राफेल को भूल जाओ, HAL पहले HJT-36 को ठीक कर दे |

Nearly 16 years ago, on 7 March 2003, HAL developed HJT-36 Sitara subsonic intermediate jet trainer aircraft took to air promising to replace aging HAL HJT-16 Kiran as the Stage-2 trainer for Indian Air Force. The project was first sanctioned at with initial funding of Rs.180 crore in 1999, way before even first LCA-Tejas fighter aircraft had first made its flight.

Since then 12 limited series-production HJT-36 plus Two Prototypes were produced over the years but after back to back crashes in 2007 and 2009, the whole project has been under spiral tailspin without any sign of recovery of the project. HJT-36 program now has been officially cut off from Government funds and our new pilots are forced to fly aging Kiran trainer jets which are also likely to be retired soon. The irony is that HJT-36 Sitara was first solo project of HAL after HF-24 Marut program. HAL is the same company which boasts of manufacturing fighter aircraft like Sukhoi-30MKI at the same duration, yet it was not able to fix problems of its own creation.

Billions of Indian Taxpayers money has been wasted to support a Public sector company which has always disappointed its forces, while opposition to argument its own agenda is seen backing HAL to manufacture Rafale fighter jet for the Indian air force, Question is, do Indian Taxpayers have to really pay the bill for a product which is sometimes twice or thrice more expensive than what it could have cost India in first place if we had procured it directly from abroad ? In name of building local expertise and in name of transfer of technology, we have spent an outrageous amount of money just that we allow some of the employees of these public sector companies keep their jobs for vote bank politics ?.

While HAL boosts that it has manufactured Sukhoi-30MKI locally in India from Raw material stage and can do the same if given chance to manufacture Rafale in India. But can it actually make aircraft of same caliber it boasts of if given a chance? if the answer is no then it time HAL start focusing on basics and stop limiting itself as a screwdriver company which can only assemble jets designed and manufactured by others .If India requires assemblers where Indian Taxpayers have to pay twice or thrice the cost of the same product and have spent more on manpower and in return get a slow delivery schedule and low-quality products then what difference does it make if it is manufactured by Ambani or a Panwallah without any prior experience in aviation.

ISRO launches GSAT-7A satellite to add to India’s air power.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the country’s geostationary military communication satellite GSAT-7A onboard Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle GSLV-F11 from Sriharikota. The 2,250-kg GSAT-7A has a mission life of eight years. The satellite has been built to provide communication capability to the users in Ku-band over the Indian region.

GSAT-7A was the seventh launch of 2018 from Sriharikota and marks the 69th mission of GSLV-F11 for ISRO. GSLV-F11 is ISRO’s fourth generation launch vehicle with three stages

The launch is extremely significant for not just ISRO but for the Indian Air Force as well because it promises to boost how fighter jets communicate with each other during flight time. According to ISRO, air-to-air and air-to-ground communication can be enhanced with the satellite receiving and amplifying signals from jets and then relaying them to another jet or a ground station.

In addition, it promises to help drones in conducting surveillance-based operations. Unmanned drones can also be controlled better. The 2,250-kg GSAT-7A has a mission life of eight years. The satellite has been built to provide communication capability to the users in Ku-band over the Indian region.

राफले की अराजकता के बीच, कांग्रेस के नेतृत्व वाली संसदीय पैनल ने पर्याप्त तेजस प्रदान करने के लिए 'विफलता' के लिए एचएएल को झटका दिया

A parliamentary panel headed by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has expressed “serious concern” over Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s “failure” to provide the required number of Tejas aircraft to the Air Force, adversely affecting its combat potential and posing a security threat. The Public Accounts Committee report on ‘Design Development, Manufacture and Induction of Light Combat Aircraft’, tabled in Lok Sabha on Friday, said there were huge delays in the development and induction of the supersonic fighter jet. This resulted in two LCA squadrons not materialising and the IAF having to upgrade several aircraft, including the MiG-BIS, MiG-29, Mirage-2000 and Jaguar aircraft at a cost of Rs 20,037 crore, the report said.

