The government, World Bank and state-owned EESL today inked a USD 220 million loan agreement and a USD 80 million guarantee pact to push energy efficiency programme in India. To be implemented by EESL, the programme will help scale up the deployment of energy saving measures in residential and public sectors, strengthen EESL's institutional capacity, and enhance its access to commercial financing.

The USD 220 million loan, from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ..

New Delhi: The process for selecting three astronauts for India’s first manned space flight will begin at the earliest to give them enough time to train for the 2022 mission, which is slated to cost less than ₹10,000 crore.

“We need to select our astronauts at the earliest as they would require at least three years for training. They could be from the air force or Isro (Indian Space Research Organisation), or even a common man. Since it’s our first mission, we would prefer a pilot. The initial training will be done at the Institute for Aerospace Medicine in Bengaluru,” Isro chairman K. Sivan said at a press conference that was attended by the minister of state for atomic energy and space, Jitender Singh.

“We are confident and we have had a good start. We will try to execute the project within 40 months. Prior to this we will send two unmanned missions, the first in next 30 months,” Sivan said.

The second unmanned mission will be undertaken six months after the first, he said.

he Government of India, the Government of Rajasthan and the World Bank igned a $250 mn development policy loan (DPL) to support the state improve the performance of its electricity distribution sector under the state’s 24x7 Power for All program.

The Second Programmatic Electricity Distribution Reform Development Policy Loan for Rajasthan is the second in the series of two operations planned for a comprehensive turnaround of Rajasthan’s electricity distribution sector. The first loan closed in March 2017.

The electricity distribution utilities (DISCOMs) in Rajasthan provide electricity to about 9.5 mn customers.

The key areas that the program will support include: strengthening governance in the distribution sector in the state by establishing annual performance MoUs between the DISCOMs and the state government; putting in place a performance management system; providing incentives to employees for improving performance; financial restructuring and recovery in the sector by transferring considerable amounts of the DISCOMs debt to the state; bringing in more discipline in the revenue requirements of DISCOMs; taking initiatives in reducing the costs of energy procurement; and improving the operational performance of the DISCOMs through initiatives like publishing feeder level energy audits and increased usage of IT among others.

Manjit Singh won the gold in the men's 800 metres event while Jinson Johnson clinched the silver medal in men's 800 metres on Tuesday. With these two medals, India's medal tally now stands at 49 with 9 gold, 18 silver and 22 bronze. Manjit Singh finished the race in 1:46.15 minutes while second-placed Jinson Johnson clocked 1:46.35 minutes. Qatar's Abdalla Abubaker came third with a time of 1:46.38 minutes. Manjit was trailing early on but he sprinted real fast in the final stages to win the race. Johnson also kept pace throughout the race and eventually finished second. India also added to their medal tally after bagging two medals in Kurash, a form of wrestling indigenous to central Asia, with Pincky Balhara and Malaprabha Yallappa Jadhav winning silver and bronze respectively in the women's 52kg category. 19-year-old Pincky lost 0-10 to favourite Gulnor Sulaymanova of Uzbekistan in the gold medal clash to settle for the silver

In a bid to help flood affected students studying in CBSE affiliated schools in Kerala, whose board exam academic documents such as marksheets/ migration certificates/ pass certificates have been lost or destroyed, the board has decided to provide the same in digital form. Over 1,300 schools are affiliated to the CBSE in Kerala. The same is being provided because these documents are important for obtaining admission for higher studies, employment etc.

CBSE had developed first-of-its-kind digital academic repository called ‘Parinam Manjusha’ which has been integrated with DigiLocker. The digital academic documents are digitally signed using digital signature of Controller of Examinations of CBSE which make them legally valid digital document as per the IT Act. These documents are also having PKI based QR codes and they can be verified using the DigiLocker mobile app.

Asian Games 2018 Live Streaming Day 11 Live Updates and Results: On Day 11, we will see the Indian boxers trying book a berth in the semi-finals in various categories. The woman hockey team, who have routed their opponent previous encounters, will look to seal its berth in the final of the tournament. India’s star duo of Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra will pair up for the event. India will also play Indonesia in Men’s Handball match while Women’s Squash team will face China. After winning medals in Kurash on Tuesday, Vijay Kumar Yadav and Kalpana Devi Thoudam will also be in action on Wednesday. Catch Live action and updates of Asian Games 2018 Day 11 Live.

New Delhi: Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with six states for the construction of the Lakhwar multi-purpose project in the upper Yamuna Basin to deal with the water crisis.

The MoU was signed by the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh (Yogi Adityanath), Rajasthan (Vasundhara Raje Scindia), Uttarakhand (Trivendra Singh Rawat), Himachal Pradesh (Jai Ram Thakur), Haryana (Manohar Lal Khattar) and Delhi (Arvind Kejriwal).

Under the agreement, the 204-metres high project will be constructed near Uttarakhand's Lohari village with a live storage capacity of 330.66 million cubic metres (MCM).

The government on Monday announced a policy and guidelines for remotely piloted aircraft, or drones, which will come into effect from December 1 and aim to open up an array of opportunities in the Indian civil aviation sector.

Unveiling the "Drone Regulations 1.0" here, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said that these would help foster technology and innovation in the development of drones - which have an extensive range of applications ranging from disaster relief, aerial surveys and in agriculture to precision logistics.

"The drone market in India holds the potential of hitting over $1 trillion (roughly Rs. 70 lakh crores). We plan to develop drone manufacture not only for the domestic market but to cater to the gobal market as well," Prabhu said, adding that India's expertise in technology is characterised by its capacity to devise low-cost solutions.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is on track to sending a human to space in its ‘Gaganyaan Mission’, the space agency said Tuesday. “The total programme cost is expected to be less than Rs 10,000 crores. Two unmanned Gaganyaan missions will be undertaken prior to sending humans to space,” ISRO chief K Sivan told reporters.

Sivan said the GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle, which has the necessary payload capability for the mission, will be used. “The total programme is expected to be completed by 2022 with the first unmanned flight within 30 months,” he said adding: “The mission will aim to send a three-person crew to space for a period of seven days where they will do microgravity experiments.”

The union steel ministry has launched a first-of-its-kind initiative through a Corporate Sports Policy for its Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). The move will help nurture the country’s sports talent and groom sizeable number of medal hopes for the Olympics in 2024, an official statement said on Monday.

The policy document was released by Chaudhary Birender Singh,Union Minister of Steel. In his address, the minister said sports now acts as a change agent. India’s steel sector ..