India collaborating with Russia for nuclear power plant in Bangladesh

India said on Wednesday it is collaborating with Russia to build the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, the first initiative under an Indo-Russia deal to undertake atomic energy projects in third countries. This will also be India’s first atomic energy venture abroad.

“We are collaborating with our Russian and Bangladeshi partners on establishing Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh,” Atomic Energy Commission chairman Sekhar Basu said at the 61st general conference of the global nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

India signed a civil nuclear cooperation deal, along with two more agreements, with Bangladesh in April under which the two sides can supply and manufacture equipment, material for the atomic power plant.

The Rooppur project, which is being built by the Russians near Dhaka, will be Bangladesh’s first atomic energy project.

After commissioning of two units, each with a capacity of 1200 MWs, Bangladesh will be the third South Asian country after India and Pakistan to harness energy from atomic fission.

The Indian government has approved construction of 10 new indigenously built nuclear power projects

Chabahar Port to be operational by 2018-end

Chabahar port, located in the Sistan-Balochistan province in the energy-rich Persian Gulf nation's southern coast, lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India's western coast, bypassing Pakistan.

Union Minister said that the port would be a “win win” situation for India, Iran and Afghanistan as it would serve as a “growth engine” for the entire region.

India joins quantum computing race

Keen to tap into the next big advance in computing technology, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) is planning to fund a project to develop quantum computers.

A quantum computer, still largely a theoretical entity, employs the principles of quantum mechanics to store information in ‘qubits’ instead of the typical ‘bits’ of 1 and 0. Qubits work faster because of the way such circuits are designed, and their promise is that they can do intensive number-crunching tasks much more efficiently than the fastest comparable computers.

The Physics departments at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, have only forayed into the theoretical aspects of quantum computing.

Experts from across the country are expected to gather this month in Allahabad for a workshop to develop such a computer. Internationally, Canada’s D-Wave Systems, is a pioneer in developing quantum computers and has sold machines to Lockheed Martin and Google.

એશિયન ઈન્ડોર એથ્લેટ્કિસમાં ચિત્રા અને લક્ષ્મણન ગોલ્ડ જીત્યા

પી.ટી. ઉષા સહિતના ભારતીય એથ્લેટિક્સ ફેડરેશનના રાજકારણને કારણે જેને વર્લ્ડ ચેમ્પિનયનશીપમાં ભાગ લેવાથી વંચિત રાખવામાં આવી હતી તેવી ભારતીય એથ્લીટ પી.યુ. ચિત્રાએ તુર્કમેનિસ્તાનમાં યોજાયેલી પાંચમી એશિયન ઈન્ડોર એથ્લેટ્કિસ અને માર્શલ આર્ટસ ગેમ્સમાં મહિલાઓની ૧,૫૦૦ મીટરની દોડમાં ગોલ્ડ મેડલ જીત્યો હતો.

ચિત્રાની સાથે સાથે એશિયન ચેમ્પિયન બનેલા ભારતના જી. લક્ષ્મણને પણ પુરુષોની ૩,૦૦૦ મીટરની દોડમાં સુવર્ણ સફળતા પ્રાપ્ત કરી હતી. ભુવનેશ્વરમાં જુલાઈમાં યોજાયેલી એશિયન એથ્લેટ્કિસ ચેમ્પિયનશીપમાં બેવડા ગોલ્ડ મેડલ જીતનારા લક્ષ્મણને એશિયન ઈન્ડોર એથ્લેટિક્સમાં પુરુષોની ૩,૦૦૦ મીટરની દોડ ૮ મિનિટ અને ૨.૩૦ સેકન્ડમાં પુરી કરતાં સુવર્ણ ચંદ્રક જીત્યો હતો.

જ્યારે ચિત્રાએ મહિલાઓની ૧,૫૦૦ મીટરની દોડમાં ચાર મિનિટ અને ૨૭.૩૨ સેકન્ડના સમય સાથે ગોલ્ડ મેડલ જીત્યો હતો. અગાઉ એશિયન ચેમ્પિયન બનેલી ચિત્રાને ભારતીય એથ્લેટિક્સ ફેડરેશને વર્લ્ડ ચેમ્પિયનશીપ માટેની ટીમમાં સામેલ કરી નહતી. જે અંગે કેરળ હાઈકોર્ટે આદેશ આપ્યો હોવા છતાં ચિત્રાને લંડન વર્લ્ડ ચેમ્પિયનશીપમા રમવા મળ્યું નહતુ.

ONGC discovers oil in Arabian sea

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has made a significant oil discovery to the west of its prime Mumbai High fields in the Arabian sea.

The discovery in the well WO-24-3 is estimated to hold an in-place reserve of about 20 million tonnes, he said. Mumbai High, India’s biggest oil field, currently produces 205,000 barrels of oil per day (just over 10 million tonnes per annum) and the new find would add to that production in less than two years time.

Further appraisal

ONGC is carrying out a further appraisal of the discovery and has intimated upstream regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.

This is a mid-sized discovery but a significant one.

The new find, which comes almost 50 years after ONGC began production in Mumbai High, will help the company maintain production levels from the basin for a longer time than currently estimated.

Zero Hunger Programme will be launch on October 16

Three districts - Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Koraput in Odisha and Thane in Maharashtra - will initiate India's ambitious 'Zero Hunger' programme through interventions in farm sector on October 16 (World Food Day).

Though many more districts will eventually be covered under this dedicated farm-based programme in sync with India's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end hunger by 2030, these three would act as a model of an integrated approach to deal with hunger and malnutrition by adopting suitable agricultural\horticultural practices.

The programme will ensure suitable methods of measuring the impact of intervention. There will be intensive training programme in order to identify the nutritional maladies in each district and the appropriate agricultural/horticultural and animal husbandry remedies.

The Programme will be initiated by the&nbsp Indian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR) in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).;

Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017 Approved by Law Ministry

The law ministry has given its concurrence to a draft bill that will give powers to the government to confiscate property of economic offenders and defaulters who flee India, albeit with a new provision .

Law Ministry proposed a "Saving Clause" to be incorporated in the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill 2017 before its presentation in the Lok Sabha.

The saving clause provides for certain exception(s) in a statute.

It enables the repealed law to be in force with respect to some existing rights.