Tejas is an indigenously developed single-engine light combat aircraft. The programme to design, develop and manufacture the LCA was sanctioned by the government in 1983. The phasing out of MiG-21s had to be revised and the IAF is operating with 35 squadrons as against 42 squadrons sanctioned. The MiG-21 and MiG-27 squadrons would be retired over the next 10 years, the committee, headed by Kharge, observed.

The panel comprised 22 members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, including from Trinamool Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, Biju Janata Dal, Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party. “The committee is disappointed to note that the failure of HAL/ADA (Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Ministry of Defence to provide the required number of aircraft has adversely affected the combat potential of the IAF resulting in security threat to the country,” the panel said. The report comes at a time the Congress has been sharpening its attack on the government for French company Dassault Aviation overlooking the state-run HAL while choosing an offset partner for making Rafale fighter jets.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi had interacted with HAL employees in Bengaluru in October when he accused the Modi government of “destroying” the strategic asset HAL and told them that “Rafale is your right.” The panel observed that the development of the LCA was aimed to arrest the falling number of fighter aircraft due to the “ageing and obsolete” MiG-21 and MiG-27 fleet to maintain the minimum squadron strength of the IAF. “However, the project was plagued with various technical issues resulting in timelines being extended due to which the government had issued Request for Information under the framework of the Defence Procedure 2016 to global vendors for procurement of other combat aircraft such as the American F-16, Globemaster C17, Russian Sukhoi Su-30 and Su-35, European Typhoon, Swedish Gripen-E, French Rafale etc,” it added.
The HAL, ADA and its work stations are miserably failing in its R&D to have much-needed technology in the aviation sector, the panel observed. “The committee notes with serious concern that due lack of R&D in the aviation sector, the country has to shell out of thousands of crores of rupees for procurement of both combat as well as civil aircraft from foreign countries. It is needless to mention that in times of war, it would be difficult for the nation to procure combat aircraft from unfriendly countries,” the report said.


As of July 2018, the IAF has only got nine out of its requirement of 200 fighters and 20 trainer aircraft envisaged in the Air Staff Requirements, the panel added. “The ADA/HAL have also not been able to provide IAF with even a single production standard trainer aircraft till date. Further, since HAL could not augment its capacity in line with the demand of the IAF, the IAF will have to depend on imported aircraft for a longer time, given its dwindling squadron strength,” the panel said.

कांग्रेस के राफले शोर अगस्ता वेस्टलैंड हेलीकॉप्टर घोटाले से व्याकुलता थीं-राजीव चंद्रशेखर |

The Supreme Court today laid to rest the flurry of allegations pushed by the Congress and Rahul Gandhi about the Rafale fighter deal. In its judgement it said “We have no doubt about process. Quality of aircraft not in doubt. Our country can’t be allowed to be unprepared.”

For a leader (I use the word loosely) and a political party, for whom, wild allegations seem have become the backbone of his/its political strategy – these three sentences from the judgement should be compulsory reading like errant students in primary schools. The dismissal of the petition lays bare Rahul’s Shoot-And-Scoot strategy of wild lies and allegations  – ranging from claims of NPA waivers for corporates to corruption in government contracts.

