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India’s first aluminium rail rake flagged off

Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday flagged off the country’s first aluminium-made freight rail rake at Bhubneshwar in Odisha. The Ministry of Railway through a statement said that the first aluminium-made freight rail rake has been made with higher corrosion and abrasion resistance capacity, which will reduce the maintenance cost to the railway.

After flagging off the rake, Vaishnaw said: “This is a proud moment for the country and our drive for indigenisation as lightweight aluminium wagons are a big innovation for Indian Railways.”

Speaking about the features of this aluminium, rail rake, the minister further said that these wagons save 14,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions and have more carrying capacity.

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President appoints Justice DY Chandrachud as next CJI with effect from November 9

November 9 will be a historical day for the Indian judiciary as it will get its first father-son duo reaching the topmost position in the judiciary.

“In exercise of the power conferred by the Constitution of India, Hon’ble President appoints Dr Justice DY Chandrachud, Judge, Supreme Court as the Chief Justice of India with effect from 9th November, 22,” Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju in his tweet said.

The Minister on October 30 initiated the drill to appoint the next CJI by writing to the incumbent CJI UU Lalit requesting him to recommend his successor’s name.

The CJI on October 10 had recommended to the centre Justice Chandrachud’s appointment as his successor and next CJI.

Justice Chandrachud, son of YV Chandrachud the longest serving CJI , who will swear in as the 50th CJI on November 9, will have a tenure of almost two years and will demit office on November 10, 2024.

November 9 will be a historical day for the Indian judiciary as it will get its first father-son duo to reach the topmost position in the judiciary.

He was the youngest advocate to be designated as Senior Advocate by the Bombay High Court in 1998 at the age of 39 and thereby served as the Additional Solicitor General of India from 1998 to 2000.

He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Bombay HC on March 29, 2000 and took oath as CJI of Allahabad HC on October 31, 2013.

On 29 March 2000, he was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court. He took oath as the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court on 31 October 2013.

Ever since his appointment as the SC judge in 2016, he has been part of many constitutional benches that have delivered path-breaking verdicts such as the decriminalisation of same-sex consensual sex by striking down section 377 of IPC which criminalises consensual unnatural sex between consenting adults and recognising “living will’ made by terminally-ill patients for passive euthanasia which have played a major role in strengthening the human rights jurisprudence in the country.

He has also authored judgements that have batted for empowering women and breaking the shackles of patriarchy.

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ISSF World Cup Changwon: India finish on top of the table with 15 medals

Anish Bhanwala, Vijayveer Sidhu and Sameer won the silver medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol team event on the final day. South Korea finished second in the standings.

The Indian men’s 25m rapid fire pistol team comprising Anish Bhanwala, Vijayveer Sidhu and Sameer won the silver medal on the last day of the ISSF World Cup Changwon 2022 in South Korea, on Wednesday.

The medal helped India retain the top spot on the medals table with five gold, six silver and four bronze. South Korea managed just one bronze on the final day and finished with four golds, five silver and three bronze medals.

The Indian trio had made the final after coming through two rounds of qualification, finishing second with 872 points in the first and topping the second round with 578 for a shot at gold.

However, up against Czech Republic’s Martin Podhrasky, Tomas Tehan and Matej Rampula in the final at the Changwon International Shooting range, the Indian shooting team went down 17-15 to settle for silver.

India started strongly to take a 10-2 lead. The experienced Czech trio then mounted a brilliant comeback to unsettle the young Indian shooting team.

In the mixed team skeet event, an in-form Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Zahra Mufaddal Deesawala finished ninth out of 17 teams with a score of 138/150.

This is the second time this year that the Indian shooters had topped the ISSF World Cup medals table. India finished with the most gold medals (four) at the ISSF World Cup in Cairo.

Cairo will also be the place for the next assignment of the rifle/pistol squad with the ISSF World Championship scheduled later in October. The shotgun squad has theirs in September in Osijek, Croatia.

