr. Singh.

The Haryana government had earlier this year released a list of 20-odd conditions to be met to procure the licence for running a meat shop in the State. Following this, most illegally-run places had shut shop before the May 15 deadline. However, most of them gradually opened without licences.

Municipal Corporation of Gurugram Medical Officer Ashish Singla said there were around 500 meat shops in Gurugram but only 75 had licences. He said over a hundred applications were still under process.

Capital’s trash is this teenager’s gold

Hassan, who belongs to a family of ragpickers, built a mini cooler made from waste from a landfill

When 13-year-old Mohammad Hassan asked his father for a cooler to beat the scorching Delhi heat three months ago, he was told that his family of ragpickers could not afford one. So Hassan built one.

Months of hard work, and permutations and combinations later, he was finally able to gift his father a mini cooler made from waste he collected from Bhalswa landfill.

Battery-powered

Hassan’s mini cooler is battery-powered. The body of this portable cooler is made from cardboard, the grill from wooden sticks, wings from plastic bottles fixed to a motor and the regulator knob from a bottle cap.

“My father said if I study hard and my interest in science continues, I will one day pull us out of poverty. Now I want to make a full-size cooler so that my mother doesn’t sweat in the kitchen and my father can relax after he comes home from work,” said the science genius.

Love for science

Hassan, who lives in a one-room accommodation in a small neighbourhood of ragpickers near Bhalswa landfill with his family of five, developed a love for science from an early age. However, it was last year that he started putting his knowledge to practical use.

Interestingly, Hassan stumbled upon the idea to build a mini cooler while watching a cartoon show on TV with his friends.

“Doremon created a fan using discarded material and it blew away the villains. I decided to try it out but failed. However, I kept at it and it took multiple attempts to come up with the final model,” added Hassan, while surrounded by his classmates at the learning centre run by non-government organisation Chintan.

Besides the mini cooler, Hassan has also built mini models of motorboats using plastic bottles, pencils and batteries; an electronic trash collecting car made from the box mobile phones are packaged in and a discarded battery-operated car; and a mobile charger. His next project — a mini airplane — is also underway.

His teachers at the learning centre said it is an achievement for a child as young as Hassan to develop interest in studies, let alone invent things from scrap, as families here generally push children into rag-picking from an early age since it adds to their income and helps put food to the table.

Matter of survival

“The people here are extremely poor and it is mainly the children who run up the waste hill to collect plastic and metal, while their parents separate and sell them. There is an entire ecosystem which survives on the landfill. Their immediate goal is survival, and education would mean sparing a pair of hands that can feed them,” said Chitra Mukherjee, the head of programmes (operations) at Chintan.

The Class IX student dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer and building energy-efficient devices, which will make life easier for waste pickers.

“My mother is my biggest fan. She keeps encouraging me to build new things while I sit idle. My parents could not study. My sister completed Class XII and my brother could only complete Class X. I want to study more and bring about a change in society,” said the teenager.

Apart from fixing and building things, Hassan likes to dance and idolises actor Govinda.

“My focus, however, is on studies. I want to make my family and teachers proud,” he said.

Hasina floats five-point peace plan

Takes centrestage at the UN with her call for action on Rohingya crisis

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has floated a five-point proposal at the United Nations to find a permanent solution to the Rohingya crisis.

Emphasising swift action to resolve the crisis in her speech at the 72nd UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Thursday, she called for immediate steps to end the 'cleansing' of the ethnic Rohingya minority. She was at the centrestage at the UNGA this year, with the Rohingya crisis deepening along Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar, a crossing made by over 430,000 refugees fleeing violence in Rakhine State in past over three weeks.

Hasina’s five-point proposal says: Myanmar must stop the violence and the practice of ethnic cleansing in the Rakhine State unconditionally, immediately and forever; the UN Secretary General should immediately send a fact-finding mission to Myanmar; all civilians, irrespective of religion and ethnicity, must be protected in Myanmar; for this, 'safe zones' could be created inside Myanmar under UN supervision; sustainable return of all forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Bangladesh to their homes in Myanmar must be ensured; and the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission Report must be implemented immediately, unconditionally and entirely.

She said it was the 14th time she was addressing the UN General Assembly, but this time she came with a heavy heart just after seeing the “hungry, distressed and hopeless Rohingya”.

“Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from the Rakhine State are entering Bangladesh to flee violence. As estimated by IOM (International Organisation for Migration), in last three weeks, over 430,000 Rohingya entered Bangladesh. They are fleeing 'ethnic cleansing' in their own country where they have been living for centuries,” Hasina said, adding that Bangladesh is currently sheltering over 800,000 Rohinya in all.

She proposed that the UN Secretary-General send a fact-finding mission to Myanmar where 'safe zones' can be built under the UN’s supervision for the protection of all civilians, irrespective of religion and ethnicity.

‘Take them back’

Before her speech at the UNGA general debate, she cleared Bangladesh’s stance over the protracted Rohingya crisis at several meetings at the UN Headquarters in New York. At the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) Contact Group meeting on Tuesday, she demanded Myanmar take back the refugees and end ‘state propaganda’ that labelled the ethnic group as ‘Bengalis’.

Hasina thanked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council for their attempts to stop atrocities, and bring peace and stability in Rakhine. She added, “We are horrified to see that the Myanmar authorities are laying land mines along their stretch of the border to prevent the Ronhingya from returning to Myanmar.”

India rebuts Pak. charge of provoking fire

DGMO denies charge that civilians are being targeted, says BSF had only retaliated to attacks from across the border

The Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) of Pakistan on Friday accused India of unprovoked shelling in the Jammu Sector, killing at least six civilians.