The Government and MoD in particular was at first, caught on the backfoot by this strategy and their initial responses were less than stellar to the barrage of propaganda and lies unleashed by the Congress. What was particularly unforgivable was the way Rahul Gandhi carried on this propaganda despite the damage to national security. It required the Air Chief and two serving Air Marshals to come out and clarify the process in and outside of court. From early on, to many It was obvious that this Rafale noise was a distraction from the real scam in AgustaWestland helicopter purchase. It was also obvious that the information that Rahul Gandhi was using was at the behest of some competitors of Dassault. But as I love repeating in the context of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress – the truth has an unfailing habit of coming out. Today, it has. The Dassault Rafale as explained by the IAF leadership is a state of the art platform giving the IAF air superiority over both the Chinese and Pakistan Airforces. The Rafale was selected during the UPA period being the lowest bidder. But the UPA government did not sign the deal for reasons that are still hazy. The Air Force was pushed into a corner as the years had slipped by without a decision and its operational capabilities were clearly diminishing because its last real platform acquisition was almost 3 decades old ie the Su-30MKI.So the requirement of the 36 Fighters or two squadrons that were bought in fly-away condition from the vendor was because IAF was dangerously under equipped. Urgent because for over a decade the UPA government deliberately and dangerously dithered over its decisions. At a time when it was widely known and recognized that IAF was flying old aircraft, young pilots were taking great risk in flying them and that there was an overall depletion of operationally ready aircraft compounded by an militarily aggressive China – the UPA government spent precious scarce Airforce resources on buying AgustaWestland VIP helicopters for the Cong first family instead of deciding on a cutting edge nuclear delivery capable fighter platform. The Narendra Modi recognized the need to move urgently – bit the bullet with the urgent acquisition for 2 urgently needed squadrons in a comprehensive package that could make the new aircraft operational in the quickest possible time. Since a substantial portion of discussions had already been completed, the inter-government contract was signed in 2016 For the medium and Longterm requirement of the Airforce, the government laid the roadmap for a MakeInIndia program for the balance 100 odd fighters with a vendor and public/private sector company that would be selected through a tender. That is the correct strategy for the Nation – on one hand empower the IAF in the short term and build real military manufacturing capability in the long term. Cost of Political Mudslinging The Congress has a long illustrious history with Scams. As recent articles showed even the Jaguar deal in the 70s involved then Defense Minister being “looked after” by the same set of worthies as those involved in the VIP Helicopter scam. It is clear that the Congress would rather have the people of India forget about its long and dubious history and instead believe that about the current Narendra Modi Government. But that’s a doomed to fail political strategy. The supreme Court judgement reinforces the Narendra Modi government credentials and reinforces its determination to clean up decades of vested interests in the Delhi corridors nurtured and supped in various Cong tables. While lieing and propaganda may be legitimate political strategies in the minds of Rahul and his advisors – what is unforgivable and criminal is the impact of their infantile lies on national security modernization and on the psyche of the minds of those who serve in uniform. Some stories are so bad it should make us all angry. For instance, no other Airforce in the world is flying the Jaguar in 2018 other than the IAF. The Air Force is now planning to upgrade these and give a fresh life of another 25 years. The IAF had been compelled to continue with the old aircraft since new inductions invariably get stuck despite funds being available. While the politicians fought, and bureaucrats sat on files, time took its toll. It got so bad in the nineties that we were compelled to procure some 20-30 grounded MIG-21s from East European countries. This second-hand purchase was necessary to keep the IAF going. Fastforward to today and Over two decades later, nothing seems to have changed with the Congress. Back to scoring petty political points, pushing the military preparedness of our Armed Forces behind. I believe that there MUST be consequences for these kinds of dangerous lies and falsehoods spread by political leaders. The Nation and its security and strength of its Defence Forces cannot and should not be allowed to be played up by this kind of politicking. For Rahul Gandhi, this judgement poses a new set of challenges- For a leader that has invested heavily in a political strategy of bizarre lies and propaganda to gain attention – Today’s judgement will also make people wise to the next flurry of political lies hurled by Rahul Gandhi. He has taken a new fancy to quoting Leo Tolstoy recently in his tweets and this one from Leo Tolstoy is apt for him “Anything is better than Lies and Deceit” Narendra Modi has really taken on the tough job full of minefields of modernanising our Armed forces. It took his politically tough decisions to break this acquisition deadlock with confidence in his Governments ability to navigate the tricky world of Defence deals with Integrity and commitment. The men and women tasked with our Nations security trust him to do the best by them and the forces. That his Government is committed to Sahi Vikas with Saaf Niyat got reinforced yet again today.

