Land acquisition for bullet train almost over, HC told

• The Maharashtra government on Monday informed the Bombay High Court that the land acquisition process on the entire line of the Mumbai Ahmedabad bullet train project has been completed except the plot owned by Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd at suburban Vikhroli.
• The State government and the company are embroiled in a legal dispute since 2019 over the acquisition of the company owned land in Vikhroli for the bullet train project.
• Of the total 508.17 km of rail track between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, about 21 km is to be underground.
• One of the entry points to the underground tunnel falls on the land at Vikhroli (owned by Godrej).

About Bullet Train Project in India

• Owing to the growing economy and dependence on railways for transportation, India has planned to increase the speed of its trains.
• It has planned a multi-point strategy for running of high-speed trains (with a speed >300 kmph), semi speed trains (with a speed >160 kmph to 200 kmph), the introduction of fast & faster train sets and increasing the speed of existing trains.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train

• The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor will have a high-speed train, with financial assistance from the Japanese Government.
• The Shinkansen high-speed technology will be used in this train. “National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited”, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been formed for the implementation of this project.
• Indian railways will hold 50% of the equity in the SPV.
• The project cost is estimated at 1.10 Lakh Crore.
• Financial assistance has been provided by the Japanese government in the form of a loan up to 81% of the project cost to be repaid in 50 years with a 15-year moratorium at a nominal interest rate of 0.1%.
• The foundation stone for India’s first high-speed rail project was laid by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Sabarmati Station Ground, located in Ahmedabad.
• The Mumbai to Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR) project will cover a distance of 508 km and is expected to be completed by 2022 (earlier scheduled to be completed by 2023).
• The project fulfils the twin complementary objectives of “Make In India” and employment generation. It is expected to give a stimulus to manufacture of advanced components and create about 15 lakh jobs in India

ISRO to attempt 200^th successful launch of sounding rocket in a row

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will attempt the 200th consecutively successful launch of the Rohini RH-200 sounding rocket on Wednesday from Thumba.
• Former President Ram Nath Kovind will be present at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) – ISRO’s lead unit on launch vehicles – to witness the launch.
• Kovind will address the VSSC community and release a coffee-table book on the RH-200 rocket. ISRO chairman S. Somanath and VSSC director S. Unnikrishnan Nair will be present.
• RH-200 is a solid motor-powered, expendable rocket capable of climbing up to a height of 70 km bearing payloads designed to study the upper atmosphere.
• An RH-200 had lifted off successfully from Thumba for the 199th time in a row during the World Space Week celebrations in October this year.
• ISRO has launched more than 1,600 RH-200 rockets so far. The rocket had flown on its 100th consecutively successful mission on July 15, 2015.
• Along with other Rohini variants like the RH-300 Mk-II and RH-560 Mk-III, this sounding rocket has served as a platform for experiments and new technologies.

About ISRO

• ISRO is the space agency under the Department of Space of Government of India, headquartered in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• Its vision is to harness space technology for national development, while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.
• Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL) is a Marketing arm of ISRO for promotion and commercial exploitation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO.
• Shri S. Somanath is the incumbent chairman of ISRO.

Tamil Nadu’s Jagadeesan breaks world record by creating 277 runs.

• 277 The number of runs scored by Tamil Nadu batter Narayan Jagadeesan, creating a world record for the highest ever individual score in men’s List A cricket in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
• Tamil Nadu became the first team to breach the 500 mark in List A cricket before winning the match by 435 runs, making it the biggest victory margin at this level

PM to distribute 71,000 appointment letters in Rozgar Mela

• 71,000The Number of appointment letters Prime Minister Narendra Modi will distribute to new recruits today as part of the government’s ‘Rozgar Mela.’
• A significant number of posts are being filled by the Ministry of Home Affairs in various Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).

Union Health Ministry launches India’s first suicide prevention policy

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday announced a National Suicide Prevention Strategy, the first of its kind in the country, with time-bound action plans and multi-sectoral collaborations to achieve reduction in suicide mortality by 10% by 2030.
• The strategy broadly seeks to establish effective surveillance mechanisms for suicide within the next three years, establish psychiatric outpatient departments that will provide suicide prevention services through the District Mental Health Programme in all districts within the next five years, and to integrate a mental well-being curriculum in all educational institutions within the next eight years.
• It envisages developing guidelines for responsible media reporting of suicides, and restricting access to means of suicide.
• The stress is on developing community resilience and societal support for suicide prevention. While the strategy is in line with the WHO’s South East-Asia Region Strategy for suicide prevention, it says it will remain true to India’s cultural and social milieu.
• In India, more than one lakh lives are lost every year to suicide, and it is the top killer in the 15-29 years category.
• In the past three years, the suicide rate has increased from 10.2 to 11.3 per 1,00,000 population, the document records.
• The most common reasons for suicide include family problems and illnesses, which account for 34% and 18% of all suicide-related deaths.

Arun Goel assumes charge as Election Commissioner

• Arun Goel, a retired IAS officer of the 1985 Punjab cadre, assumed charge as the new Election Commissioner (EC) of India on Monday.
• Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, who is currently in Nepal as the international observer for their ongoing national elections, congratulated Mr. Goel on his appointment.
• With Mr. Goel assuming charge, the third and final vacancy in the Election Commission of India, has been filled.
• Welcoming him, Mr. Kumar said his vast and diverse administrative experience will further strengthen the Commission’s endeavours in ensuring that the electoral process is inclusive.

Qatar, China sign world’s ‘longest’ gas supply deal

• Qatar Energy announced a 27-year natural gas supply deal with China on Monday, calling it the “longest” ever seen as it strengthened ties with Asia at a time when Europe is scrambling for alternative sources.
• The state energy company will send four million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually from its new North Field East project to China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), it said.
• The deal “marks the longest gas supply agreement in the history of the LNG industry”, said Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar’s Energy Minister and Qatar Energy’s chief executive.
• Asian countries led by China, Japan and South Korea are the main market for Qatar’s gas, which is increasingly being sought by European countries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Negotiations with European countries have struggled as Germany and others have baulked at signing the sort of long-term deals made with Asian nations.
• North Field is at the centre of Qatar’s expansion of its liquefied natural gas production by more than 60% to 126 million tonnes a year by 2027.
• China is the first country to seal a deal for North Field East.
• The Chinese company’s chairman revealed that it had also requested a full share of the North Field South project that is dominated by Western energy giants.
• The accord would “further solidify the excellent bilateral relations between the People’s Republic of China and the State of Qatar and help meet China’s growing energy needs”, Mr. Kaabi said.
• Sinopec chairman Ma Yongsheng, who took part in a virtual signing ceremony from Beijing, said it was a “milestone” accord as “Qatar is the world’s largest LNG supplier and China is the world’s largest LNG importer”.

Maharastra has decided to double the pension of freedom fighters

Shahjanpur district of UP has become the top-ranked district in the Jal Jeevan Mission

Excellence in Leadership for Family Planning EXCELL 2022 award has been won by India

Source : THE HINDU