The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) yesterday successfully carried out the Maiden flight of Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator from Aeronautical Test Range at Chitradurga in Karnataka.

With this success, India's secretive unmanned combat aerial vehicle UCAV programme under which a technology demonstrator called stealth wing flying test bed (SWift) is being developed reached a milestone.

The programme is linked to the development of India's fifth-generation stealth fighter advanced medium combat aircraft or AMCA.

India's largest floating solar power project is now fully operational. NTPC declared commercial operation of the final part capacity of 20 MW out of 100 MW Ramagundam Floating Solar PV Project at Ramagundam, Telangana with effect from 1st of July.

With the operationalisation of the 100-MW Solar PV Project at Ramagundam, the total commercial operation of floating solar capacity in the Southern Region rose to 217 MW.

Earlier, NTPC declared commercial operation of 92 MW Floating Solar at Kayamkulam in Kerala and 25 MW Floating Solar at Simhadri in Andhra Pradesh.

The national space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation, has successfully launched three Singaporean satellites this evening from the spaceport at Sriharikota.

The commercial launch was performed using the workhorse rocket PSLV-C53 that lifted off carrying the three main payloads. With this, the recently formed commercial arm of the Department of Space known as the New Space India Limited has successfully completed two launches, the first being the launch of the GSAT-24 communication satellite onboard the Arinave-V rocket from French Guiana.
 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi  today said  the government is making necessary policy changes to encourage MSME sector in the country. He added that  the Centre has increased the budget by more than 650 percent in the last eight years to strengthen the sector.

Addressing the Udyami Bharat Programme in New Delhi, Mr. Modi  said the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)  sector accounts for almost one third of India's economy and it has a very important role in India's growth journey.

He added that for the government MSME means Maximum Support to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises and said a self reliant fund of 50 thousand crore rupees has been released for the sector.  The Prime Minister also asked MSMEs to register on the GeM portal for supplying goods to the government.

Ban on manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of identified single use plastic items has come into force from today across the country. Single-use plastic are those items that are used only once and discarded. The items covered under the ban include ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice- cream sticks, polystyrene (Thermocol) for decoration, plastic plates, plastic cups, plastic glasses and plastic cutlery.

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said that national and State level control rooms will be set up for checking illegal manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of banned single for the effective enforcement of ban.
In our programme, SURKHIYON MEIN at 7.40 pm, we will have a discussion on the topic, “Aaiye Jaanein - Single Use Plastic Par Pratibandh ke Baare Mein”

Today is GST day. It commemorates the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax GST that replaced the old indirect tax regime in the country. It was launched in a special ceremony held in the central hall of Parliament on the intervening night of 30th June and 1st July, 2017.

GST was introduced with the idea of One Nation- One Market- One Tax. It is a indirect consumption-based tax system that subsumes a host of domestic indirect taxes under one head.

It was brought to remove the cascading of taxes, improve competitiveness, facilitating manufacturers and exporters and to bring uniformity of tax rates.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the PSLV C53 mission has achieved a new milestone by launching two payloads of Indian Start-ups in Space. In a tweet, Mr Modi congratulated IN-SPACe and Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO for enabling this venture. He expressed confidence that that many more Indian companies will reach Space in near future.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today conveyed best wishes to all Chartered Accountants on the occasion of CA Day. In a tweet, Mr Modi said, a Chartered Accountant has an important role in our economy. He hoped that Chartered Accountants will keep working hard in furthering growth and transparency in the economy.

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.

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.