ISSF World Cup 2022 in Changwon: India medal winners

1. Arjun Babuta – gold – men’s 10m air rifle

2. Shahu Tushar Mane/Mehuli Ghosh – gold – 10m air rifle mixed team

3. Prithviraj Tondaiman, Vivaan Kapoor and Bhowneesh Mendiratta – silver – men’s trap team

4. Shiva Narwal and Palak – bronze – 10m air pistol mixed team

5. Arjun Babuta, Shahu Tushar Mane and Paarth Makhija – gold – men’s 10m air rifle team

6. Eavenil Valarivan, Ramita and Mehuli Ghosh – silver – women’s rifle team

7. Shiva Narwal, Naveen, Sagar Dangi – silver – men’s pistol team

8. Rhythm Sangwan, Yuvika Tomar and Palak – silver – women’s 10m air pistol team

9. Aishwary Pratap Singh – gold – men’s 50m rifle 3P

10. Anjum Moudgil – bronze – women’s 50m rifle 3P

11. Chain Singh, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Sanjeev Rajput – silver – men’s 50m rifle 3P team

12. Mairaj Ahmad Khan – gold – men’s skeet

13. Anjum Moudgil, Sift Kaur Samra and Ashi Chouksey – bronze – women’s 50m rifle 3P team

14. Anish Bhanwala, Rhythm Sangwan – bronze – 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team

15. Anish Bhanwala, Vijayveer Sidhu and Sameer – silver – men’s 25m rapid fire pistol team

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India crush Sri Lanka by 8 wickets to win women’s Asia Cup

India maintained their dominance in the Women’s Asia Cup with an eight-wicket demolition of a self-destructing Sri Lanka in the final here on Saturday for their seventh title in eight editions.

Sri Lanka, who were playing their first tournament final in 14 years, imploded after opting to bat on a slow and turning pitch.

They could only manage 65 for nine which India knocked off in 8.3 overs. Smriti Mandhana struck a sublime 51 not out off 25 balls.

It was a procession after Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu got run out in the third over following a mix-up with Anushka Sanjeewani who too got run out six balls later.

Renuka, who has been in top form since the Commonwealth Games in August, sent back Hasini Perera on the very first ball she faced. The left-hander checked her shot only to be caught at cover, leaving Sri Lanka at nine for four.

The Sri Lankans were in dire need of a partnership but Kavisha Dilhari’s fall made it 16 for five as she was bowled while trying to play an incoming delivery from Renuka across the line.

Rajeshwari Gayakwad got her first wicket after Nilakshi de Silva played onto her stumps while trying to cut a ball close to her body.

At 32 for eight, being bowled out for a sub-50 total was very much on the cards, but Ranaweera saved them from that ignominy with an unbeaten 18 off 22 balls.

The Indians bowled with discipline but poor shot selection contributed more to Sri Lanka’s steep slide. After a memorable win over Pakistan in the semifinals, it seemed the occasion got the better of Sri Lanka. India lost Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues cheaply in the run chase.

However, both the batters did well in the tournament, with Shafali getting back to form and Jemimah making a successful comeback from injury.

The elegant Mandhana played some exquisite strokes on way to completing the formality alongside skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (11 not out of 14).

Smriti’s effort included three sixes and six boundaries. Fittingly, she sealed the win with a maximum off Oshadi Ranasinghe. The win is a shot in the arm for India’s preparations for the T20 World Cup next year.

They were able to test players for different roles during the competition, though that also contributed to their only loss in the tournament, against Pakistan in the league stage.

The Indians took a lap of the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium and, in a fine gesture, got clicked with the entire ground staff after their triumph, which was witnessed by a sizeable turnout.

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Manish, Vaidehi win at Fenesta Open

In the girls’ under-18 final, Madhurima Sawant, the second seed, was bouncing on her feet as she stroked her way past Suhitha Maruri 6-3 6-2.