राफेल पर शीर्ष न्यायालय का कहना है कि गलत काम नहीं है, सरकार के लिए भारी जीत|

There is no reason for the court to sit in judgement on the correctness of the Rafale jet deal, the Supreme Court said today, in a massive relief to the government, which had been accused by the Congress of corruption in the Rs. 59,000-crore deal for 36 fighter jets. Petitions alleging that the government had gone for an overpriced deal to help Anil Ambani’s company bag an offset contract with jet-maker Dassault also didn’t wash with the court, which said: “There is no evidence of commercial favouritism to any private entity.” Here are the top 10 updates on the Rafale deal case in the Supreme Court: “We can’t sit in judgement over the wisdom of purchase of aircraft,” said a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, adding, “Our country cannot be allowed to be underprepared.” It is “not the job of this court to go into the differential pricing details, which must be kept confidential,” said the judges, on petitions accusing the government of going for an overpriced deal. Petitions demanding a court-monitored investigation into the deal were filed as the Congress and other opposition parties went hammer-and-tongs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, accusing it of crony capitalism. The Congress has alleged that the Centre scrapped a deal for 126 Rafale jets negotiated by the previous UPA government and entered an expensive new contract just to help Anil Ambani’s defence company bag an offset partnership with the jet manufacturer Dassault. The court said, “We don’t find any substantial element to show that there is any commercial favouritism to any private entity.” Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had alleged that Dassault chose Anil Ambani’s Reliance Defence as an offset partner despite its inexperience in the field, just to bag the Indian order. He also accused Dassault chief Eric Trappier of lying about it. Both the government and the French aeronautics major have denied the allegation. The offset clause means that in exchange for the contract, Dassault has to invest half the value of the deal — about Rs. 30,000 crore — in Indian firms. Reliance Defence was chosen as one of those “offset” partners and is to manufacture plane parts – though not for the 36 jets ordered by India.The Congress has demanded that the pricing details of the planes be made public – a demand the government rejected citing a secrecy clause in the deal. During the last hearing on November 14, the government had defended the secrecy clause, claiming if revealed, it could compromise national security and even the parliament has not been informed about it. The pricing details, however, were submitted to the court in a sealed cover. The government also filed a 14-page document titled “Details of the steps in the decision-making process leading to the award of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft order” as the petitioners had demanded an investigation into the procedure followed as well. At the court’s request, two senior Air Force officers also appeared in court to answer the judges’ question about the jets. They told the court that no new aircraft has been inducted into the Air Force since 1985. The petitions were filed initially by two lawyers, Manohar Lal Sharma and Vineet Dhanda. Later, Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Sanjay Singh filed one. Former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan also filed a joint petition in the top court.

ISRO To Launch Dedicated Communication Satellite GSAT-7A For Indian Air Force This Month.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is preparing to launch a dedicated communication satellite for the Indian Air Force in the third week of December, Times of India has reported.

“ISRO will launch a communication satellite GSAT-7A dedicated for the IAF in the third week of this month,” chairman of ISRO, K Sivan was quoted in the report as saying.

He further informed that there will be a PSLV launch in January followed by the launch of the communication satellite GSAT-31 from French Guiana to replace the INSAT 4CR which is expected to go out of service soon.

GSAT 7A, once deployed, will enable the IAF to interlink various ground radar stations, airbases, AWACS aircraft and will boost the network-centric warfare capabilities as well as enhance its global operations.

According to the report, the communication satellite, with a cost of around Rs 500-800 crore, will have a life span of nine years. ISRO’s GSLV MKII will take the satellite weighing 2.2 tonnes into orbit.

GSAT-7A deployment will also help the navy to upgrade from existing ground control stations to satellite control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

India currently has around 13 military satellites, with most of them being remote-sensing satellites like the Cartosat-series and RISAT satellites placed in the near-earth orbit for better scanning of Earth.

However, some of the Indian military satellites are placed in the geostationary orbit. These are used for surveillance, navigation and communication purposes by the armed forces.

India test fires indigenously-developed 5000-km-range Agni-5 missile .

