Whatsapp 93125-11015 For Details
Just over four months after the Moon landing, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) inserted its Aditya-L1 spacecraft – India’s first mission to study the Sun – into its destination orbit on Saturday afternoon, yet again demonstrating its capabilities to execute complex and advanced space missions.
Aditya-L1 moved into the ‘halo’ orbit around the L1 point in the Earth-Sun system, from where it will make observations of the Sun for the next five years.
L1, or Lagrange 1 point, is one of the five locations in the Earth-Sun system where the gravitational effects of the Earth and the Sun, as also the centripetal force on any satellite placed there, roughly cancel each other out.
It is a relatively stable point for a spacecraft to be parked, and observe the Sun. The L1 point is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth. This is just 1 per cent of the total distance between the Earth and Sun.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath said Saturday’s event was about only placing the Aditya-L1 in the precise ‘halo’ orbit. “It was moving towards the ‘halo’ orbit but we had to do a little bit of corrections to put it at the right place.
So something like a 31 metres per second velocity had to be given cumulatively to the satellite to keep it at the right orientation,” PTI quoted him as telling reporters.
Express Network
Govt notifies new drug making standards after overseas deaths (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
After a number of overseas deaths allegedly linked to India-made drugs, the Union Health Ministry has notified its Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) that aim to ensure the quality of drugs made in the country, directing pharmaceutical companies to implement them within a year.
The new GMP focuses on quality control measures, allows mechanisms for digitally maintaining records that cannot be tampered with and puts in place a system to recall drugs if necessary.
The notification comes months after the Union Health Minister urged pharmaceutical companies to begin implementing these standards, which are on a par with those set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Large companies, which have a turnover of more than Rs 250 crore, will now have to implement the guidelines within the next six months. Small and medium manufacturers, which have a turnover of less than Rs 250 crore, will get a year.
There are nearly 10,500 drug manufacturing units in the country. Of them, 2,000 large companies that export medicines are already WHO-GMP compliant.
But an industry participant, who declined to be named, said: “We had hoped for a two-year window for small companies to comply with the requirements.
A lot of infrastructure modifications that are capital intensive will be needed. As for the bigger companies, they are already WHO-GMP compliant.”
Economy
Govt to bring more products under quality norm, says Piyush Goyal (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said the government will bring more products under the mandatory quality norm as India moves towards becoming a developed nation by 2047.
Addressing virtually the 77th foundation day of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Goyal said complying with high quality standards in products and services will help India achieve high goals and become a developed nation.
Towards this direction, the BIS should become an ambassador of quality standards. "It should not just become an adopter of standards, but should be a pioneer of standards.
That apart, the BIS should frame quality standards comparable to international standards wherever possible. "For example in products like lift, air filters and medical devices, I think India can be a front-runner and set international standards." He also urged for much greater stakeholder engagement for making quality standards and asked the industry to be more demanding to set labs for testing the quality.
Hailing the BIS efforts in creating a quality conscious nation, the minister said bringing more products under the mandatory compliance of quality norms issued through the Quality Control Order (QCO) has ensured availability of quality products/services to the consumers.
So far, 156 QCOs have been issued, covering 672 products. Before 2014, only 106 products were covered under 14 QCOs, he said.