CURRENT status

What is electric mobility? What types of vehicles does it include? Electric mobility, according to the definition of the German government and the National Development Plan for Electric Mobility (NEP) comprises all street vehicles that are powered by an electric motor and primarily get their energy from the power grid – in other words: can be recharged externally. This includes purely electric vehicles, vehicles with a combination of electric motor and a small combustion engine (range extended electric vehicles – REEV) and hybrid vehicles that can be recharge via the power grid (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles – PHEV). Furthermore, the National Development Plan for Electric Mobility does not just look at specific vehicles but at the overall system. Aside from electric cars, this so-called systemic approach also includes the energy supply side as well as the charging and traffic infrastructure in its definition of electric mobility, since those components are interconnecte

Print X Close Press Information Bureau Government of India Ministry of Civil Aviation 01-December-2018 19:12 IST Digital Sky Platform launched – India to start registration of drones, pilots, and operators Registration portal for online permission The Drone regulations come in effect from today Nano drones in India can start flying legally from today. For micro and above categories, operators and pilots are required to register on the Digital Sky Portal Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS), popularly referred to as drones, are a technology platform with wide-ranging applications. In August 2018, India had announced the release of its Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) to enable safe flying of RPAS in India. The CAR detailed the obligations of operators, remote pilots/ users and manufacturers/ OEM for safe operations of RPAS and co-operative use of airspace. It also announced Digital Sky Platform, a first of its kind that implements 'no permission, no take-off’ (NPNT

Weighing about 5,854 kg, the GSAT-11, built by ISRO, is to enable much faster Internet services than now to users down home over the next 15 years. As most of India slept, its heaviest and most advanced communication satellite, GSAT-11, was shot to space from a European spaceport in faraway South America. The mission of the 5,854-kg giant 'bird' is to enable much faster Internet services than now to users down home over the next 15 years. GSAT-11 was launched from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou in French Guiana at 2.07 a.m. IST on Wednesday, December 5. The large high-throughput satellite (HTS), along with two smaller HTS satellites GSAT-19 and GSAT-29 launched earlier (by ISRO from Srihsrihkota) will kick off effective satellite-based broadband services in remote, hitherto uncovered rural areas of the country. These and a few more upcoming HTS fleet will also innovatively enable the use of the superior and efficient Ka frequency band. The lift off of GSAT-11  a

What is an underwater mountain range called? Question: What is an underwater mountain range called? Mountain Ranges: Mountain ranges are formed by different geologic processes, tectonic plates being one of them. When these plates move together, they push against each other and move upwards to create mountains. In certain areas, tectonic plates move apart, allowing magma to flow to the surface of the Earth. As it cools, it hardens and can form mountains and volcanoes. Mid-ocean ridges are mountain ranges that are found underwater. Tectonic plates that are underneath the ocean move apart and allow magma to flow through them. As the magma cools, it creates underwater mountains. There are many such underwater mountain ranges. Two of the most well-known are called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise. Although the majority of mid-ocean ridges are underwater, a small stretch of the mid-ocean ridge near Iceland actually is above sea level. Mid-ocean ridg

Operation Neptune Spear Send keyboard focus to media Operation Neptune Spear, 2011, was a precision strike operation executed by the United State's Navy Seals in which the long sought after Osama Bin Laden was eliminated under cover of darkness in Abbottabad, Pakistan.  Planning Send keyboard focus to media January, 2011: On receiving Intel about Bin Laden's presence in the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan, Vice Admiral William McRaven, the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) handpicked a team to start extensive planning at the CIA Campus, Langley, Virginia, for a raid on the compound.  Strike Team Training Send keyboard focus to media In April, 2011, a group of members of the highly specialized Seal Team Six just then returning from Afghanistan, were asked to report at North Carolina for a training exercise. The Seals trained by simulating the soon-to-be-conducted raid on Bin Laden's compound. A full size replica of the compou

Background of RCEP: Countries in East Asia region have thriving  trade and economic relations  with each other through free trade agreements. The  Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)  has free trade agreements with six partners namely  People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Japan, India as well as Australia and New Zealand. In order to broaden and deepen the engagement among parties and to enhance parties’ participation in economic development of the region, the leaders of 16 participating countries  established the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The RCEP was built upon the existing ASEAN+1 FTAs with the spirit to  strengthen economic linkages  and to  enhance trade and investment  related activities as well as to contribute to minimising development gap among the parties. Present Context: Negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), among 16 Asian and Pacific Ocean countries, have entered a decisi

First science observation The GROWTH-India telescope was commissioned six months ago soon after which it saw first light, on the night of June 12. “The telescope has been taking readings since then, and this is the first ‘follow-up’ work. We are happy to see this first science observation,” said G C Anupama, who Professor-in-Charge of the Indian Astronomical Observatory and is based at Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAP), Bengaluru. The celestial object was first noticed by a different group which saw the nova explosion. “We then pointed our telescope in that direction and measured the brightness. We found that it was fading at the rate expected for such events. This is a small step in astronomy but a big leap for us, because it is the first scientific result obtained by this telescope,” said Varun Bhalerao a faculty member at IIT Bombay and a Principal Investigator of the project along with Professor Anupama. This recurrent nova, named M31N-2008, has been observed to eru

As per the Enemy Property Act, 1968, ‘enemy property’ refers to any property that was belonging to a person who migrated from India to an enemy country when a war broke out. During World War II, the US and the UK took over the properties of people who fled their shores to settle in ‘enemy’ countries such as Germany and Japan. This was touted as a move to protect their turf from hostile forces in enemy States who might take control of such assets and use it to their advantage. Similarly, in India too, after the war with China and Pakistan in 1962 and 1965, the government took over the properties, under the Defence of India Act, from persons who migrated to these countries. The confiscated property included both movable and immovable properties — securities, jewellery, land, and buildings. Later in 1968, a law called the Enemy Property Act was enacted to regulate such properties and entrusted with the Custodian of Enemy Property. Now, for the first time, the government has decide

Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 and never left. For more than two weeks, the world awaited answers about his disappearance. Days later, information began to leak from Turkish security officials and said that Khashoggi had been killed in the consulate. Over the weekend, the Saudis acknowledged that Khashoggi had been killed—but they said it was an accident, the result of a fight gone awry. On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  called  Khashoggi’s death a “planned operation” while revealing few details. President Donald Trump at first  cast doubt  on Turkey’s account of what happened to Khashoggi and pointed out that Saudi Arabia is a valuable economic partner for America, though he  said   this week that he also is “not satisfied” with Saudi Arabia’s explanation of Khashoggi’s death. During the uncertain days following Khashoggi’s abduction, writers at  The Atlantic  tried to make sense of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship

India’s newest telescope has started observing the skies. The telescope located at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) at Hanle in Ladakh is the country’s first robotic telescope and the first one designed to observe dynamic or transient events in the universe. “The telescope saw its first light on the night of June 12,” G C Anupama, in-charge of IAO and the Centre for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST) at Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) Bangalore, told  India Science Wire .