India on Monday successfully test fired its indigenously developed nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni-V off the Odisha coast. The surface-to-surface missile has a strike range of 5,000 km. The missile was launched at 1.30 pm from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island in Bhadrak district. The missile developed by the Strategic Forces Command and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is the most advanced in terms of navigation and guidance, warhead and engine. This was the seventh trial of the state-of-the-art Agni-V ballistic missile. It was last tested on June 3, 2018. Agni-V is a three-stage missile, 17 metres tall, two metres wide and capable of carrying 1.5 tonne of nuclear warheads. Unlike other missiles of the series, Agni-5 is the most-advanced in terms of navigation and guidance, warhead and engine. “The missile was launched with the help of a mobile launcher from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Dr Abdul Kalam Island in the Bay of Bengal on Monday afternoon,” a defence source told news agency PTI. It was a user associated trial and strategic force command conducted by DRDO scientists. The missile has been designed to hit the designated target point accurately, guided by the on-board computer with the support of a Ring Laser Gyro-based Inertial Navigation System, the Micro Inertial Navigation System, fully-digital control system and advanced compact avionics, as per DRDO officials. The first two flights of Agni-5 in 2012 and 2013 were in open configuration. The third, fourth and fifth launches were from canister integrated with a mobile launcher, in its deliverable configuration to enable launch of the missile with a very short preparation time as compared to an open launch. The sixth trial was in June during which the missile was fired from a mobile launcher. Several new technologies were successfully tested during the sixth trial. The Agni-5 also has advantages of higher reliability, longer shelf life, less maintenance and enhanced mobility, according to sources. India has in its armoury the Agni series – Agni-1 with 700 km range, Agni-2 with a 2,000-km range, Agni-3 and Agni-4 with 2,500 km to more than 3,500-km range.

Reliance JioTV App Beats Airtel TV and Vodafone Play Apps by Streaming 621 Live TV Channels.

Reliance Jio offers a slew of apps to its subscribers free of cost which includes the likes of JioMusic, JioMoney and JioTV. Out of these many apps, the JioTV application has been favourite of many users since it avails many live channels and video on demand content easily to the users. Now, the JioTV application has got another feather on its cap as now the application boasts of airing 621 live TV channels. Also, the number of channels which JioTV is providing on the application is more than what any Direct to Home (DTH) service is providing. This move has also brought the Reliance JioTV app ahead of other OTT applications like Vodafone Play and Airtel TV since none of these apps offers as many channels as Reliance JioTV.

Reliance JioTV Crosses 100 Million Downloads Right now, the 621 new channels on Reliance Jio’s app include the most number of news and entertainment channels, which include 193 news channels and 122 entertainment channels respectively. Additionally, there are 50 devotional channels and 49 educational channels on the app. Further, there are 35 infotainment, 27 kids, ten lifestyle and eight business news channels found on the app. The app is also not limited in language, as it ships channels in many languages like Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Assamese, Odia, Bhojpuri, Urdu, Bengali, French. There are also 46 English HD channels and 32 Hindi HD channels on the Reliance JioTV app. Right now, the Reliance JioTV app is available on Google Play Store for download, and it grants free access to Reliance Jio subscribers. To relay channels on its application, Reliance Jio has also partnered up with content distributors like Star India, Sony Pictures Networks India and Sun TV Network. All channels from these distributors are available on JioTV. Right now Reliance JioTV boasts of 100million+ download on Google Play Store. Airtel TV App Offering 375+ Channels On the same lines, Airtel also offers Airtel TV app which offers 375+ channels but still lags behind Reliance’s JioTV app. The app features 10,000+ movies and popular TV shows, and the company has also partnered up with distributors like Eros Now, SonyLIV, HOOQ, Hotstar, Amazon, AltBalaji with the shows from all these providers amply available on the app. This app from Airtel boasts of 50 million+ downloads on Google Play store. Vodafone Play App Offering 5000 Movies for Subscribers Vodafone India is also not far behind in the race of best live TV application. The telco had previously announced that it would be offering free video streaming to Vodafone subscribers on the Vodafone Play app. This came as Vodafone’s part of the strategy to compete with Reliance Jio. Vodafone also put a heavy emphasis on regional content along with this rollout, thus shipping 5000 Bhojpuri, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi and Hindi dubbed Hollywood movies. The Vodafone Play app also allows subscribers to stream 300 live TV shows. Vodafone has also partnered up with content providers like Yupp TV, ALT Balaji, HOOQ for this offering. Vodafone Play also has over 300 Live TV channels.

