The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 10

The International News Weekly INDIA
September 01, 2017 | Toronto
13
Black day for India as PSLV rocket launch fails
By Venkatachari Jagannathan
Sriharikota (Andhra
Pradesh): It was a black
Thursday for Indian space
programme as it suffered
a serious setback after its
workhorse rocket Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV) failed to deliver India's
eighth navigation satellite
in its intended orbit.
The 1,425 kg Indian Regional
Navigation Satellite-
1H (IRNSS-1H), which was
launched at 7 p.m. on board
the PSLV, was declared
unsuccessful after its heat
shield failed to separate.
Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) Chairman
A.S. Kiran Kumar
said: "The mission was
unsuccessful." "The rocket
heat shield didn't separate.
The satellite is inside the
heat shield," he added.
Speaking to the media,
Kiran Kumar said the rocket
engines performed well
but only the heat shield did
not get separated.
"The satellite was seen
rotating inside the heat
shield enclosure," he said.
Queried about the impact
of the mission failure
on getting commercial
launch prospects, the ISRO
Chairman said the issue
has to be studied.
The rocket's heat shield
should have separated
some three minutes into the
launch, but it failed to. The
scientists waited for some
19 minutes to see if it would
separate, and then declared
the mission unsuccessful.
The IRNSS-1H satellite
was to have been slung
into orbit at around 507 km
above the earth. Rocket scientists
are perplexed at the
failure. "It is really perplexing
that such a thing has
happened. Normally the
PSLV rocket has several
redundancies built into
it," R.V. Perumal, a former
ISRO scientist, told IANS.
He said all the commands
are pre-planned and
built into the computers.
"There cannot be any
manual command," he added.
Earlier, at around 7 p.m.
the rocket PSLV standing
around 44.4 metres tall and
weighing 321 tonnes with
a one-way ticket hurtled
towards the skies ferrying
the IRNSS-1H.
With a rich orange
flame at its tail, the rocket
ascended towards the evening
skies amidst the resounding
cheers of ISRO
scientists and media team
assembled at the launch
centre.
Space scientists at ISRO
new rocket mission control
room were glued to their
computer screens watching
the rocket escaping the
earth's gravitational pull.
The IRNSS-1H is a substitute
for IRNSS-1A as
the three rubidium atomic
clocks of the latter has
failed. The launch failure
has shocked the Indian
space community as PSLV
has a good record of success
missions since 1993 and has
been a major revenue earner
for Antrix Corporation,
ISRO's commercial arm.
India's growth rate sinks to 5.7 percent, lowest in three years
IANS
New Delhi: Pulled down
by sluggish manufacturing,
growth in the Indian
economy during the first
quarter of this fiscal fell
to 5.7 per cent, clocking
the lowest GDP growth
rate under the Narendra
Modi dispensation, official
data showed on Thursday.
Industry expressed disappointment
at the numbers,
saying it anticipated a rebound
from the ongoing
quarter.
The previous low of 4.6
per cent was recorded in
January-March 2014.
According to data from
the Central Statistics Office
(CSO), India's gross
domestic product (GDP)
for the first quarter at Rs
31.10 lakh crore grew 5.7
per cent over the same
quarter last year. During
the previous quarter the
GDP had grown by 6.1 per
cent.
The country's GDP had
grown at 7.9 per cent in the
same period a year ago.
"GDP at constant (2011-
12) prices in Q1 of 2017-18
is estimated at Rs 31.10
lakh crore, as against Rs
29.42 lakh crore in Q1 of
2016-17, showing a growth
rate of 5.7 per cent," a CSO
release here said.
In terms of Gross Value
Added (GVA), which
excludes indirect taxes
and subsidies, the growth
was even lower at 5.6 per
cent over the GVA for the
corresponding quarter of
last year.
The principal reason
for the decline in growth
is a fall in manufacturing
sector, where GVA fell
sharply to 1.2 per cent,
from 10.7 per cent a year
ago, Chief Statistician
T.C.A. Anant told reporters
here after the release
of the numbers.