Manish Sureshkumar and Vaidehi Chaudhari on Sunday clinched the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively at the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship.

At the DLTA complex, where the cool weather provided the competitors with the right ambience to play good tennis, both Vaidehi and Manish played solidly to clinch their finals. Vaidehi cruised past Sai Samhitha Chamarthi 6-2 6-0. It was disappointing for Sai Samhitha as she had been in good touch through the last week. The essence in a final is raising the level of play, which Vaidehi did with finesse.

Vaidehi has been playing tennis since the age of nine and waiting for the right breaks. Winning the Fenesta Open is a big thrust to her career as she has been hitting around in ITF events to make it big. “This is my first Fenesta Open title and I am very happy,” she said.

Rudrankksh, Arjun, Kiran win India’s fifth gold in ISSF Worlds

Payal Khatri and Sahil Dudhane won India’s fourth bronze of the championships in the same event, defeating Ane Torgersen and Hans Noestvold of Norway 16-14 in a close encounter.

Indian men’s 10m air rifle troika of Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil, Kiran Ankush Jadhav and Arjun Babuta won the country’s fifth gold medal in the ISSF World Championship, routing China 16-10 in the title round.

It was also Patil’s second senior world championship gold in his very first outing, having won the individual 10m air rifle event earlier. India also picked up a silver and two bronze medals on the day to take their tally to five gold, one silver and five bronze, to maintain their second place behind China in the standings. With the women’s 10m air pistol team also making the gold medal match, that tally is certain to go up further by the end of the tournament.

The Indian team raced ahead 14-2 in the final against a Chinese side which had Yang Haoran (double Olympic gold medallist and two-time world champion), Lihao Sheng (Tokyo Olympics silver medallist) and Song Buhan (world championship silver medallist). China mounted a strong comeback to win the next four series and narrow the gap to 14-10, but the Indians held their own in the final series to clinch the crown. Both the teams were at each other from Saturday itself when the Chinese prevailed over the Indians, both in round one of qualification of 28 teams and then in the top eight second round as well.

In round one, China edged India by 0.4, while 0.9 was the difference in round two. In the match that mattered the most, however, it was the Indians who finally stamped their supremacy over the Chinese in men’s air rifles in this world championship edition at least, winning both the individual and team titles. The air rifle women, who had a heartbreak in the individual event, redeemed themselves with a bronze in the team event, prevailing 17-11 in a nail-biter against Germany.

Meghana Sajjanar shot two consecutive 10.9s in the crucial stages to clinch the deal along with partners Elavenil Valarivan and Mehuli Ghosh. They had earlier finished third in qualification stage two to miss out on the gold match by 0.6 points. In stage one, they had shot 947.0 to finish second, a mere 0.1 behind China, among 30 teams. Manvi Jain and Sameer won India’s first silver of the championships, going down to China’s Feng Sixuan and Liu Yangpan 17-03 in the gold medal match of the 25m standard pistols mixed team junior competition.

They had come second in stage one of qualification with a score of 564 and then topped stage two with a combined effort of 378 to make it to the title decider. Payal Khatri and Sahil Dudhane won India’s fourth bronze of the championships in the same event, defeating Ane Torgersen and Hans Noestvold of Norway 16-14 in a close encounter. The pair had finished third in stage one with 563 and then third again in stage two with 368, to qualify for the bronze match. In the men’s 10m air pistol team competition, the Indian trio of Shiva Narwal, Naveen and Vijayveer Sidhu shot 580 in qualification stage two to finish fifth eventually.

Also, in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team Junior event, India’s Nishchal, Nikita Kundu and Nupur Kumrawat ended 10th in qualification with a score of 1278

Gandhi museum opens up in New Jersey

Inaugurated this past weekend, the museum has artefacts and digital display screens that are interactive and visitors will be able to interactively see the life events of the apostle of peace.