Bharti Airtel Planning to Introduce 4G VoLTE Enabled Affordable Smartphone to Boost ARPU.

According to a new report spotted online, Sunil Bharti Mittal led telco, Bharti Airtel might be on to new plans to convert its already existing 2G subscriber base into 4G subscribers with the help of a new 4G smartphone. This move is similar and in line to what Reliance Jio did in its bid to increase the number of subscribers. To recall, Reliance Jio had launched a very affordably priced JioPhone, a feature phone with 4G connectivity which appealed to a lot of buyers out there. However, Airtel will be taking a different path and won’t introduce a feature phone but instead will be introducing an affordably priced smartphone. Also, to recall, this would not be the first time that Airtel introduces a cheaply priced smartphone. Last year, the private telecom operator had partnered up with Karbonn to launch the A40 smartphone priced at Rs 1,399 which is as affordable as the JioPhone. Bharti Airtel 4G Smartphone Price According to a Financial Express report, a senior Bharti Airtel officer informed that the company is in talks with many manufacturers to come up with a 4G VoLTE compatible handset. However, there is going to be a substantial difference between the way of Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, since unlike Reliance Jio which offers subsidies to its manufacturers, Airtel won’t be doing the same. Instead, the telecom operator will be offering cashbacks to lower the price of its 4G enabled smartphone. As per the new report, we can expect the smartphone to be priced around the Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 price tag. However, combined with the cashback which Airtel will offer with its smartphone, the handset’s effective price is expected to remain in the sub Rs 2,000 range, making it similar in pricing to the last year’s device. More information is not available at the time of writing. However, it is pretty clear that this new smartphone by Airtel will cover pretty essential functions and will not ship any fancy hardware or design. To have a hint about how Airtel’s cashback scheme would work, it is better to take a look at the cashback scheme of the previous Airtel device. Last time around, Airtel had priced its phone at Rs 2,899 and to redeem the cashback, the buyer had to make recharges of Rs 169 for 36 months. A cashback worth Rs 500 was guaranteed to the buyers after 18 months, and another of Rs 1,000 was guaranteed after successful recharges for 36 months, thus totalling the cashback benefits to Rs 1,500. Airtel’s Aim Behind Introducing New 4G Smartphone As of late, Bharti Airtel’s sole focus has been about improving its average revenue per user (ARPU), a key industry parameter among the telecom operator. On the other hand, Reliance Jio is the only telecom operator in the country to boast of a massive 4G VoLTE network at its disposal. Bogged down by the intense tariff war which was kickstarted by the Mukesh Ambani led telco two years ago, Airtel had to climb its way back into the competition. Soon after the tariff war, the wave of consolidation left only three major players in the field, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. As per the trend spotted by the operator, and the number of smartphone users growing from 2% to 4%, there is no confusion that the telco wants to capitalise on the opportunity. As per the company statement, it wishes to transition its 100 million 2G subscriber base to 4G thus bumping up its ARPU by Rs 30-40 a month. Also, in a similar move, the telecom operator introduced a minimum recharge of Rs 35 for all of its low-end 2G subscribers. Right now, Airtel has approximately 25-30% of its network on the VoLTE bands; the operator plans to take the number up to 50% by next year.

