10 August 2013 ( saturday) 1) India on 10 August 2013 achieved a major milestone in nuclear capability by activating the atomic reactor INS Arihant on-board an indigenous nuclear submarine and achieving nuclear criticality, thus paving the way for its operational deployment by the Indian Navy. (This development is seen as a major step towards India completing its nuclear triad. Nuclear triad is the ability to fire nuclear-tipped missiles from land, air and sea. INS Arihant has been undergoing trials at Indian Navy’s key submarine base in Vishakhapatnam and would be launched for sea trials soon since the nuclear reactor has gone critical. The nuclear submarine will help India achieve the capability of going into high seas without the need to surface the vessel for long durations. The submarine will will eventually be fitted with K-15 underwater fired missiles, which can hit targets 700 km away). Except india five countries presently possess nuclear-powered submarines. The U.S., Russia, the U.K., France and China (Apart from India, Brazil is also working on naval nuclear propulsion) 2) With effect from 15 August 2013, eight cities in India will have visa-on-arrival facility for tourists visiting India. there are the four cities which have been extended this facility recently by the Union Govt , Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram (The visa-on-arrival facility was earlier available only for the four metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai). At present visitors from 11 countries (Japan, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia) are eligible to get this facility. The visa-on-arrival scheme has contributed to an increase in the number of tourists from these countries and the government was in the final stages of consultations on allowing the facility to citizens of another 10 countries, including Germany, France and Russia) 3) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 8 August 2013 announced its decision to sell govt. bonds on a week day (on Monday) with an objective of controlling the volatility in the foreign exchange market. (It was notified that government bonds worth Rs. 22,000 crore is available for sale) 4) Bill Clinton, former US President was one among the 16 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom for the year 2013, which were announced on 8 August 2013. (Other prominent winners of this prestigious award for the year included talk show host Oprah Winfrey, baseball player Ernie Banks and former Senator Richard Lugar. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award instituted by former President John F Kennedy and is the highest civilian award in the United States) 5) On 10 August 2013 South Korea and the United States announced holding of a joint-military exercise "‘Ulchi Freedom Guardian’ "later this month. The South Korea-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) will conduct this joint military exercise from 19 August to 30 August 2013.(This exercise will largely be a computer-simulated exercise, with troops remaining in their normal bases. But this exercise has drawn sharp criticism from North Korea, which has described it as an all-out war rehearsal) 7) India’s largest IT exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on 10 August, 2013 announced setting up of a software development centre at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, for which the Madhya Pradesh Govt. has allotted an SEZ (Special Economic Zone) to TCS.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 05:55:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015