A museum dedicated to the life and message of Mahatma Gandhi has opened in the Atlantic City of the United States.

Inaugurated this past weekend, the museum has artefacts and digital display screens that are interactive and visitors will be able to interactively see the life events of the apostle of peace.

The event was attended by eminent Indian American community members and India’s Consul General in New York Randhir Jaiswal.

Developed in partnership with the Aditya Birla Group by the New Jersey-based Gandhian Society, it is the first museum dedicated to the “father of the nation” in the USA.

Rudrankksh Patil wins World Championship, rallying from 4-10 down to beating Sollazzo 17-13 in gold duel

Indian 18 year old had topped 10m air rifle qualification, and brought India its first Paris Games quota place in air rifle.

India’s Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil scored a sensational come-from-behind victory in the men’s 10m Air rifle final, beating Italy’s Danilo Sollazzo 17-13 in a shootout, to win the gold medal at the ongoing World Championships in Cairo on Friday. In the process of winning gold, Patil also earned India its first pistol/rifle event quota for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The other two quotas besides India and Italy went to China (Lihao Sheng finishing 3rd & Haoran Yang 4th) and Czech Republic through Jiri Privatsky (5th).

India’s last World Champion in the men’s air rifle was Abhinav Bindra at Zagreb in 2006, while Gagan Narang picked a bronze at the World Championships at Munich in 2010. Anjum Moudgil won silver in women’s in 2018.

The final was a glimpse into what the ISSF has in plans for the Paris Games with regards to the format. The last rule change meant that the eight participants in the final compete for rankings from 1-8. After a series of three, consisting of five shots per series, the two shooters with the least number of points are eliminated. From thereon out, two shooters get eliminated at the end of every series, until only the top 2 remain. Those two are then supposed to battle it out in a first-to-16 duel scenario, where a level score for both nets a point, and the higher score between both leads to two points to the winner.

After a 51.8 in his first series, Patil never shot under 52 for the next four series. The result – a score of 261.9, the second position in hand and the chance to go for gold with the slate all clean. Facing him in the final duel would be Italian shooter Danilo Sollazzo who had shot a monstrous 262.7 to qualify for the shootout.

In the shootout the first two attempts for both led to an identical 10.5 score which meant the scores were tied at 2-2. Sollazzo then took the lead in the next two shots as he continued to hit 10.5 and Patil managed only a 10.3 in his next couple of attempts. The scores now were 6-2. The Italian attempted to seize the initiative of the shootout, scoring yet another 10.5. But the 18-year-old Indian shooter responded with a perfect 10.9 to some loud shouts from the Indian contingent watching in support. At 6-4 though, Sollazzo won the next two rounds making the score 10-4.

At this point, it seemed hard to imagine a comeback for the Thane-teen. But the Italian’s next shot was a 10.3 and Patil responded with a 10.6. Both shooters then shot an identical 10.4 to claim a point apiece and make the scores 11-7 in favour of the Italian. The Italian lost two further points when he shot 10.2 and his counterpart replied with a 10.6.

But Sollazzo was far from done. In the next set, he dropped a 10.7 to Patil’s 10.4 to take his lead to four points again. But at 13-9, the Italian would not score any more points.

The comeback

Patil has been in shootouts before. In fact, before the World Championships, he found himself in one against Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar at the T6 national shooting trials. Patil eased to a 16-6 victory then and made his way to Cairo.

Here, down by four points, Patil began his comeback. But it began with a strategically placed time out, one where the Italian shooter, who was in some fine rhythm, was disrupted and had to wait for 30 seconds to take his shot. This moment was crucial as Rudrankksh returned from the timeout with a 10.5 to Sollazzo’s 10.3

The crowning moment of the match though was the next shot. With the scores tied at 13-apiece, Sollazzo brought out the calibre he had shown all through the event and dropped a 10.7. The Italian was cheered by his contingent and then all of a sudden, those cheers died a quick death as Patil dropped a 10.8. It was the turning moment of the match – one that gave the Indian a 15-13 lead. He quickly won the next two points as well to seal the gold medal at a World Championship.

