GENERAL NEWS INDIA – SEPTEMBER 2009

Wednesday, September 02nd 2009
Brahmos to be inducted by 2012
The Indian Air Force (IAF) will induct the air version of the supersonic missile Brahmos which is also a Indo-Russian joint venture product by 2012. The Brahmos missile has the capability of carrying 300kg conventional warheads at a speed of around 2.8 Mach and has already been inducted into the Army and the Navy.

Thursday, September 03rd 2009
Helicopter found yet no trace of Andhra CM
The helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajashekhara Reddy and four others went missing on Wednesday morning over the Naxal and tiger infested Nallamala forests in bad weather. As per media reports the Chopper has been located on top a hill some 40 nautical miles east of Kurnool. The copter is in good condition but the survivors continue to remain untraceable. Many agencies are now involved in a massive scale search operation.

Friday, September 04th 2009
AP mourns YSR's death
The state of Andhra Pradesh is deep shock and mourning as news of its Chief Minister YS Rajashekhara Reddy's death was made known on Thursday. YSR whose chopper had gone missing over the Nallamala forests was found after around 23 hours. The Chopper had crash landed atop a hill near Kurnool. The Helicopter crash killed the 60 yr old chief minister and four other occupants. The helicopter had deviated from flight path above Atmakur village amid pouring rain. It flew in almost zero visibility for 18 km before it hit a hillock and exploded.

Wednesday, September 09th 2009
Jet airways pilots on "mass sick leave"
The ongoing battle between the Jet Airways management and its pilots has entered the second day. The 363 Jet airways pilots refused to return to work in protest against the sacking of two of their colleagues for forming a new union called the National Aviator's Guild(NAG). Around 183 flights have been canceled so far affecting 13,000 passengers. Jet airways is India's largest private sector airline. In the light of the inconvenience caused to passengers Air India has offered to share passenger load. 

Saturday, September 12th 2009
First batch of women BSF soldiers deployed to international border
The Border Security Forces (BSF) deployed its first batch of women constables at the border to enable frisking of women going for work in fields. And just a few hours after they had been deployed Pakistan's forces fired two rockets towards Indian Territory. The BSF constables retaliated by opening fire using machine guns, no casualties were reported. The batch of women BSF constables were sent to Rorawari village near Attari. 

Sunday, September 13th 2009
Jet Pilots end protest
Jet Airways pilots who were on a protest against the airline management for about five days came to a settlement with the management after several intensive negotiations. The pilots are however silent about the deal. In the meanwhile Jet airways has resumed many of its domestic flights and the pilots have resumed work. Till Saturday the airline had canceled around 1000 flights due to the protest. 

Thursday, September 17th 2009
India to formulate a response to increased Chinese aggressiveness
The National Security Advisor Mr. M K Narayanan will preside over a meeting of India's top policy making body on China to be held in New Delhi today. This meeting is to be attended by the Cabinet, defense, home and foreign secretaries. A response to the increased aggressive activity by China is expected to be formulated here. There have been growing concerns about the heightened tension along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) after repeated incursions by China.

Friday, September 18th 2009
Corrupt babus have it tough
Following the provisions under the right to information, the Central Vigilance Commission(CVC) has for the first time made public the name of 123 government officials against whom it has suggested prosecution or imposition of penalty for alleged corruption. The names of the corrupt officials have been posted on the CVC website for the first time.

Saturday, September 19th 2009
Airstrip opened near China border
The Indian Air Force(IAF) in a breakthrough of sorts for the first time landed its AN-32 a transport aircraft at Nyoma. This is an advanced landing strip which is situated at an altitude of 13,000 ft . It is located on the western sector of Ladakh the landing of the transport air craft was carried out on Friday. The landing is close to the Line of Actual Control(LAC) which is the controversial international border with China. This development will enable the IAF to operate in the hostile terrain and also provide the army with adequate back up. This has been considered an achievement as it comes amidst the recent rising incursions by Chinese forces.

Tuesday, September 22nd 2009
Bhutan quake kills 10, tremors in NE states of India
An earthquake measuring 6.3 in magnitude hit Bhutan killing ten people including three Indian laborers. The earthquake has destroyed several buildings, monasteries and houses across the mountainous country. The quake also affected Assam and tremors were felt in other Indian states like Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and North Bengal. The epicenter of the quake was located just inside Bhutan's border with India, 180 km east of Thimpu. Seismologists feel that the high magnitude earthquake, which rocked Assam and other northeastern States at 2.24 p.m. on Monday, might be due to "loading and unloading" of stresses in the Himalayan region. This may be as a consequence to the 7.8 magnitude tremor that occurred on the Andaman islands last month. 

Thursday, September 24th 2009
IIT faculty go on a hunger strike
Around 1500 professors from the Indian Institutes of Technology(IIT) are on a hunger strike today. They are going on a large scale strike for the first time after the Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal refused to agree on the pay hike demand. In spite of the strike the professors will not boycott any classes. The IIT faculty has submitted a memorandum on its demands which include a withdrawal of 40 per cent cap on promotion of professors to the senior grade. The Indian Institutes of Management have however decided against any such strike 

Friday, September 25th 2009
India takes a giant step as a space power
September 24th would be a date to remember for India as the Indian Space Research Organization using data from Chandrayaan 1 its maiden moon mission made the big announcement regarding the discovery of water on the surface of the moon. The international space agency NASA held a press conference in Washington to give details of the findings of water to the world. They confirmed that mcube along with Chandrayaan were able to detect water on the surface of the moon. Images from Chandrayaan reveal a thin invisible film of water molecules and not water drops. The latest pictures however show blue patches which indicates the presence of water near the poles of the moon. The international community has appreciated the contribution of the Indian scientists and has applauded this achievement.

Tuesday, September 29th 2009
Government turns down AI lockout plan
Several of the domestic flights of Air India have been canceled because of the on going stir caused by some of the Delhi based senior pilots of the management cadre. The Pilots called the strike sometime last week over a cut in the salaries. The cut was effected last Wednesday and it has affected the salaries of some of the executive pilots. The cut is said to be steep as much as 70%. By the end of last week around 200 pilots had gone on sick leave heavily disrupting the airline's services. The Air India management held talks with the angry pilots which did not reach a resolution. The management suggested an indefinite lock out which has been turned down by the government.