India’s rocket startup Skyroot Aerospace on Friday successfully began its space journey with its rocket Vikram-S and wrote a new chapter in the country’s space history pages.

Weighing 545 kg, the six-metre-long rocket on a sub-orbital mission carried three payloads from Space Kidz India, Bazoomq Armenia, and N-Space Tech India.

The rocket was made with carbon fibre and four 3D printed engines and its single stage was powered by solid fuel.

At about 11.30 a.m., Vikram-S flew away from ISRO’s sounding rocket launch pad at ISRO’s rocket port in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The rocket reached an altitude of 89.5 km and then safely splashed down in the Bay of Bengal.

In about 300 seconds, a new space history was made in India.

The mission will help validate the technologies that will be used in the subsequent Vikram-1 orbital vehicle of Skyroot Aerospace that is planned for launch next year.

Union Science & Technology Minister Jitendra Singh who witnessed the launch here said it is indeed a new beginning, a new dawn, a new ‘Prarambh’ in Indian space programme.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his decision to open up the space sector for private participation, Singh said: “It is a turning point in the Indian startup movement.”

He also congratulated Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for adding one more feather in its cap.

The Chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) Pawan Goenka said the rocket mission was successful.

The rocket reached an altitude of 89.5 km and a range of 121.2 km.

Goenka said all the systems had worked as planned and congratulated the Skyroot Aerospace team.

Skyroot Aerospace’s CEO and Co-Founder Pawan Kumar Chandana said the mission’s objectives have been achieved and dedicated the mission to the late Vikram Sarabhai, father of the Indian space sector.

With this a new chapter in the annals of Indian space history has begun and also the end of ISRO monopoly in the satellite launch segment.

Incidentally, it is ISRO that is actively assisting the private players in ending its own monopoly offering its facilities for testing as well as for launching the rockets and satellites.

The fee charged by ISRO for the rocket launch and tracking services is reasonable, Chandana said.

He said the ISRO provides integration facility, launchpad, range communications and tracking support before and during our rocket launch.

NEW DELHI, Nov 18: Union Home Minister Amit Shah Friday said financing of terrorism is more dangerous than terrorism the threat of which cannot and should not be linked to any religion, nationality or group.
He also said that terrorists are constantly finding new ways to carry out violence, radicalise youth and raise financial resources and the darknet is being used by terrorists to spread radical content and conceal their identities.
“Terrorism is, undoubtedly, the most serious threat to global peace and security. But I believe that the financing of terrorism is more dangerous than terrorism itself because the ‘means and methods’ of terrorism are nurtured from such funding.
“Furthermore, financing of terrorism weakens the economy of countries of the world,” Shah said addressing the third ‘No Money for Terror Ministerial Conference on Counter-Terrorism Financing’ hosted by the Ministry of Home Affairs here.
He said, “we also recognise that the threat of terrorism cannot and should not be linked to any religion, nationality, or group”.
“To confront terrorism, we have made significant progress in fortifying the security architecture, as well as the legal and financial systems,” the Union home minister said.
In a veiled attack on Pakistan, Shah said there are countries that “seek to undermine or even hinder, our collective resolve to fight terrorism”.
“We have seen that some countries protect and shelter terrorists, protecting a terrorist is equivalent to promoting terrorism. It will be our collective responsibility that such elements never succeed in their intentions,” he said. (Agencies)

The Delhi State Election Commission informed that 1,169 nominations were cancelled after scrutiny for the upcoming Municipal Corporation elections.
The scrutiny of the nomination papers was carried out on Wednesday. In 65 cases, the final decision on the nomination was taken after supporting documents.

“As many as 65 cases, which required further adjudication under rule 22 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Election of Councilors) Rules, 2012 to adduce more supportive evidences to the claims of the contesting candidates in the proceedings that are of quasi-judicial in nature, have also been finally disposed of on Thursday,” stated MCD.

The State Election Commission received total 2,585 nominations, out of which 1416 nominations were found valid–674 male and 742 female. The Commission received nomination papers from 2021 candidates.
There are 250 valid candidates each from Bharatiya Janata Party and Aam Aadmi Party. As per information, three nominations of Congress were cancelled in MCD elections, Congress will contest only on 247 seats.
The candidates were rejected eight grounds–incomplete nomination forms, proposers incomplete/ proposer of another ward, missing affidavits, multiple nominations, covering candidates, non-submission of valid caste certificate, invalid/incomplete form, and no security deposit.

“A total of Rs. 75,07,500 has been realized by the Commission on account of the nomination fee deposited by the candidates,” said the Commission.
The elections for the 250-ward Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be held on December 4 while the counting of votes will be done on December 7.

The last date for withdrawal of nominations is November 19.

The polls to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on December 4 is shaping up to be a two-way contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which currently holds the civic reins in the national capital, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is in power in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stressed that all terrorist attacks deserve equal outrage and action and noted that the intensity of the reaction to the various attacks cannot be based on its place of occurrence.

The Prime Minister’s remarks came while addressing the third Ministerial Conference on Countering Financing of Terrorism in the national capital.

“We consider that even a single attack is one too many. Even a single life lost is one too many. So, we will not rest till terrorism is uprooted. Significant that this conference is happening in India. Our country faced horrors of terror long before world took serious note of it. Over the decades terrorism in different forms tried to hurt India but we’ve fought terrorism bravely,” he said.

The Prime Minister also underlined the need to strike at the “root of terror financing”.

“Nobody likes an area that is constantly under threat. And due to this, the livelihood of people is taken away. It is all the more important that we strike at the root of terror financing,” PM Modi said.

He said that there is no place for “ambiguous approach while dealing with a global threat” calling terrorism an attack on humanity, freedom and civilization.

“In today’s world, ideally, there should be no need for anyone to remind the world of the dangers of terrorism, However, there are still certain mistaken notions about terrorism in some circles. The intensity of the reaction to various attacks cannot be based on where it happened. All terrorist attacks deserve equal outrage and action. Further, sometimes, there are indirect arguments made in support of terrorism to block action against terrorists. There is no place for an ambiguous approach while dealing with a global threat. It is an attack on humanity, freedom and civilization,” PM Modi said.

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s office (PMO) said the conference will offer a unique platform for participating nations and organizations to deliberate on the effectiveness of the current international regime on Counter Terrorism Financing as well as steps required to address emerging challenges.

The conference will build on the gains and learnings of the previous two conferences held in Paris in April 2018 and in Melbourne in November 2019. It will also work towards enhancing global cooperation to deny finances to terrorists and access to permissive jurisdictions to operate.

“It will be attended by about 450 delegates from across the world, including Ministers, Heads of Multilateral organisations and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Heads of Delegations,” the PMO said.

During the Conference, deliberations will be held in four sessions which will focus on ‘Global Trends in Terrorism and Terrorist Financing’, ‘Use of Formal and Informal Channels of Funds for Terrorism’, ‘Emerging Technologies and Terrorist Financing’ and ‘International Co-operation to Address Challenges in Combating Terrorist Financing’.

PM Modi earlier today inaugurated the conference while Union Home Minister Amit Shah will conclude the event, conveying India’s determination in its fight against terrorism and its support systems for achieving success against it.

On Thursday, India said that confirmation from China is still awaited while Pakistan and Afghanistan are not participating in the international event.

However, a total of 78 countries and multilateral organisations, including Ministers from 20 countries, have confirmed their presence at the two-day conference being organised on November 18 and November 19 here in the national capital.