Replying to the allegation during a talk over the hotline, the Indian DGMO, Lieutenant-General A.K. Bhatt, said all ceasefire violations in the Jammu Sector were initiated by Pakistan Rangers. The Border Security Force troops “only responded appropriately to them”.

The Pakistan Army had requested the DGMO talks, and Major-General Sahir Shamshad Mirza raised the issue of alleged targeting of civilians opposite the Jammu Sector by Indian troops, the Indian Army said in a statement.

Civilians killed

Earlier in the day, the Pakistan Military’s Inter-Services Public Relations said six civilians were killed and 26 injured in alleged Indian shelling along the Line of Control in the Jammu sector. It released photographs of Pakistani civilians, including children, who were allegedly injured in firing by Indian troops.

The Indian Army statement said: “It was also emphasised that no targeted firing on civilians was carried out by Indian troops. Apart from these, firing by BSF troops was initiated onto armed intruders attempting to infiltrate from close proximity of Pak posts along Amritsar border.”

Lt.Gen. Bhatt said the trend of infiltration along the LoC continued with support of Pakistani forward posts.

“This was evident from continued attempts of sniping and targeting of our troops undertaken through cross-border actions duly supported by Pakistani Army troops,” the statement added.

Officials from the Military Operations directorates of the two countries talk every Tuesday, but the DGMOs speak to each other only when one side requests a conversation.

Bodies taken back

In a first, Pakistani forces took back the bodies of two armed infiltrators who were shot dead along the border early on Wednesday morning, BSF sources said.

BSF personnel said they were “surprised” by the action. Pakistan, in the past, accepted bodies of unarmed people who were killed while crossing the border inadvertently, but never took back the corpses of those killed while fighting the BSF, an official said.

The intruders were shot dead on the intervening night of September 19 and 20. The BSF foiled an armed infiltration bid across the International Border in the Ajnala Sector, near Amritsar, in Punjab.

“When challenged by the BSF, infiltrators fired on an ambush line with automatic weapons. Taking cover, the fire was appropriately retaliated and infiltrators were killed near the fence,” the official said.

Big haul

The BSF said four packets of heroin weighing one kg each, an AK-47 rifle, magazines, a 9 mm pistol, a Pakistani mobile phone and Rs. 20,000 in Pakistani currency were recovered from the infiltrators.

On Thursday, the BSF called a flag meeting and contacted their Pakistani counterparts.

“We gave them pictures of the two killed infiltrators. We were sure that they would refuse to accept them as their citizens; to our surprise, they agreed to take them back,” the official said.

He said the logistics were arranged by Pakistan to take back the bullet-ridden bodies.

Arunachal CM among disqualified directors

One of the three associated with a shell company

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and a junior Minister in the BJP-led Assam government, Naba Kumar Doley, figure among the 1.06 lakh disqualified directors associated with ‘shell companies’ that have been “named and shamed” by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MoCA).

Mr. Khandu’s name appears as one of the three directors of Rigsel Hotels and Resorts, whose registered address with the Registrar of Companies (Shillong) is the same as the one mentioned in his election affidavit.

Registered in 2011

The company was registered on February 3, 2011, when the Arunachal Pradesh government was headed by his late father, Dorjee Khandu, and Mr. Pema Khandu was not active in politics.

Mr. Khandu did not respond when The Hindu reached out to his office for a comment.

A background search on the business activity of Rigsel Hotels showed that the company was started with a paid-up capital of Rs. 1.2 lakh but no details of its business activity are available in the public domain.

Mr. Doley, who is a Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs in the Assam government, has also been disqualified as a director of Abutani Wheels India, a company that is into real estate and renting out property.

He told The Hindu that he did not own any ‘shell company’, and that he has been into real estate and automobile business since 2001.

He claimed he had been disqualified as a member from one of his companies since he had not filed annual returns as required by the Companies Act, 2013.

“I don’t have any shell company as we have been in business since 2001. About two years ago, we had applied for a merger of two of our companies and because of that we had not filed annual returns. I am sure the issue will be sorted out soon,” Mr. Doley said.

In May 2016 when Mr. Doley was sworn in as a Minister, his declared assets were to the tune of Rs. 7 crore.

The disqualification of directors and the crackdown on alleged shell companies, the MoCA claimed, is part of the government’s fight against black money.

Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala and V.K. Sasikala, who is in jail, were among the prominent names in the MoCA list of disqualified directors released on Monday.

On September 12, when the crackdown started, the Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, P.P. Chaudhary had said, “The disqualification under Section 164 of the Act is by operation of law.”

Immolation bid: TRS activist succumbs

Ayub Khan was hurt over not being nominated for any post

Ayub Khan, the 60-year-old TRS party functionary, who set himself ablaze last month, succumbed to his injuries on Friday. His death created an atmosphere of tension in Tandur, his home town.

Khan set himself afire, after reportedly being angry over the government not nominating him to a post. The incident had happened on August 30 at a gathering addressed by Transport Minister P. Mahender Reddy in Tandur. Khan had reportedly lit himself in the midst of a gathering, prompting frantic attempts to douse the flames. He was later rushed to Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad for treatment. He succumbed at the hospital in the wee hours of Friday.

Tense atmosphere

The body was taken to Osmania General Hospital for autopsy later in the morning, following which it was taken to Tandur for the final rites in Mr. Reddy’s convoy.

The word of the death had created an atmosphere of tension in Tandur, prompting police to deploy hundreds of personnel near the minister’s residence. Security was also beefed up at Mr. Reddy’s residence in the city.

To mourn the death, Mr. Reddy, whose birthday falls on Saturday, urged his followers to not celebrate the day. He also announced Rs. 20 lakh compensation from his side and Rs. 10 lakh from the TRS party to Khan’s family, besides a two-bedroom flat.