Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is set to launch the rocket PSLV-C53, carrying three Singapore satellites at 6.02 pm today. The launch vehicle will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. The 25 hours countdown for the mission that began yesterday evening is progressing well. Six nano-satellites including those belonging to India's two private space start-ups also will go to space, in today's mission.

"The second launch pad is bustling with activities in preparation of today's launch. PSLV-C53 is the second dedicated commercial mission of the NewSpace India Limited, a public sector unit under the Department of Space. It was formed after the recent space sector reforms. For the workhorse launch vehicle PSLV, this will be the 55th  mission. Its  primary payloads are the 365 kg earth observation satellite called DS-EO, a 155 kg NeuSAR satellite and the 2.8 kg Scoob-1 nano-satellite of the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The payloads of Indian startups will not be injected into the orbit but stick on to the spent engine of the rocket itself and give the data it gathers to the ground. For this purpose, the ISRO plans to stabilize the spent last-stage engine of the rocket in space, as against the normal practice of abandoning it after the launch.

India has successfully flight-tested the indigenously developed high-speed expendable aerial target - ABHYAS, from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur off the Odisha coast. The performance of the aircraft at low altitude, including sustained level and high maneuverability, was demonstrated during the test flight.

The target aircraft was flown from a ground-based controller in a pre-designated low-altitude flight path, which was monitored by various tracking sensors deployed by the ITR, including radar and an electro-optical targeting system. ABHYAS is designed and developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla along with Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari gave away National Highways Excellence Awards-2021 to the stakeholders and companies engaged in the highway construction and maintenance of road assets in New Delhi this evening. These Excellence Awards were constituted in 2018 with an aim to incentivize stakeholders in the highway construction and maintenance process and to create a spirit of healthy competitiveness amongst them.

Speaking on the occasion, the Lok Sabha Speaker said that because of frequent actions and extraordinary works by Road Transport and Highways Ministry in road and highway construction, people's faith in the government has increased. He said, India will touch new heights in terms of road connectivity and road infrastructure in times to come.

‘Dak Karmayogi’, an e-learning portal of the Department of Posts was launched by Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and MoS Communications Devusinh Chauhan in Delhi today.

This portal has been developed under the vision of ‘Mission Karmayogi’, which was conceptualized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring efficiency to the actions of all government employees.

‘Dak Karmayogi’ portal will enhance the competencies of about four lakh Gramin Dak Sevaks and departmental employees. It will enable all the trainees to access the uniform standardized training content online or in blended campus mode.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tributes to former Prime Minister Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao on his birth anniversary. In a tweet, Mr. Naidu said, a visionary statesman and a towering intellectual, P V Narasimha Rao ushered in major economic reforms.

In a tweet, Mr. Modi said, India is grateful to him for his rich contribution to national progress. He added that the former Prime Minister also made a mark as a great scholar and intellectual.

Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda today launched the second phase of the Going Online As Leaders (GOAL) Programme in New Delhi. Mr. Munda also felicitated leaders of the first phase of the programme.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Munda highlighted that the first phase of GOAL has seen changing the lives of tribal youth through the digital mentorship programme. He emphasized that the second phase will reach out to ten lakh women and youth entrepreneurs. Mr. Munda said, this programme will also create a platform for more than fifty thousand Self-Help Groups and ten lakh families associated with TRIFED to take their products global.

Mr. Munda stressed that digitally empowering tribal communities would contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of the country and an important step toward creating a flourishing community of tribal leaders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bhimavaram  town in West Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh on July 4th to participate in the 125 th birth anniversary of freedom fighter Alluri Seetharama Raju. Prime Minister will unveil the statue of Seetharama Raju on the occasion.

Alluri Seetharama Raju  was an Indian revolutionary who waged an armed campaign against British colonial rule in India. Born in Andhra Pradesh,  he became involved in opposing the British in response to the 1882 Madras Forest Act, which effectively restricted the free  movement of tribals in their forest habitats and prevented them from practicing their traditional form of agriculture known as Podu. 

In Kerala, noted lyricist, author and journalist, Chowalloor Krishnankutty passed away at a private Medical College Hospital in Thrissur last night. He was 86.

A former Staff Artist with AIR, Krishnankutty penned over 3000 devotional songs and authored more than 200 books. He retired as an Assistant Editor with the Malayala Manorama daily.

He won several awards including the Kerala Sahithya Academy Award for satire, Poonthanam Jnanapana and Revathy Pattathanam Awards among others.

Chowalloor Krishanankutty also made his mark as a screen writer in Malayalam movies and produced documentaries on some well-known Kathakali artists.  He also served as the Vice-Chairman of the Kerala Kalamandalam.

The US Embassy in India has announced an important update for students. The embassy said that the interview slots are now open for students having I-20 who need to apply for visa categories F, M and J at the Embassy and Consulates for interviews taking place after August 14.

The Embassy said if anyone need to arrive at school by mid-August they should book an appointment now. The US had opened the first tranche of interview slots, for dates in June and the first half of July 2022 in May. Many students who were planning to attend US universities and who had already received their student I-20 documents from US universities were waiting for their interviews.
The Ministry of External Affairs held discussions with foreign countries including Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, Poland, the UK and the USA to streamline the visa appointments for Indian students.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari today inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of nine National Highway Projects in Rajasthan costing 1,357 crore rupees. Addressing the event virtually, Mr Gadkari said that 11 hundred crore rupees have been sanctioned for the repair of Delhi-Jaipur-Kishangarh highway. This will remove the shortcomings of this highway. 

The Minister said, an allocation of nine hundred crores in CRIF for Rajasthan and 700 crore rupees for Setu Bandhan Scheme has been approved by the Central Government. He said that projects would also be run to repair the roads in the marginal districts of the state like Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer.