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NATIONAL: DEFENCE & AVIATION: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) hands over First LCA Tejas Twin Seater Aircraft to Indian Air Force (IAF)
HAL said the twin seater variant has all the capabilities to support the training requirements of the IAF and augments itself to the role of fighter as well in case of necessity.
The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over the first LCA Tejas twin seater to the Indian Air Force in the presence of Union Minister of State for Defence & Tourism Ajay Bhatt at a ceremony in Bengaluru on Wednesday, October 4.
The LCA Tejas Twin Seater is a lightweight, all-weather multi-role 4.5 generation aircraft. It is designed to support the training requirements of the IAF and augment itself to the role of a fighter in case of necessity.
It is a huge boost to self-reliance, said the minister in his address to the audience. “I am proud to be part of this historic occasion and salute the spirit of HAL which has been spearheading Swadeshi manufacturing in defence,” he said.
Mr. Bhatt unveiled the twin seater LCA. “In all, the development of LCA Tejas has also brought about a shift in our approach to defence procurement. It has demonstrated that India has the talent, knowledge and capability to design, develop and manufacture world-class fighters,” he added.
More LCAs to be procured
Speaking on the occasion, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari said that IAF would be going ahead to procure 97 more LCAs, and with this it will have 220 LCAs in its inventory.
C.B. Ananthakrishnan, CMD (Addl. Charge), HAL said that the company is committed to deliver all the twin-seater aircraft pertaining to Initial Operational Configuration (IOC) and Final Operational Configuration (FOC) contract to IAF in the current financial year.
“With this, we are moving one step closer towards achieving self-sufficiency on the fixed wing segment. These trainers also ensure smooth transition for the pilots from trainer to fighter aircraft in this class,” he added.
Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, HAL CMD (Addl. Charge) C.B. Ananthakrishnan, Director General, ADA, Girish S. Deodhare, A.P.V.S Prasad, CE (A), CEMILAC, officials from IAF, MoD, DGAQA, DRDO, HAL and production partners attended the event.
The Release to Service Document (RSD) and the Signalling out Certificate (SOC) were also handed over during the event.
Entering the elite club
The LCA Tejas twin seater boasts of technologies such as relaxed static-stability, quadraplex fly-by-wire flight control, carefree manoeuvring, advanced glass cockpit, integrated digital avionics systems and advanced composite materials for the airframe.
The production of the LCA twin seater variant adds India to the list of very few elite countries who have created such a capability and have them operational in their Defence Forces.
IAF had earlier placed orders for 20 IOC standard aircraft and 20 FOC standard aircraft, including eight twin seater trainers. Thirty two Mk-1 single seater aircrafts have already been inducted by the IAF.
In 2021, the Defence Ministry had signed a ₹48,000 crore deal with HAL to supply 83 LCA-Mk1A, a more capable fighter than the current LCA-MK1 in service.
As per contract, three LCA-MK1A are scheduled to be delivered to the IAF in February 2024 and 16 aircraft per year for the subsequent five years.
source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)
INTERNATIONAL : ARTS & CRAFTS / PHOTOGRAPHy: Photographer Gauri Gill Wins the Prestigious 10th Annual ‘Prix Pictet Photography and Sustainability Award’
Gill was selected from the shortlist of 12 photographers for her series ‘Notes from the Desert’.
Photographer Gauri Gill has won the prestigious 10th Annual Prix Pictet Photography and Sustainability Award, securing the massive prize of 100,000 Swiss Francs (approximately $109,219). This award is recognised as one of the world’s most significant, if not the largest, prizes in the realm of photography.
The award was announced on Thursday, September 28.
“On my many visits to rural Rajasthan, I have witnessed a complex reality I knew nothing about as a city dweller. To live poor and landless in the desert amounts to an inescapable reliance on oneself, on each other, and on nature,” said Gill.
The Prix Pictet is described as the world’s leading award for photography and sustainability. Founded in 2008 by the Pictet Group – a Swiss multinational private bank and financial services company – the award’s goal is to harness the power of photography to draw global attention to critical environmental issues.
Entry to this competition is only allowed to individuals nominated through Prix Pictet’s global network of over 300 nominators which includes critics, curators, and other specialists in the visual arts.
Nominators are asked to recommend portfolios that have the power and artistic quality demanded by the prize.
Since it was founded, the organisation says that more than 5,000 photographers have been nominated, “all of whose work in one way or another testifies to the fragile state of our planet.”
“In a world facing unprecedented challenges, from social inequality to environmental crises, it was crucial to turn the lens towards humanity itself. The theme Human provides a platform to explore the complexities, vulnerabilities, and strengths of the human condition. It allows the artists to capture and communicate the stories, struggles and triumphs of individuals and communities around the globe,” Executive Director of Prix Pictet, Isabelle von Ribbentrop, said.
“Through this theme, Prix Pictet aims to foster a deeper understanding of our shared humanity and inspire meaningful conversations about the issues that impact us all. Especially when thinking about the theme Human, I strongly believe that instead of the future of photography, we should think about photography of the future. The power of the image lies in its ability to foreground critical and urgent environmental issues in a visually impactful yet direct way.”
Gill’s work emphasises her belief in working with and through community, in what she calls ‘active listening’. For more than two decades, she has been closely engaged with marginalised communities in the desert of western Rajasthan, Northern India and for the last decade with Indigenous artists in Maharashtra.
Her winning series ‘Notes from the Desert’ began in April 1999 when she set out to photograph village schools in Rajasthan. Having grown up mainly in cities, she soon realised that rural schools were a microcosm of a complex reality she knew nothing about.
Visiting the same people and places over decades, she witnessed the whole spectrum of life: drought years and great monsoon; dust storms leading to widespread fevers and floods leading to the rebuilding of homes; epidemics; overwhelmed hospitals and understaffed school; festivals, feuds, celebrations, and prayers.
source/content: thewire.in (headline edited)
INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL: HISTORY / HERITAGE: UK museum to sign pact for return of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s ‘Tiger Claws’ to India
The MoU, expected to be signed on Tuesday, coincides with Maharashtra’s 350th anniversary celebrations of the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji.
The Victoria and Albert ( V and A) Museum is all set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government next week, which will see 17th century ‘Tiger Claws’ weapon believed to have belonged to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj make a journey back to India for an exhibition.
During a protracted military engagement in 1659, the legendary Maratha leader held metal claws, or wagh nakh, concealed in his hand and is said to have disembowelled his opponent Afzal Khan – the commander of the opposing Bijapur army.
It is believed, though unverified, that the set of claws then came into the possession of James Grant Duff, an officer of the East India Company who was appointed Resident or political agent of the Satara state in 1818 and gifted to the V and A by a descendant.
“The V and A looks forward to welcoming senior leadership from the Maharashtra government, to sign a memorandum of understanding,” a V and A spokesperson said.
“The story of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s triumph over Afzal Khan is legendary, so we are delighted that the ‘Tiger Claws’ will return to India as part of the 350th anniversary events where they can be enjoyed as part of the celebrations. We hope that their display might also enable new research into their history and look forward to working in partnership with colleagues in the months ahead as we develop plans for their display,” the spokesperson said.
The MoU, expected to be signed on Tuesday, coincides with Maharashtra’s 350th anniversary celebrations of the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji. It is then expected to be dispatched to India later this year for an agreed period.
According to the V and A, the weapon is accompanied by a fitted case made after Grant Duff returned to Scotland. The inscription on the case reads: “The ‘Wagnuck’ of Sivajee With Which He Killed the Moghul General. This Relic was given to Mr. James Grant-Duff of Eden When he was Resident at Satara By the Prime Minister of the Peshwa of the Marathas”.
According to historical accounts, Shivaji and Afzal Khan had arranged a truce after political upheavals in order to meet in a tented enclosure, virtually alone.
The V and A description of the history of the ‘Tiger Claws’ explains: “Both came armed: Shivaji wore mail under his clothes and metal skull protection under his turban. He also held a metal ‘Tiger Claws’ weapon concealed in his hand. The two men fought, and Shivaji disembowelled his opponent.
“The last Peshwa (Prime Minister) of the Marathas, Baji Rao II, surrendered to the British in June 1818 after defeat in the Third Anglo-Maratha War and was banished to Bithoor near Kanpur. It is possible he also surrendered this weapon to Grant Duff. It has not been possible to verify whether these tiger claws are the ones used by Shivaji nearly 160 years earlier.”
source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)
Sable becomes 1st Indian man to win Asian Games 3000m steeplechase title, Toor defends shot put gold
Avinash Sable, the 29-year-old national record holder, earned India its first gold medal in athletics, completing the race in 8:19.50 seconds.
Avinash Sable became the first Indian man to win the gold medal in 3000m steeplechase at the Asian Games while shot-putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor defended his title with an amazing final throw to beat back the challenge from his Saudi Arabian rival here on Sunday.
Sable, the 29-year-old national record holder, earned India its first gold medal in athletics, completing the race in 8:19.50 seconds.
