Republic Day parade under unprecedented security cover

Jan 17: India's "high power" communication satellite GSAT-30 was successfully launched in the early hours of January 17, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

The satellite, aimed at providing high-quality television, telecommunications and broadcasting services, was launched onboard Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana.

Blasting off from the Ariane Launch Complex in Kourou, a French territory located in northeastern coast of South America at 2.35 am IST, European space consortium Arianespace's Ariane 5 vehicle injected GSAT-30 into the orbit in a flawless flight lasting about 38 minutes.

Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël tweeted about the successful launch of GSAT-30.

ISRO's U R Rao Satellite Centre Director P Kunhikrishnan, who was present in Kourou, congratulated the ISRO community and Arianespace team on the successful launch.

Calling it an "excellent start" to 2020 for ISRO with the launch, he said, "The mission team at the master control facility have already acquired the satellite and they will immediately complete the post launch operations...."

The 3,357-kg satellite, which was deployed from the lower passenger position of Ariane-5 launch vehicle (VA 251) into to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), is configured on ISRO's enhanced I-3K Bus structure to provide communication services from Geostationary orbit in C and Ku bands.

The satellite derives its heritage from ISRO's earlier INSAT/GSAT satellite series, and is equipped with 12 C and 12 Ku band transponders.

GSAT-30 is to serve as replacement to the "aging" INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage, ISRO has said, adding the satellite provides Indian mainland and islands coverage in Ku-band and extended coverage in C-band covering Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia.

With a mission life of 15 years, GSAT-30 is an operational communication satellite for DTH, television uplink and VSAT services.

The Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO has said the communication payload of GSAT-30 is specifically designed and optimised to maximise the number of transponders on the spacecraft bus.

According to the space agency, the spacecraft would be extensively used for supporting VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) network, television uplinking and teleport services, digital satellite news gathering (DSNG), DTH television services, cellular backhaul connectivity and many such applications.

One Ku-band beacon downlink signal is transmitted for ground-tracking purpose, it added.

For its initial flight of 2020, Arianespace on its website said, it would orbit EUTELSAT KONNECT, a telecommunication satellite for the operator Eutelsat, along with GSAT-30, using an Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Centre.

EUTELSAT KONNECT – which was produced by Thales Alenia Space for Eutelsat – was riding in the upper position of Ariane 5's payload arrangement, and was released first in the flight sequence at 27 minutes following liftoff.

Since the launch of India's APPLE experimental satellite on Ariane Flight L03 in 1981, Arianespace has orbited 24 satellites, including GSAT-30, for the Indian space agency.

Gwalior, Jul 23: As India's daily infections of coronavirus keep rising, the country is fighting a pandemic which is getting bigger by the day.

A vaccine, according to the World Health Organization, may not be coming until early 2021 despite good progress on the font. There is also, so far, no definitive cure for the virus, yet.

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Protem Speaker and Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader Rameshwar Sharma, however, feels that the end of the coronavirus pandemic will begin with the start of the construction work for Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

"He (Lord Ram) had reincarnated for the welfare of mankind and to kill demons at that time. As soon as the construction of Ram Temple begins the destruction of the COVID pandemic will begin too," said Sharma, reports ANI.

"Not only India, but the entire world is suffering due to coronavirus. We are not only maintaining social distancing but also remembering our holy figures. The Supreme Court has ordered that Ram Temple will be built," he further added.

The treasurer of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust, Swami Govind Dev Giri had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Ram Temple on August 5.

He said that social-distancing norms would be ensured at the program, and not more than 200 people will be attending the ceremony.

"The Prime Minister will visit Hanuman Garhi, Ram Lalla Temple, plant a tree and later do the 'bhoomi pujan'," he told ANI.

Ram Mandir trust spokesperson Nritya Gopal Das said five silver bricks will be placed inside the sanctum sanctorum during the ceremony.

The bricks are believed to symbolise five planets as per the Hindu mythology, he said, adding that the design and the architecture of the temple is the same as the one proposed.

According to the trust sources, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat , Maharashtra Chief Minister Udhav Thackeray and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar are also on the list of invitees.

India so far has recorded 1.19 million coronavirus positive cases, and 28,732 deaths.

New Delhi, Jan 15: The Delhi government Wednesday told the high court that execution of the death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case will not take place on January 22 as a mercy plea has been filed by one of them.

The four convicts -- Vinay Sharma (26), Mukesh Kumar (32), Akshay Kumar Singh (31) and Pawan Gupta (25) -- are to be hanged on January 22 at 7 am in Tihar jail. A Delhi court had issued their death warrants on January 7.

Justices Manmohan and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal were told by the Delhi government and the Centre that the petition filed by convict Mukesh, challenging his death warrant, was premature.

The Delhi government and the prison authorities informed the court that under the rules, it will have to wait for the mercy plea to be decided before executing the death warrant.

They also said that none of the four convicts can be executed on January 22 unless the present mercy plea is decided.

The Supreme Court had on Tuesday dismissed the curative pleas of Mukesh and Vinay.

The mercy plea hearing began Wednesday morning and will continue in the afternoon.