US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that it has selected a new mission to study giant solar particle storms.

The Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE) will look into how Sun generates and releases the giant weather storms, known as the solar particle storms, into space.

The mission will help in a greater understanding of the solar system. The findings would safeguard astronauts from solar storms while they travel to Mars or the Moon, NASA said in a press release.

SunRISE contains six CubeSats which will work together as a large radio telescope. Each of the CubeSats would run on solar power and would be of the size of a toaster oven.

Together, these will observe radio images of low-frequency emission from solar activity and create 3D maps to locate the origin place of a solar particle storm on the Sun. The entire procedure of the storm evolution as it moves outward into space will be studied too.

NASA has awarded $62.6 million for building, designing and launching the mission. It will be headed by Justin Kasper of the University of Michigan and managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The launch date of the mission has been set for July 1, 2023.

The government has cut interest rates on small savings schemes by 70 to 140 basis points (bps) for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2020-21, announcing another measure to shore up resources as it manages the implication of a three-week national lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic.

Interest rates on public provident fund the quarter were cut by 80 bps to 7.1 per cent as those for Kisan Vikas Patra were slashed by 70 bps to 6.9 per cent.

Interest rates were also cut for a senior citizens saving scheme and National Savings Certificate.

Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on a quarterly basis.

With the reduction, term deposits of 1-3 years will now fetch an interest rate of 5.5 per cent from the existing 6.9 per cent, down 1.4 per cent, according to a notification by the finance ministry.

Interest rates are paid quarterly, while the five-year term deposit will earn 6.7 per cent from the current rate of 7.7 per cent.

Himachal Pradesh government will launch the Active Case Finding Campaign for COVID 19 patients from tomorrow. Under this campaign, health workers would provide information regarding symptoms of COVID-19 to the people at their doorsteps.

AIR correspondent reports that under the Active Case Finding Campaign, every ASHA worker with two person’s team will visit every house in the village and gather health information of every person and would share it with the department through Google form.

The timing for gathering information would start from 9 AM to 4 PM every day and the suspected persons would be investigated accordingly.
 
The Chief Minister Jairam Thakur said elected representatives of Panchayat Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies must be involved to identify persons in their respective areas who have intra or even interstate traveling history.

New Delhi, March 30 (SocialNews.XYZ) BharatPe has partnered with ICICI Lombard to roll out 'COVID-19 Protection Insurance' for shopkeepers.

According to the policy, on the diagnosis of COVID-19, the policyholder will be paid 100 percent of the sum insured, irrespective of the hospitalization expenses.

BharatPe's endeavor is 'first of its kind' product for retailers.

The ICICI Lombard health cover is reasonably priced. The premium starts at Rs 199 provides Rs 25,000 sum insured and value-added benefits, like health assistance and CHAT/virtual assistance, teleconsultation and ambulance assistance, as part of the offering.

It will cover all in the age group of 18-65 years.

The Ministry of Tourism has launched a portal ‘Stranded in India’ to help foreign tourists who are stuck in various parts of the country.

“With an aim to extend support to the foreign tourists who are stranded in India, the Ministry of Tourism has come up with a portal to disseminate information regarding the services that can be availed by foreign tourists who have stuck far away from their homeland,” said the official release.

The portal strandedinindia.com consists of information around COVID-19 helpline numbers and call centers that foreign tourists can reach out for help, information around the Ministry of External Affairs control centers along with their contact information and information around state-based/regional tourism support infrastructure.

Professor Arjun Dev, the legendary educationist, and historian, a kind, gentle and generous but extremely brave man, passed away today morning at a hospital near his home in Noida. Born on November 12, 1938, in Leiah, West Punjab (now in Pakistan), he did his schooling in Ambala and then studied at Kirori Mal College, Delhi University. He is survived by his wife Indira Arjun Dev with whom he shared every aspect of his professional life.

Prof. Arjun spent the better part of his academic life working as a historian at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). In partnership with Indira, he wrote a number of extremely popular textbooks for the NCERT on Modern and Contemporary India and the World. One of their books, which was discontinued by the NCERT under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime in 2002 was republished by Orient Blackswan as History of the World: From the Late 19th to the Early 20th Century and has remained a very widely read text.

Centre has extended till June 30 the validity of documents like driving licenses, permits and registration that expired since February 1, in a move to ensure hassle-free transportation of cargo amid the lockdown over the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In an advisory to all states and Union territories, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has asked them to treat such documents as valid till June 30.

The decision was taken to facilitate the citizens facing difficulties in renewing the validity of various documents related to the Motor Vehicles Act and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules due to nationwide lockdown in the country and closure of government transport offices, according to the advisory.

The documents include fitness, permit (all types), driving licence, registration or any other concerned document under the Motor Vehicles Act.

National Gallery of Modern Art has celebrated 66 years by launching virtual tour of its permanent collection amid lock down. The Gallery launched virtual tour of its permanent collection for the visitors to enjoy without having to physically visit the Museum during these days. It is for the first time that National Gallery of Modern Art has provided the facility of virtual tour of its permanent collection to art lovers.

Director General of National Gallery of Modern Art Adwaita Gadanayak said that the permanent collection reflects its repository as an institution of dynamic and progressive collective acumen.

he worldwide death toll has risen to 31,412 due to Novel Coronavirus today. More than two-thirds of the deaths from Coronavirus have now been recorded in Europe.

Over six lakh 67 thousand declared cases have been registered in 183 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December. Of these cases, at least one lakh 34 thousand are now considered recovered.

Italy, which recorded its first Coronavirus death in February, has declared ten thousand fatalities so far. Spain has more fatalities than 6500 as well as 78,747 infections.

China -- excluding Hong Kong and Macau -- has declared 3,295 deaths and 81,394 cases, with 74,971 recoveries.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has suspended all planned events till June 30 and froze the world rankings due to the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The ITTF Executive Committee met yesterday to discuss the effects of the Corona virus outbreak on the international table tennis events schedule.
 
The ITTF said in a statement that due to the continued uncertainty caused by COVID-19 pandemic and postponement of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympics Games, the Executive Committee decided to suspend all currently planned ITTF events and activities that involve international travel until 30th of June.
 
ITTF also decided to freeze ranking lists as of March, 2020 and further evaluate all implications related to the postponement of events, travel restrictions and other complications, with scope for further decisions on potentially necessary adjustments. The Federation will hold another follow-up meeting on 15th April to further evaluate the situation.