Sable rewrote the previous Asian Games record of 8:22.79 held in the name of Iran’s Hossein Keyhani set at the 2018 Jakarta Games.
Sudha Singh had won a gold in women’s 3000m steeplechase in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.
Toor, the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games gold medallist, came up with a mighty throw of 20.36 metres on his sixth and last attempt to overhaul his Saudi rival Mohamed Daouda Tolo’s distance of 20.18 metres.
Toor, however, could not break his own Asian Games record of 20.75m set in 2018 Jakarta.
But the 28-year-old’s final throw was way too good for his Saudi rival to overhaul in his final attempt.
Earlier, the toast of the nation in the last edition, Indian heptathlete Swapna Barman’s one “last shot” at glory at the Asian Games turned into a nightmare as she struggled with injuries to virtually go out of medal reckoning after the javelin throw event.
The defending champion, who boasts of a personal best of 52.55m in javelin throw, managed a throw of just 45.13 in the penultimate event of the gruelling two-day competition.
Javelin throw was one of the two events Swapna had won in 2018 en route to becoming the first Indian heptathlete to win an Asian Games gold.
Overall, Swapna was ranked fourth with 4840 points, 11 points behind her nearest rival Jingyi Liu of China ahead of the 800m race, which is the last segment of the seven-event competition.
The other Indian in the fray, Nandini Agasara notched a personal best of 39.
88m in javelin throw that took her overall ranking to fifth place.
Earlier in the day, Swapna Barman leapt 5.71m in the long jump, while Nandini Agasara had a season-best 5.94m jump.
With her career ravaged by a spinal injury, the six-toed Indian athlete had contemplated retirement last year.
But she took one last shot at glory and came to Hanghzou in her title defence bid.
This year she won the Inter-State meet and also bagged a silver medal in the build-up to the Asian Games.
She also avoided surgery so as to ensure that she does not miss her training despite a bad back.
“But her body condition could not cope up and she failed to get a good start,” her coach Subhash Sarkar told PTI.
“She was expecting a good result in high jump but a fourth place finish shattered her and she couldn’t recover from there,” he added.
Swapna had a jump of 1.70m, which was nowhere close to her personal best of 1.87.
“The poor start has affected her morale and it showed in today’s javelin throw event. It’s as good as over,” Sarkar said of Swapna’s prospects this time.
Earlier, India’s Amlan Borgohain finished at the third position after clocking 21.08 seconds in the men’s 200m heats and advanced to the semifinal.
The first three athletes in each heat make the cut for the semi-finals.
The top four times from all the heats who have not made the cut will also advance to the semifinals.
The sprinter from Assam, currently the country’s fastest, holds both the men’s 100m and 200m national records.
However, Jyothi Yarraji failed to make the cut for the women’s 200m final.
The Indian had a timing of 23.78s.
Yarraji, however, is in contention for a medal in women’s 100m hurdles.
source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)
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GLOBAL: SPORT / TENNIS: India’s Leander Paes is the First Asian Man Nominated as a Player to the International Tennis Hall of Fame
Leander Paes, the owner of 18 Grand Slam titles in men’s doubles or mixed doubles, is the first Asian man to be nominated for the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the player category.
Paes, who is from India, was one of six player candidates announced Tuesday for the Class of 2024, along with returning nominees Cara Black, Ana Ivanovic, Carlos Moya, Daniel Nestor and Flavia Pennetta.
Li Na, a Chinese woman who won two Grand Slam singles titles, became the first Asian player in the shrine based in Newport, Rhode Island, when she was inducted in 2019.
“After three decades of passion for our sport and playing for 1.3-plus billion Indians in the Olympics and Davis Cup, I am thrilled that my hard work has been recognized,” Paes said.
Paes won career Grand Slams in both men’s doubles and mixed doubles and reached the No. 1 doubles ranking. His eight men’s doubles major championships — earned with four different partners — were spread out this way: three apiece at the French Open and U.S. Open, and one apiece at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
His mixed doubles Slam trophies came alongside various partners, including Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis and Black.
Black, Ivanovic, Moya, Nestor and Pennetta all fell short of the required 75% of the vote in past balloting from the official voting group — which includes media, historians, Hall of Famers and industry experts — and bonus percentage points awarded based on a fan vote. Nominees can remain in contention for three years.
This year’s online fan voting for the player category runs from Wednesday to Oct. 9.
The Hall’s Class of 2023 members — wheelchair star Esther Vergeer and quad division pioneer Rick Draney — were enshrined in July.
Credit : Associated Press (AP) | Photo Credit : (AP)
source/credit: newdelhitimes.com (headline edited)