"Principally, the major
sector that has seen a
sharp decline in industry,"
he said.
"The major reason for
slowdown in growth at
5.7 per cent is on account
of manufacturing, where
GVA is largely contributed
by the private sector. In
all, 74 per cent of the GVA
comes from corporate sector.
Its performance has
been poor, though the sales
growth is good," he added.
Anant said the slowdown
in the first quarter
to 5.7 per cent was due to
de-stocking by firms as
caution ahead of the GST
roll-out on July 1.
He said there was a
likely revival from the second
quarter onwards as
subsequently stocks would
be restored to normal levels
as the GST regime progressed.
The GVA in manufacturing
was showing a declining
trend from Q2 of
the last fiscal, which has
continued, he added.
Anant noted that another
reason for the fall
in growth rate was rise in
costs on account of prices
in intermediate inputs,
which has been much
higher than last year.
He said services and
crop production have seen
an increase in the first
quarter.
The financial, insurance,
real estate and professional
services sectors
also slowed to 6.4 percent
in the April-June quarter
from 9.4 per cent a year
ago.
Activities that registered
growth of over 7 per
cent in the first quarter
were trade, hotels, transport
and communication
and services related to
broadcasting, public administration,
defence and
other services and electricity,
gas, water supply
and other utility services.
Growth in agriculture,
forestry and fishing, mining
and quarrying, manufacturing,
construction
and financial, insurance,
real estate and professional
services is estimated to be
2.3 per cent, (-)0.7 per cent,
1.2 per cent, 2 per cent and
6.4 per cent, respectively,
during this period.
16-yr-old Delhi boy done to
death before his mother
Man impersonating as
ambassador arrested
IANS
New Delhi: A minor and a
youth have been held in connection
with killing of a 16-
year-old boy in front of his
mother here on Thursday,
police said.
Deputy Commissioner of
Police Milind Mahadeo Dumbere
said that Shahrukh's
throat was slit with a piece
of glass, which caused his
death, in Sangam Park area
of north-west Delhi around
12 p.m.
The minor boy, who slit
Sharukh's throat and another
youth who instigated him
had been arrested, Dumbere
said.
At about 11.45 a.m on
Thursday, Sharukh's mother
Shakeela was alerted by a
boy that her son and another
boy were fighting, police
said.
When she reached the
spot, the arrested minor
had thrown her son on the
ground and was punching
him and the other accused
was instigating the fight, police
said.
Shakeela said the accused
minor then took a broken bottle
from the ground and slit
her son's throat. As she cried
for help, the accused fled the
spot, leaving Sharukh on the
ground.
Police said Sharukh was
later declared dead at Hindu
Rao Hospital in north Delhi.
A senior police officer privy
to the case told IANS said
that Sharukh and the accused
minor were known to
each other.
"It seems that all three of
them were under the influence
of drugs or alcohol and
that led to the quarrel," the
officer said.
The accused were apprehended
from the same area
by evening, he added.
IANS
New Delhi: A man who impersonated
as an ambassador and
drove around in a car with an
embassy registration number has
been arrested, police said here on
Wednesday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police
Nupur Prasad said the accused --
Nitin Malhotra, 40 -- purchased the
car which belonged to a Sri Lankan
minister from the Sri Lankan Embassy
in 2016 and did not change
the registration number of the car
though it was cancelled.
The accused was arrested from
his residence in East Arjun Nagar
of Shahdara in east Delhi on Tuesday,
police said.
During interrogation, Malhotra
introduced himself as an employee
of Sri Lankan Embassy, but on detailed
interrogation it was found
that he had no connection with the
embassy, Prasad said.
On July 15 last year, Malhotra
had purchased the car and according
to official documents, the
embassy registration number was
cancelled the same day.
But the accused did not change
the number to enjoy amenities
owner of an embassy car is entitled
to. Police said that the black
Honda Civic car bearing cancelled
registration number 65-CD-24 had
also been recovered.