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India’s heaviest rocket to launch 36 satellites to make its first global foray

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BY S VENKAT NARAYAN   
Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, October 9: The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) heaviest rocket GSLVMK III will launch 36 satellites of London-headquartered global communication company OneWeb in the second half of this month.This will mark its maiden foray into the global satellite launch market. And it will help India’s Bharti Airtel-backed company move towards completion of its constellation of satellites for providing high-speed satellite-based internet across the world.

With this ‘LVM3 M2/OneWeb India-1 Mission’, the first LVM3 dedicated commercial launch on demand through (ISRO’s commercial arm) New Space India Ltd (NSIL), LVM3 enters the global commercial launch service market, the Indian space agency said on Thursday.

The global satcom company recently snapped its ties with the Russian space company for satellite launches due to the Ukraine war and decided to use ISRO’s services for launching its broadband satellites. The company had in March suspended all launches from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in protest against the Russian-Ukraine conflict.As per some reports, the GSLVMkIII launch is expected in the intervening night of October 21 and 22 but ISRO is yet to confirm the launch date.

The proposed mission has several firsts for India. It is the first commercial launch of ISRO’s heaviest rocket GSLV MkIII. For the first time, an Indian rocket will be ferrying a payload of about six tonnes. It will be the first time OneWeb is using an Indian rocket to put its satellites into orbit. And it is also for the first time that GSLV MkIII or its variants are being used for launching satellites in low earth orbit (LEO).

OneWeb, which had already launched 428 of the total 648 low Earth orbit satellites for the constellation till February 2022, will connect towns, villages, and local and regional municipalities in the hardest-to-reach areas, thus playing a critical role in bridging the digital divide across India. The company’s services are already available in Alaska, Canada, UK, and the Arctic region.

Two solid strap-on boosters and a liquid core stage of LVM3 have been fully integrated at the second launchpad at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. In the coming days, the integration of the cryogenic upper stage of the launch vehicle and the integration of payload fairing with 36 satellites will take place, ISRO said.



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Government prioritises development of 2000km of rural roads in Northern and Eastern provinces

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The  government has identified that development of rural roads is one of the prominent activity of the government’s development agenda and it has planned to introduce a broad access for renovation of roads, construction and maintenance.

Accordingly, it has been decided to prioritize to develop 1,500 kilometres of roads within the northern province and 500 kilometres of roads within the eastern province representing every divisional secretariat division, since most of the roads in the northern and eastern provinces are in dilapidated condition.

Contribution of the public, Community Based Organizations and local government institutions will be obtained to select roads for renovation and upgrading and, approval of the relevant divisional coordination
committee and district coordination committee will be obtained for the recommended road list.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution submitted by the Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation to implement the proposed rural roads enhancement / upgrading programme in northern and eastern provinces.

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Order issued as per production tax (special provisions) act and notification issued as per Excise Ordinance to be presented to Parliament

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The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the
President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Plan Implementation and Economic Development to submit the  order issued under section 3 of the production tax (special provisions) act No. 13 of 1989, (published in the extraordinary gazette notification No. 2418 / 43 dated 10.01.2025)  and  the  notification No. 01/2025 dated 10.01.2025 issued under section 22 of the Excise Ordinance (Authority 52), (published in the extraordinary gazette notification No. 2418 / 42 dated 10.01.2025 ) for the concurrence of Parliament .

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Paddy Marketing Board Act No. 14 of 1971 to be amended

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The Paddy Marketing Board Act No. 14 of

The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the proposal submitted by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to take necessary measures to revise the Paddy Marketing Board Act No. 14 of 1971.

(The Paddy Marketing Board Act No. 14 of 1971 has  legitimate provisions to establish a board for the purchase of paddy and rice, marketing, supply, milling, polishing and processing as an enterprise and for corresponding matters accompanied with services relevant to it. But 54 years have passed without any updates or revisions)

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