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No danger of earth exploding
December 19, 2011 (IANS): "No danger of earth exploding" Washington: Scientists have nailed an
alarming prediction about the cataclysmic destruction of earth in 2012.
An erroneous doomsday theory doing the rounds is that a supernova explosion, which releases energy equivalent to that produced during the
sun's entire lifetime, could happen in 2012 and harm earthly life. However, given the vastness of space and the long light years between
supernovae, astronomers say with certainty that there is no threatening star close enough to hurt earth.
According to a statement by NASA-Goddard Space Flight Centre, astronomers say that the closest gamma-ray burst on record, known as GRB
031203, is 1.3 billion light years away from the earth.
Water-powered radio hits the market
November 26, 2011: The man who helped turn the Wind-Up Radio into a global
success in the 1990s has invented a radio that is powered by the motion of water
flowing into a shower. The H20 water- powered radio clips onto the water pipe that runs up to a shower head. Using micro turbine technology, the radio is powered by the
water pressure running up a pipe.
“The radio runs on energy generated solely through the flow of water,
starting as the shower is turned on. It harnesses power that would otherwise literally go straight down the drain,” said a spokesman for
Tango Group, the radio’s manufacturer. Tango hopes that the waterproof radio will enjoy the same success as the
Wind-Up Radio. The H20 was invented by Vivian Black, a former director
of Freeplay Energy Group, which helped turn Trevor Baylis’s Wind-UP
Radio into a commercial success in the 1990s. Mr Blick, who is now Tango’s managing director, said: “Having seen huge
success with the commercialisation of the Wind-Up Radio, we were constantly looking into new ways that further innovations in the radio
sector could be made. Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news
Consumers will not have to pay roaming charges in New telecom policy
New Delhi, October 30, 2011: Consumers will not have to pay roaming
charges and mobile number portability will be available nationwide
under a new telecom policy draft released by communications minister Kapil Sibal earliar this week.
The policy envisages a "one nation-one licence"
regime: companies will not have to apply for separate licences in
every circle/service area and users will not have to pay roaming
charges. A single licence will do across all the 22 service areas
in the country. The policy will allow mobile operators to share,
pool and trade spectrum. Spectrum will, in fact, be delinked from
licences in future and priced at market value. In the existing
policy, start-up spectrum of 4.4 MHz is bundled with the licence. |
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Incentives to IT Industry
New Delhi, August 3, 2011: The Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology, Shri
Sachin Pilot today informed Lok Sabha in written reply to a question
that Government extends several incentives for Information Technology
Sector in the country. Under Software Technology Parks (STP) scheme,
approved units are allowed to import goods required by them for carrying
on software export activities as per the Foreign Trade Policy. Such
goods may be imported either on outright purchase basis or free of cost
or on loan basis from the client without payment of custom duty. Apart
from this, the approved STP units can avail excise duty exemption on
procurement of indigenously available capital goods, components & other specified goods.
Apart from this, Software is exempted from basic customs duty.
Furthermore, several items for the IT sector are covered under the ITA
Agreement, and hence exempted from customs duty. Section 10AA of the
Income Tax Act provides for a deduction from the total income of hundred
percent of profits and gains derived by a unit located in a Special
Economic Zone (SEZ) from the export of articles or things or from services for the first 5 consecutive assessment years, of fifty percent
for further 5 assessment years and thereafter, of fifty percent of the ploughed back export profit for next 5 years.
As per the Central Board of Excise & Customs, Department of Revenue,
Ministry of Finance, the Central Excise duty collection from IT Sector
in respect of units registered with Central Excise during the current
financial year upto June, 2011 is Rs. 4.47 Crore. Collection from other
charges viz. MOT, Fines, Penalties etc. is Rs. 45.3 lakhs only in respect of these units. The “Other Charges” relate to Central Excise
duty and do not include Service Tax and Customs Duties.
Dhanush, Pritivi-II successfully test-fired in Orissa
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Balasore (Orissa), March 13, 2011 : Strengthening its
missile prowess, India on March 12, 2011 successfully
test-fired two indigenously developed, nuclear-capable
‘Dhanush’ and ‘Prithvi-II’ ballistic missiles, both having
350 km strike range, from separate locations off the Orissa coast.
While ‘Dhanush’ was flight tested from naval vessel INS
SUVARNA in the Bay of Bengal, surface-to-surface ‘Prithivi-II’
ballistic missile was test-fired within an hour from Launch
Complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea,
about 15 km from here. “The flight tests were in text book
fashion with the missiles reaching the target points with high
accuracy,” said ITR director S. P. Dash. “All the radars
and electro-optical systems located along the coast tracked the
missiles and monitored the parameters. The final event was
witnessed from a ship located near the impact point,” Dash said.
Defence minister A. K. Antony congratulated all the DRDO
scientists, technicians and the armed forces for the successful
tests. The tests were part of regular training exercise
involving the missiles which are under production after successful
completion of developmental trials. They have already been inducted by the armed forces, said a
Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist. “Both Dhanush and Prithvi missiles were launched by the
Strategic Force Command as part of the regular user training
exercise. The missiles were taken from the storage depots and
launched,” said a senior defence official. The two missiles were
test-fired within five days of the successful demonstration of
Ballistic Air Defence Missile System on 6 March, 2011,by DRDO.
“The series of successful launches have boosted the morale of
scientists and armed forces. The missiles have been integrated
under the supervision of Missile Systems Quality Assurance Agency
(MSQAA),” a DRDO release said. Launch operations of both the
missiles were monitored by director, DRDL, P. Venugopalan, Dash,
Programme director, V. L. N. Rao and a number of DRDO scientists.
Scientific advisor to defence minister and DRDO chief V. K.
Saraswat was present at Balasore.
Anti-collision device that could have saved lives
Kolkata, July 19, 2010: An indigenous technology approved by
the rail board may have saved 62 lives had the railways delivered
on Mamata Baner jee's promise to Parliament of ?zero tolerance to accidents?. Senior rail officials and passenger safety experts told The
Telegraph the Uttar Banga Express may not have rammed into the
Vananchal had the locomotives been fitted with an anti-collision
device (ACD) the railways developed after the 1999 Gaisal accident killed 268 people.
During her stint as railway minister in 1999, Mamata
Banerjee herself had encouraged me to develop the system. She had
even briefed Parliament about its effectiveness,? said B. Rajaram,
an IIT Kharagpur-trained engineer, who developed the technology
and fine-tuned it for use in the Indian Railways. Speaking from his residence in Herndon in Vermont in the US,
the former managing director of Konkan Railways said the
technology had been ready for use since 2003. The use of such
devices is an integral part of any modern railway system. The
Japanese and the US railway networks have minimised human error with the use of such technology.
In her budget speech on February 24, Mamata had stressed
the need to install cutting-edge equipment to prevent accidents.
Vision 2020, the ministry?s statement of intent, aims at making
railway operations free of accidents, be it derailment, collision
or fire on trains. But senior railway officials said that the
project of extending use of safety tools in different zones was yet to take off. Source: The Telegraph |
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