Heaviest ISRO Satellite GSAT-11 Successfully Launched From French Guiana

India’s heaviest satellite GSAT-11, that will help boost broadband services in the country, was successfully launched by an Arianespace rocket from the French Guiana in the early hours of today.Blasting off from the Ariane Launch Complex in Kourou, a French territory located along the northeastern coast of South America at 02:07 am (IST), the Ariane-5 vehicle injected the GSAT-11 into the orbit in a flawless flight lasting about 33 minutes. The launch was broadcast live on Doordarshan.”…..the heaviest, largest and most powerful satellite ever built by India is successfully launched by Ariane-5 today,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Sivan said soon after the launch. Stating that GSAT-11 is going to be the “richest space asset” for India, he said “the satellite has 38 spot beams as well as eight sub beams, which would cover the entire country, including the remote places … it is going to provide something like 16 GBPS data link services to the country.” GSAT-11 is the third in a series of four satellites aimed at achieving the government’s ambitious target to provide high data connectivity of 100 GBPS in the country under the Digital India Mission, Mr Sivan added. Weighing about 5,854 kg, GSAT-11 is the “heaviest” satellite built by the ISRO. GSAT-11 is a next generation “high throughput” communication satellite configured around ISRO’s I-6K Bus, and its designed lifetime is more than 15 years. The satellite will be initially placed in the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and later, raised to the Geostationary Orbit by firing the on-board Liquid Apogee Motor. The GSAT-11 is the fore-runner in a series of advanced communications satellites with multi-spot beam antenna coverage over Indian mainland and islands, the ISRO said. The satellite will play a vital role in providing broadband services across the country and also be a platform to demonstrate new generation applications, it said. GSAT-11 was initially planned for launch on May 25 but was rescheduled with the ISRO citing the need for additional technical checks and recalling it. According to the space agency, GSAT-11 would provide high data connectivity to users across India, broadband connectivity to gram panchayats under the BharathNet project and support high data rate applications for enterprise network and consumer broadband applications. The Ariane-5 vehicle (Flight VA246) also carried GEO-KOMPSAT-2A for the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), along with GSAT-11. The 3,507.20 kg GEO-KOMPSAT-2A is designed to conduct meteorological and space weather monitoring missions. Since the launch of India’s APPLE experimental satellite on Ariane Flight L03 in 1981, it has orbited 22 satellites under contracts with the Indian space agency, Arianespace said, adding that two more satellites, GSAT-31 and GSAT-30, were in the order book. idrw.org .Read more at India No 1 Defence News Website http://idrw.org/heaviest-isro-satellite-gsat-11-successfully-launched-from-french-guiana/ .

रजनीकांत-अक्षय की 'Robot 2.0' का बॉक्स ऑफिस पर भूचाल, दूसरे दिन कमाए इतने करोड़

रजनीकांत (Rajinikanth) की फिल्म '2.0 (2 Point 0)' का बॉक्स ऑफिस (Box Office) पर कामयाबी का सफर जारी है. रजनीकांत (Rajinikanth) और अक्षय कुमार (Akshay Kumar) की '2.0 (Enthiran 2.0)' के हिंदी वर्जन ने पहले दिन बॉक्स ऑफिस (Box Office Collection Day 1) पर 20.25 करोड़ रु. का कारोबार किया था जबकि फिल्म के सभी भाषाओं के संस्करणों की ग्रॉस कमाई लगभग 100 करोड़ रु. बताई जा रही है. इस तरह रजनीकांत (Rajinikanth) की फिल्म ने पहले दिन इस करिश्माई आंकड़े को छुआ. '2.0' के दूसरे दिन के बॉक्स ऑफिस कलेक्शन (Box Office Collection Day 2) भी आने शुरू हो गए हैं. रजनीकांत (Rajinikanth) का करिश्मा बरकरारा है और '2.0' के डायरेक्टर शंकर (Shankar) ने जिस तरह से टेक्नोलॉजी का छौंक लगाया है, वह दर्शकों को पसंद भी आ रहा है.

'Resident Evil 2' and 'PUBG Mobile' Are Teaming Up

In a random turn of events, Resident Evil 2 and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds mobile title are teaming up for a special collaboration. Though specifics aren't known quite yet, the PUBG Mobile Twitter page tweeted some exciting things on the way: Zombies infiltrating the Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner game isn't new for the franchise, but perhaps this collaboration will bring even more than just the undead. With the official Suicide Squad skins having been available for a limited-time, maybe this means battle royale players can don that familiar look of Leon Kennedy. What could be is all speculation at this point, the full reveal won't be coming until a little later. One thing is for sure though, there is a lot of excitement regarding the upcoming Resident Evil 2 remake and the team behind PUBG need to step up their game a little bit. With Fortnite now over 200 million active users and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's own take on the battle royale genre, interest in the game that first blew this genre up in popularity is continuously waning. Even with the announcement that it is finally making its way over onto the PlayStation 4, some feel it's too little too late with so many other options out there. It will be interesting to see what comes out of this new collaboration and how the players take to it. Hopefully if it goes well, the PUBG crew will do even more desired mashups in the future - not unlike how Fortnite did with The Avengers: Infinity War and now, Wreck-It-Ralph.

