India successfully launched its Maiden Mars Mission from Sriharikota

India's premier space agency, ISRO, on 5 November 2013 successfully launched its historic mission to Mars from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 100km from Chennai. It was India’s first mission to the red planet. The mission follows India’s successful 2008-2009 Chandrayaan-1 moon probe, which discovered water molecules in the lunar soil. The total cost of the Mars mission is 73 million US dollars.



The main features of the Mars mission are as following:
• The main objective of the mission is to develop the technologies required for design, planning, management and operations of an interplanetary mission.
• The main objective of the mission is to explore Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and search for methane in the Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments.
• The satellite carries instruments such as Lyman Alpha Photometer, a methane sensor, a composition analyser, a camera and an imaging spectrometer for studying the atmosphere, particle environment and surface imaging.
• The satellite is scheduled to reach the Mars orbit in September 2014 and is designed to circle the Red Planet in an elliptical orbit of 366 km X 80000 km.

Abraham K Techi Appointed International Weightlifting Referee

Indian Weightlifting Federation Joint Secretary Abraham K Techi on 4 November 2013 appointed as an international Weightlifting referee. Budapest–based International Weightlifting Federation issued the honour to Abraham, making him the fourth international referee from North East India. Abraham K Techi, President of the Arunachal Weightlifting Association (AWA), is the first international referee from Arunachal Pradesh and fourth from the North East.

The other three referees from the region include Sunil Elangbam of Manipur, Birendra Prasad Baishya (IWF president and Rajya Sabha member) and Bhabajyoti Goswami both from Assam. Besides being the Eastern Indian Body Building Association vice president, Abraham was member of the organising committee, in charge of sports presentation and medal ceremony (weightlifting) during the 2010 Commonwealth Games and manager of the Indian weightlifting teams that went to Cyprus, Uzbekistan and Malaysia.

Yuki Bhambri won the Traralgon title

Yuki Bhambri on 4 November 2013 won the ATP men’s singles title of Traralgon event in Australia. He defeated Bradely Klahn of America in the summit clash that was hit by rain. This is the second win of his career.

Yuki, the 21 years old Indian defeated higher ranking Bradely by 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the finals in a match played on two days due to rain. This is the third straight win of Yuki over a higher ranked opponent in this tournament. The 277 ranked Yuki earlier defeated, Tatsuma of Japan ranked 191 and the James Duckworth of Australia ranked 147 in the tournament to reach the finals.

Government decided to extend the sale of 5 kg LPG cylinders at petrolpumps

The Government of India on 4 November 2013 decided to extend the sale of the non-subsidized 5 kg cooking gas (LPG) cylinders at petrol pumps across the country. The proposal to extend the scope of the scheme was approved by M. Veerappa Moily, the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Earlier, the scheme was in operation in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. The scheme was launched on 5 October 2013 by Moily in Bangalore for sale in selected company owned and company operated petrol pumps in the four cities. The cylinders will be sold at market rates.

The scheme will be delayed in poll bounding states like Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The scheme has allowed to sale the 5 kg LPG cylinders with just proof of Identity through Petrol Stations to students, IT professional, BPO employees and people with odd duty timings. As per the decision, the sale of the cylinders would be done with or without regulator for the first time.

The cylinders will be charged 1000 rupees and the regulator will be available at 250 rupees. Whereas, the cost of refills of the LPG will be as per to the non-domestic rates applicable in the market. A 5 kg is sold at about 340 to 350 rupees.