India is hoping for a soft landing of Chandrayaan this time. After landing and a few hours rest, the rover will get separated. It will roam around and study what is special about the south pole of the Moon. Water ice will be the golden catch!!!

The appointed time for landing is between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm on Wednesday. With the final manoeuvre over on Sunday morning, Vikram module is orbiting closest to the Moon and is ready to land, just waiting for the deadline.

Also see: Slow and steady wins the race, says BBC (Old Story)

NEW DELHI, Aug 20: Russia's lunar lander Luna-25, which was expected to enter the Moon's orbit latest by Saturday to become the first mission ever to land on the Moon's south pole, has crashed onto the Moon, yielding a rare chance to India's Vikram, if it makes a soft landing this time, it was reported on Sunday afternoon.

The command to Luna to enter the pre-landing orbit failed (4:10 pm IST, Saturday) due to a glitch, and the lander crashed on the Moon, the Russian space corporation Roscosmos confirmed. Roscosmos did not give details.

On the other hand, the countdown has already begun for Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander. The appointed time for landing is between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm on Wednesday. The mission will explore the less known south pole. The Vikram module has the Pragyan rover attached with it.

Having successfully undergone the third and final de-boosting Sunday morning to reduce its velocity in order to get into a predetermined orbit closer to the moon, Chandrayaan-3 is hopefully ready for a soft landing. It is currently placed in an orbit ranging from 30 km at the closest point (Perilune) to 100 km at the farthest (Apolune) from the Moon. (De-boosting refers to the process of deceleration of velocity by reverse firing)

Slow and steady wins the race, says BBC (Old Story): Mission to the Moon: Who will win Russian and India's race to the lunar South Pole?

The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) had launched Chandrayaan-3 into space on July 14 and conducted a series of orbit-raising manoeuvres to reach the lunar orbit. On August 16 the spacecraft was fired into the lunar orbit. On August 17 the landing module - Vikram Lander and Pragyan rover - was separated from the propulsion system. On August 20 morning, the final de-boosting was done to put the module in the appointed orbit closer to the Moon in the 30-100 range. On August 23, between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm (IST), the Vikram lander will land on the Moon's surface.

After landing and a few hours rest the rover will get separated. It will roam around and study what is special about the south pole of the Moon.

As Russia's Luna has fallen out, and if India manages a soft landing this time, it will be the fourth country to do so after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.

Vikram lander is named after ISRO founder Vikram Sarabhai and Pragyan in Sanskrit means wisdom or knowledge.

True or false, Savitri claimed her husband had told her to throw Vinod into the canal as all that he does is eat. "How much torture can my son endure?" She picked him up when he was asleep.

Marking a decisive stage in the ongoing tussle between Governors and the Governments in some States, the Governor of Bengal has thrown down the gauntlet to the State police, asking the Raj Bhavan staff to refuse any enquiry from the cops in the sexual harassment case filed by a woman employee against him.

COMMENT: In many a case complaints can be frivolous, made under certain circumstances. So it is more in the interest of the accused that there is an investigation to clear his name. Denial may only mean acceptance of the guilt. Besides, quoting Constitutional immunity in sexual harassment cases is nothing short of a vulgarity of the feudal landlord. Nobody is above the law.

While the universal apprentice scheme will enable the educated youth to stand up (literally) in a country where the people are trampled by wretched politicians, and look about for avenues to earn a living confidently, the provision of student credit cards of up to Rs 10 lakh will ensure each and every student of this country receives equal opportunities to fulfil their aspirations of higher education irrespective of their financial conditions. It will be a game changer. These are on the lines of what US Vice-President Kamala Harris visualised to be happening to the Third World when she hailed Ajay Banga as a transformative World Bank President.

Peter Higgs is the father of the mysterious Higgs boson, otherwise called 'God Particle', which gives mass to all elementary particles, and created our universe. His contribution helped other scientists understand how the Big Bang created something out of nothing 13.8 billion years ago. The equations of particle physicists which did not have a leg to stand on till then, the 'God Particle' came as a Godsend. The theories so far to describe the universe did not hold water.

It was only by 2012, after 50 years of the boson discovery, that scientists at CERN could make the big announcement that they had finally found a Higgs boson using the Large Hadron Collider.

Higgs instantly broke into tears, tears of profound satisfaction, in the lecture hall where the announcement was made.

LEGAL REMEDIES: Last year, on the directive of the Supreme Court, the Governor granted assent to one Bill, and referred seven Bills to the President. The petition against the President also challenges the Governor's action of referring the Bills to her.

The unprecedented step by the State may also establish that it always upholds the Constitution and the rule of law in order to pre-empt any eventuality of getting dismissed on flimsy grounds invoking provisions of the Constitution later on; and, also provide a thrust to an emerging platform of regional forces pitted against the ongoing centralisation of every subject and activity in the country under one umbrella where the States will ultimately 'wither' away (for some time).

OPINION: Made to happen as it does just weeks ahead of the general elections, the arrest may signal, if not the cause of, far-reaching consequences in the course of Indian politics. The Opposition charges that the ruling party at the Centre has unleashed the police to catch a leader every other day for corruption allegedly indulged in in the present or the remote past in order to incapacitate any concerted opposition to the ruling dispensation.

