NEW DELHI, Aug 7: The Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG for candidates, who were affected by cancellations last week owing to technical glitches, will now be conducted from August 24 to 28, according to officials of the National Testing Agency.
Fresh admit cards will be issued for these candidates, they said.
“In second phase, the exam scheduled between August 4 to 6 were deferred at few centres due to administrative and technical reasons. Earlier, we had announced the exams would be conducted from August 12-14.
“However, many candidates had approached us requesting not schedule exam on said dates as a series of festivals were falling during the period,” a senior NTA official said.
“Hence, it was decided that the exam be conducted between August 24 to 28 and fresh admit cards will be issued before the examination date,” the official added.
On Thursday, the first shift of the exam was cancelled at several centres across 17 states, while the second shift was cancelled at all 489 centres.
On Friday, the exam was cancelled at 50 centres.
Anticipating the same situation on Saturday, the agency cancelled the CUET-UG for the day at 53 centres and sent messages to candidates about its postponement on Friday night. (Agencies)

After the results of the vice presidential elections were declared on Saturday, Opposition’s Vice-Presidential candidate Margaret Alva congratulated NDA’s Jagdeep Dhankhar on winning the polls and said that some opposition parties chose to support BJP which damaged their credibility.

“Congratulations to Mr Dhankhar on being elected Vice President!…This election was an opportunity for the opposition to work together, to leave the past behind and build trust amongst each other. Unfortunately, some opposition parties chose to directly or indirectly support the BJP, in an attempt to derail the idea of a united opposition,” tweeted Alva. She further highlighted that the support by the opposition parties to BJP damaged credibility.

“It is my belief that by doing so, these parties and their leaders have damaged their own credibility. This election is over. The battle for protecting our Constitution, strengthening our democracy and restoring the dignity of Parliament, will continue,” she added.

Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Saturday elected as India’s new Vice President. He got 528 votes against opposition candidate Margaret Alva who got 182 votes.

Wishes poured in after the former Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Saturday elected as India’s new Vice President. Taking note of the victory, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Union minister AR Meghwal, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi congratulated Dhankar on his landslide win.

Sriharikota, Aug 7: ISRO’s maiden Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), carrying Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-02) and a student-made satellite-AzaadiSAT, lifted off from the Sriharikota spaceport at 9:18 a.m.
The countdown for the launch of India’s maiden SSLV commenced at 2.26 a.m. on Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. The objective of the SSLV was to place satellites EOS-02 and AzaadiSAT into low earth orbit.
All stages of SSLV performed as expected, but suffered data loss at terminal phase of the mission, says ISRO Chief Somanath. “We are analysing the data and will come back on the the status of the satellites as well as the vehicle performance soon”, he said. (Agencies)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the seventh meeting of the Governing Council of Niti Aayog at Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Centre in the national capital on Sunday.

This would be the first in-person meeting of the Governing Council since July 2019. The agenda of the meeting includes crop diversification and achieving self-sufficiency in oilseeds and pulses and agri-communities; implementation of the National Education Policy-school education; implementation of the National Education Policy-higher education; and urban governance.

In the drive toward building a steady, sustainable and inclusive India, the seventh governing council meeting of the government think tank Niti Aayog is expected to pave the way for synergies towards a new era of collaboration and cooperation between Centre and states and union territories.

As India commemorates 75 years of Independence, it is the need of the hour for the states to be agile, resilient and self-reliant and move towards ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ in a spirit of cooperative federalism, an official statement said.

As part of preparations for this meeting, the National Conference of Chief Secretaries was held in Dharamshala in June 2022 which was the culmination of the six-month-long rigorous exercise by the Centre and States.

The conference was chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, along with senior officials of the Central and State Governments.

The statement said that the meeting is particularly important as the country enters Amrit Kaal against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of India hosting the G20 Presidency and summit next year. The meeting would also lay emphasis on the importance of the Presidency for India for the federal system and the role that states can play in highlighting their progress at the G-20 Platform.

The governing council comprises the Prime Minister of India; Chief Ministers of all the states and union territories with the legislature; Lt Governors of other UTs; Ex-Officio Members; Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog; Full-Time Members, NITI Aayog; and Union Ministers as Special Invitees.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has boycotted the meeting.

SRIHARIKOTA, AUGUST 7: The countdown for the launch of India’s maiden Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) carrying an earth observation satellite and a student satellite commenced at 2.26 a.m. on Sunday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.
ISRO has embarked on a mission to place satellites that weigh up to 500 kg into the 500 km low earth orbit, as it aims for a bigger share of the demanding SSLV market.
“SSLV-D1/EOS-02 Mission: the countdown commenced at 02.26hrs,” ISRO said on its website on Sunday.
The objective of the SSLV is to place satellites EOS-02 and AzaadiSAT, into low earth orbit.
The lift-off of the rocket is scheduled for 9.18 a.m. from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) in Sriharikota, about 135 km from Chennai. About 13 minutes after launch, the rocket is expected to place the EOS-02 and AzaadiSAT into the intended orbit.
Unlike ISRO’s trusted workhorse — Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLV) — the SSLV can carry payloads weighing up to 500 kg and deploy satellites into a 500 km low earth orbit.
It uses solid fuel — hydroxyl terminated polubutadiene — to fire the first three stages which takes the payloads to the desired altitude. The fourth stage comprises liquid propulsion-based Velocity Trimming Module (VTM) to place the satellites into orbit.
The main payload on the 34-metre-tall rocket is the earth observation-02 satellite and co-passenger satellite AzaadiSAT, an 8-kg Cubesat designed by girl students from government schools across the country to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence.
The earth observation satellite designed by ISRO offers advanced optical remote sensing operating in infra-red bands with high spatial resolution. EOS-02 belongs to the microsatellite series of spacecraft.
The objective of the EOS-02 is to provide inputs on thermal anomalies towards supporting applications in the domains of geo-environmental studies, forestry, hydrology, agriculture, soil, and coastal studies.
The AzaadiSAT carries 75 different payloads each weighing around 50 grams. Girl students from rural regions across the country were provided guidance to build these payloads which are integrated by the student team of ‘Space Kidz India’, ISRO said.
The ground system developed by Space Kidz India would be utilised for receiving the data from this satellite.
Sunday’s mission of ISRO is the third this year after the successful PSLV-C53 mission on June 30, which is the dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Ltd.
On February 14, ISRO successfully placed earth observation satellite EOS-04 on board its trusted workhorse PSLV-C52/EOS-04 mission.
The radar imaging satellite was designed to provide high quality images under all weather conditions for applications such as agriculture, forestry and plantations. (Agencies)