BrahMos cruise missile test fired for 15th time

The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile that India and Russia have jointly developed was successfully launched for the 15th time on Wednesday - and for the first time from a naval ship toward a land based target, a defence ministry official said.

Fired from the frontline Indian Navy warship INS Rajput, the missile successfully impacted on its target in the Andaman & Nicobar Island chain, the official added.

"The missile met all the parameters during its launch, flight and selection of the designated target from among a group of targets and hit precisely, destroying the target," the official said.

"This mission was very important as it has established the sea-to-land attack capability of the missile," he added.

Scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), who have been involved in the joint development of the missile with their Russian counterparts, conducted the launch with the support of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) that deployed 10 ships, three aircraft and three helicopters for logistics support.

A Sivathanu Pilla, CEO and managing director of missile builder BrahMos Aerospace, Rear Admiral P K Nair, the officiating head of the ANC, were among those who witnessed the launch.

Defence Minister A K Antony congratulated the DRDO scientists and the Indian Navy for the successful missile launch.

The DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia have jointly developed the BrahMos, which is named after the Bramaputra and the Moskova, the two major rivers of India and Russia respectively.

Work on the project began in 1998 and the missile was first test fired on December 22, 2004. BrahMos is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster and a liquid propellant ram jet system that gives it a 300-km range.

The Indian Army is currently preparing to operationalise at least one regiment of the BrahMos missile mounted on a mobile launcher. The triple-barrelled launcher is capable of firing the missile singly or in salvos of two or three.

Work is also progressing on an Indian Air Force version that will be delivered from the Sukhoi SU-30MKI platform.

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News courtesy:

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14617595

India announces girl child award

The Indian government has announced it will pay poor families nearly $3000 to bring up their girl children.

The scheme is hoped to discourage the widespread practice of aborting female foetuses, which has led to a gender imbalance in parts of the country.

India outlawed gender selection and selective abortion in 1994, but the practice still continues.

British medical journal Lancet says 10 million female foetuses have been aborted in India in the past 20 years.

Under the new scheme, poor families in seven Indian states will be paid cash at the birth of a daughter and again at different stages throughout her childhood up to the age of 18 years.

'Not poor alone'

India's Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Choudhury said she hoped the scheme would encourage families to look upon girls as an asset rather than a liability.

One women's rights activist welcomed the scheme, but said it was not just the poor who should be targeted.

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Read the full news at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7278595.stm

Wooing for Telangana

Four Telangana Rashtra Samiti MPs submitted their resignations to the Lok Sabha speaker today. The TRS MPs including the leader K Chandrashekhar Rao, said the UPA had promised them a separate state for Telangana.

TRS MPs on Monday accused the UPA government of failing to fulfill their promises on the issue and handed in their resignations.

Not happy with the development, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said that he wasn't happy that the TRS members were reducing the numbers.

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If the same way the normal voters had a chance to resign from the voting power to woo the MPs/MLAs saying that MPs/MLAs failed to fulfill the promises, then India could be far more better.

What do you have to say?

Post your comments.

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Read the news from NDTV:
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080042924&ch=3/3/2008%2012:43:00%20PM
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Indian lads on top of the world

Kuala Lumpur: India regained the Under-19 Cricket World Cup crown after eight years with a close 12-run victory over South Africa in the rain-affected final here on Sunday.

This was India's second triumph in the tournament's history after they captured the crown in 2000 in Sri Lanka. The win also exorcised the memories of the last edition when India went down to Pakistan in a low-scoring final in the same country.

The win was followed by scenes of great jubilation as the players and the coaching staff, including coach Dav Whatmore, erupted in joy and were seen embracing and congratulating each other.

To know the scores and full scorecard visit:
http://lordstimes.blogspot.com/2008/03/indian-colts-on-top-of-world.html

Pranab Mukherjee to brief governments stand on nuclear deal

External affairs minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee is expected to brief the government's plan on nuclear deal in Parliament today. It is to be beleived that Pranab will indicate the status of agreement.

This is seen in the light of the US Defnese secretary Robert Gates's visit to India. The Left parties are the main hindrance to the UPA government in taking or even spelling out a decision.

But it is widely known that the UPA government will proceed towards agreement despite the views of Left parties. The Congress is ready for an early elections. This was clearly evident from both the Union Railway budget and the Union Budget for the year 2008-09.

News Reference: NDTV
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080042901&ch=3/3/2008%2012:22:00%20PM