China Sends Stern Message to Pakistan With Map Depicting PoK as Part of India For First Time

China’s state-run CGTN Television excluded Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) from Pakistan’s map for the first time ever while it reported on last Friday’s terror attack on its consulate in Karachi. As it is highly unlikely that a state-run television would ever defy Beijing, sources said that it was a move by China to signal to Pakistan its strong displeasure to Pakistan for its failure to protect its citizens. It is not known if this was a deliberate move by China, but according to the Times of India, the CGTN uses fixed templates for maps and production staff are not allowed to tinker with them. So the decision to use a different map to report on the consulate attack must have come from higher authorities. Beijing often uses state-run media as test balloons to consider reactions before considering policy changes in the domestic and international spheres, and excluding PoK from Pakistan was another such move to gauge Pakistani response. Islamabad has not yet reacted to the broadcast. The timing of the move also assumes significance as it comes just two weeks ahead of the joint drill to be conducted by India and China’s militaries on December 10. Observers, however, warned that this one-off deviation from the norm should not be seen as a change in China’s official policy, the TOI said. Excluding PoK from Pakistan on the map could also have implications for the China-Pakistan Economic-Corridor (CPEC), against which New Delhi has often voiced strong reservations as it passes through PoK and violates India’s sovereignty. The CPEC is the most important connectivity link under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China had invested heavily in infrastructure projects in PoK. Officially released maps in China have never before shown PoK as part of India. Maps are a sensitive issue in China and hence books or magazines showing maps that differ from Beijing’s official view are often blocked.

Trai Directs Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to Not Disconnect Services Despite Minimum Balance

The Telecom Regulator Trai in its latest move has directed the telecom operators not to disconnect subscribers from their incoming and outgoing calls and other network services in case they have “sufficient” prepaid account balance. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had shown disappointment over telcos previously and had urged them to inform the subscribers well in advance, along with listing the available options before they are disconnected from the services. After receiving numerous complaints from the subscribers about how the telcos are pushing the customers to “mandatorily” recharge their accounts to keep their services running, the regulator showed its wraith over the telcos.

Telcos Directed to Not Resort to Disconnection The subscribers had complained that these messages were being sent despite them having sufficient prepaid account balance. As per a PTI report, Trai Chairman RS Sharma said about this issue, “Tariff and plans are under forbearance, and we don’t generally intervene. But if there is sufficient money in the account and despite that people are being told that the services will be disconnected, it is not correct.” The Trai Chairman also added that the regulator had issued a directive which was sent out on Tuesday. Also, earlier this week Trai met with the telecom representatives to discuss the issue at hand. In the recent directive that was sent out to the telecom operators, the telecom regulatory authority remarked that the telcos should clearly mention to the subscribers when their services are going to be disconnected, and also, they should indicate how the subscribers can opt for alternative recharge plans or minimum recharge plans using their existing prepaid account balance. The regulator urged the operators to inform the subscribers about this information through SMS immediately and not later than 72 hours. Trai had also outlined to the operators that “till such time, services of such customers who have balance in pre-paid accounts equal to minimum recharge amount, should not be discontinued”. What’s the Actual Matter? To recall, this struggle between the regulator and private telecom operators, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea emerged when the two decided to introduce minimum recharge plans for their subscribers to weed out low paying customers and to increase their average revenue per user. However, after the introduction of this service, many subscribers lodged complaints about the unfairness of this policy since a lot of subscribers were barred from receiving calls or making calls despite having sufficient prepaid account balance. The telecom operators have introduced minimum recharge plans of Rs 35, Rs 65 and Rs 95 which would avail the subscribers basic calling facilities and will keep them going.