Submarine INS Arihant successfully test fires ballistic missile

The missile was tested to a predetermined range and it impacted the target area in the Bay of Bengal with high accuracy, according to the defence ministry.

India’s strategic strike submarine INS Arihant carried out successful launch of a ballistic missile on Friday, the defence ministry said.

The missile was tested to a predetermined range and it impacted the target area in the Bay of Bengal with high accuracy, validating all operational and technological parameters, it said.

“The successful user training launch of the SLBM (submarine launched ballistic missile) by INS Arihant is significant to prove crew competency and validate the SSBN programme, a key element of India’s nuclear deterrence capability,” the ministry said.

“A robust, survivable and assured retaliatory capability is in keeping with India’s policy to have ‘credible minimum deterrence’ that underpins its ‘No First Use’ commitment,” it said in a statement.

Ponniyin Selvan puts identity and history of Cholas at centre of primetime debates

A new week, a new controversy centred on Hinduism has erupted. The latest victim of heated debates on primetime television is famous filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s latest movie Ponniyin Selvan — 1, the film adaptation of Kalki’s revered historical fiction novel.

The film itself has put a smile on the faces of everyone associated with it, on account of its remarkable success, having collected almost Rs 350 crore globally. It has been appreciated for its economical writing, striking performances, and above all, for achieving the impossible task of condensing Kalki’s novel of five volumes — which, marrying history and fiction, presents a compelling story about the rise of Raja Raja Cholan/Arunmozhi Varman (played by Jayam Ravi).

Considered South India’s most powerful king, Raja Raja Cholan is revered for his able administration, striking territorial expansions, and the creation of timeless temple architecture — including the famous Brihadheeswara Temple in Thanjavur.

It’s the identity of this king that has now come into question a thousand years after his lifetime — his 29-year reign having ended with his demise in 1014 AD, coincidentally, exactly one millennium before political colours changed in contemporary India. That seeps into the way primetime anchors, political personalities and social media influencers are setting up a heated discourse around him centering on one question: whether Raja Raja Cholan was a Hindu.

Those on the right are celebrating him for being a ‘Hindu’ king — no doubt, ascribing to him present definitions of ‘Hinduness’. And notable personalities from Tamil Nadu, including Kamal Haasan and Vetrimaaran, have weighed in on the side of a historically more nuanced argument: that the notion of ‘Hinduism’, as defined today in an all-pervading sense, did not exist during the king’s time and that those who are projecting that idea backwards are falling prey to the fallacy of presentism. A more accurate label, they say, would be Shaivism — the worship of Shiva — which has an ancient and robust non-Vedic lineage in Tamil lands.

With the resistance to the ‘Hinduism’ label seeming to be a response to perceived ‘saffronisation’, it is a difficult debate to settle — and an unfortunate one to envelop a film in. But there is a history to this: a few years ago, a furore erupted over the religious identity of Tamil poet-philosopher Thiruvalluvar after he was depicted in saffron robes in a tweet by the BJP state unit. Some see a systematic politicisation here. Others are offended by the resistance to it. Everything, it seems, depends on where you stand in the political spectrum. In this post-truth era, there are no facts — only beliefs that strengthen your worldview and solidify your identity.

Loving documentary of fabled good time

Ponniyin Selvan 1 is a loving documentation of a fabled time when the rivers in our land ran full, when the earth had not been plundered. There are lessons to be learned from how life was lived then, and yet, it is a marker of our times that a film intended to celebrate a glorious period in our history has instead resulted in squabbles over an identity nuance the film doesn’t exactly concern itself with.

Was Raja Raja Chola a Hindu? Was he a Shaivite? Will they even care after the next big release?

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