The “My way or the highway" man, Trump has predicted 'apocalypse' for Americans if he is not elected the President in the upcoming election. He sounds “extremism, affection for violence." As always, he is also seeing what others don't, and repetitively using words like "(2020) election was stolen"! And that's a symptom! Delivering a no-holds-barred speech at a rally in Ohio, he also predicted the US won't see another election if he did not win the November battle against the incumbent President. With his savage push against the God-fearing Catholic, and the heap of criminal cases pending in the courts, the unpredictable Trump's nomination exposes a season of drought of leadership of calibre in the United States.

The much-touted 'one-nation, one-election' argument was purportedly to prevent wasteful expenditure of the people's money, manpower and deceleration of development, but the committee report when implemented will end up paving the way for holding more elections than currently being held. Because of the logistics and democratic limitations involved, the committee was not expected by commonsense to be out of a loose end either! Those who are alive at that time, and further for ten more years thereafter, can count the rounds and compare with the present numbers. Therefore, either the agenda is different or the 8-volume presentation is faulty/made-up!!!

The manager has defended himself saying that dry ice got mixed with mouth freshener by the negligence of the staff...After taking the mouth freshener the customers felt a burning sensation and started vomiting blood. Five of them were hospitalised. Two are in critical condition.

Harmful effects of dry ice: Ingested, dry ice can burn your mouth, esophagus and stomach as it sublimates on contact with the moisture of the organs and turns into CO2, apart from other damaging physical and chemical changes it induces. The pressure building up in the stomach due to sublimation can also rupture the stomach muscles. It turns lethal. In normal direct handling it leads to frostbite due to the cold temperature.

One of them is seen in CCTV being shot at close range. The motive is suspected to be personal enmity.

TAILPIECE: Almost every other day we hear of shootings in one place or other in the country. India will very soon replace the US as the world's No 1 in the incidence of mass shooting. It will eclipse terrorism as a source of concern. Who can help? At least, has it occurred to anyone's mind?

'This Moment' of Shakti fusion won the Best Global Music Album at the Grammys. Zakir Hussain has won two other awards too. In a great victory for Indians, five of them have won the Grammys this time. In other sections, Taylor Swift got her fourth Album of the Year award and Miley Cyrus got an award for the first time.

The Government scheme provides ₹ 51,000 per wedding of which ₹ 35,000 goes to the girl, ₹ 10,000 for wedding materials and ₹ 6,000 towards expenses for the ceremony.

“Two activists from the environmental movement ‘Riposte Alimentaire’ sprayed pumpkin soup on the armoured glass protecting the Mona Lisa, this Sunday, January 28, 2024, around 10 am (4aET),” a statement from the museum said.

It is not understood how undesirable elements are allowed to get so close to her and play havoc with the artwork. Several times over this has happened in the past, deranged minds masquerading as tourists and cultists venting their frustration.

A Spicejet passenger had a harrowing experience inside a tiny claustrophobic lavatory aboard a Mumbai-Bengaluru flight when he found to his bewilderment that the door was not opening.

Two days earlier, in a similar incident in the area, a domestic help was bitten by a pet dog in the lift when she was going for work.

Tailpiece: Sometimes appearing to outnumnber men and women on the streets, the stray dogs are turning more and more daring with sections of anti-social elements out there to feed and protect them in order to find a window for their unfulfilled love! There is an all-pervading feeling of lack of authority.

Ankit Tiwari had told the employee that “instructions had been received from the Prime Minister’s Office to conduct an enquiry” and reopen the “already disposed of” case and asked him to appear before the ED office at Madurai on October 30, DVAC said. The doctor was allegedly threatened with arrest and told to pay a bribe of Rs 3 cr to avoid the ED probe, which was later negotiated down to Rs 50 lakh.

Tailpiece: We are made to believe RBI, CBI, ED, Judiciary as sacrosanct and all others like railways, transport, revenue, education, PWD departments are composed of us the mortals, absolutely corrupt! As if in the sacrosanct places the angels descend from the heavens to work in the night and fly away before day-break! Let's be true to ourselves, we are all cut from the same cloth.

Apart from cash, Gill had also taken three planes as bribe and two of them were leased out to Redbird Aviation Academy. With the result, flying schools compromised on safety requirements and trainers met with accidents several times.

Five people were arrested from a banquet hall in Sector 51 Noida on Thursday where they were called to hold a rave party in a trap laid by the animal rights group, PFA. They named Yadav but he was not present.

Betting through Dubai-based Mahadev Book in India is conducted through a countrywide network. Probes reveal that the online gambling is worth several millions and top politicians, officials and celebs have been beneficiaries.

TAILPIECE: Polling dates for some States are round the corner. Top politicians have begun their acrimonious debate who looted more, even as Mahadev is washing their dirty laundry in the open ghat. Come what may, one needs to seize power to amass "thy wretched pelf!" One simple question is, why else one should spend lakhs or crores to get elected! A question every Indian should ask to oneself at least once a day!

His inaction amounts to defeating the rights of the people of the State to welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills, the Kerala Government's petition submitted, while the State of Tamil Nadu remarked that its "Governor is acting as a political rival."

Tailpiece: Coming up back to back, the petitions in their totality seem to question the provision of Raj Bhavan, and not motives of a Governor as a person.