National
India’s first cable stayed rail bridge
⇒ Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on 29 April 2023 announced that India’s first cable-stayed Anji Khad Bridge is now ready for use. In 11 months, India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge is ready.
About India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge connecting J&K:
- Anji Khad Bridge is the country’s “first cable-stayed bridge” on Indian Railways, connecting Katra and Reasi in Jammu and Kashmir.
- The Anji bridge is part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramula Rail Link Project (USBRL), and is deemed to be one of the most difficult projects undertaken in the Indian subcontinent.
- The Anji Khad Bridge has been designed to handle heavy storms with strong winds. The design wind speed considered is 213 kmph.
- This is India’s first cable-stayed rail bridge, which has 96 cables. The total length of cable strands is 653 km.
- The total length of the bridge is 725 m, consisting of the main bridge with a length of 473.25 metres, an ancillary viaduct of 120 metres in length, an approach bridge of 38 metres on the Katra end, and the central embankment of 94.25 metres in length.
- The bridge is constructed in the Reasi district of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
- The total cost of the entire rain line is Rs 37,000 crore and the bridge is Rs 400 crore.
- This bridge has a single main pylon of 193 metres in height from the top of the foundation, standing at a height of 331 metres above the river bed.
- The work for Detailed Design and Construction Supervision (DDC) of this iconic bridge has been assigned to the Italian company ITALFERR (a company belonging to the Italian State Railways Group “Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane”), and proof checking was assigned to the company COWI, UK. The design has been based on Indy, started by Photo by Eurocodes, where necessary.
- The link will be a breakthrough in connecting Kashmir with the rest of India by train.
- The look of the bridge will remind Mumbaikars of the Bandra Worli Sea Link, which is among the first cable-stayed bridges in the country.
» The project will also comprise the world’s highest railway bridge over the Chenab River. The 1,315-m arch bridge will be taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris and will rise 331 m above the riverbed.
First test launch of new low-cost star sensor successfully conducted
⇒ A new low-cost star sensor developed by astronomers from off-the-shelf components was launched by ISRO on board PSLV C-55. In its first-ever space test, the sensor, which is mounted on the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM), is performing well, and the initial data has now validated its design as well as its function.
» The StarBerrySense payload developed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), was launched on 22 April 2023.
- This novel low-cost sensor designed to quickly calculate where the satellite is pointing is being tested in space for the very first time.
- For any space mission, it is crucial to know where the satellite is being pointed to at any given time. While there are several ways to do this, a star sensor provides the most accurate information about a spacecraft’s orientation.
- The start sensor designed by the Space Payloads Group at IIA is capable of finding its pointing direction in space by identifying the stars in its field of view. This payload is built around the well-known minicomputer RaspberryPi, and the electronics and software were designed in-house.
International
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue in Mauritius
⇒ A 12-feet statue of Maratha warrior-king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was unveiled in Mauritius’s Maharashtra Bhavan on 28 April 2023 to mark the strong bond between the two nations.
- Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth was joined by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and members of the Mauritius Marathi Mandali Federation for the inauguration ceremony.
- The sculpture was created in India by a Delhi-based artist and sent to the island nation in a container ship.
The country has over 75,000 Marathi-speaking population and a Maharashtra Bhavan was built 25 years ago with funding from the Maharashtra government. Recently, the Shinde-Fadnavis government sanctioned an additional ₹8 crore for the second phase of construction.
Sports
Badminton Asia Championships 2023
⇒ The Badminton Asia Championships 2023 was held at the Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Indoor Hall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 25 to 30 April 2023.
- The Badminton Asia Championships 2023 was the 40th edition of the Badminton Asia Championships.
- This tournament was hosted by the UAE Badminton Federation, with the sanction of Badminton Asia.
Indian winners at Badminton Asia Championships 2023:
- The Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy scripted history by winning the men’s doubles crown at the Badminton Asia Championships 2023.
- The sixth-seeded Indian men’s doubles pair won the gold medal after a 16-21, 21-17, 21-19 win over Malaysia’s Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in the final.
- Satwik SaiRaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian Men’s Doubles pair to win the Badminton Asia Championships Title.
Medal Winners of Badminton Asia Championships 2023:
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Men's singles | Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (Indonesia) | Loh Kean Yew (Singapore) | 1. Lu Guangzu (China) 2. Kanta Tsuneyama (Japan) |
| Women's singles | Tai Tzu-ying (Chinese Taipei) | An Se-young (South Korea) | 1. Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) 2. Chen Yufei (China) |
| Men's doubles | Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty (India) | Ong Yew Sin & Teo Ee Yi (Malaysia) | 1. Takuro Hoki & Yugo Kobayashi (Japan) 2. Lee Yang & Wang Chi-lin (Chinese Taipei) |
| Women's doubles | Yuki Fukushima & Sayaka Hirota (Japan) | Baek Ha-na & Lee So-hee (South Korea) | 1. Jongkolphan Kititharakul & Rawinda Prajongjai (Thailand) 2. Mayu Matsumoto & Wakana Nagahara (Japan) |
| Mixed doubles | Jiang Zhenbang & Wei Yaxin (China) | Zheng Siwei & Huang Yaqiong (China) | 1. Goh Soon Huat & Shevon Jemie Lai (Malaysia) 2. Dejan Ferdinansyah & Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja (Indonesia) |
Important Day
63rd Foundation Day of Gujarat and Maharashtra
⇒ The states of Gujarat and Maharashtra commemorated their 63rd Foundation Day on 1st May 2023.
History:
- Gujarat, on the western coast of India, is one of the most prosperous and progressive Indian states. It came into existence in 1960 when it was separated from the State of Bombay. Gujarat is spread over an area of 1,96,024 square kms.
- After India gained independence from British rule in 1947, the Bombay Presidency was formed, which included the present-day states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and parts of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka.
- There was a growing demand for linguistic states in India, and in 1956, the States Reorganisation Act was passed, which paved the way for the formation of states based on linguistic lines.
- In accordance with this Act, the Bombay State was divided into the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Maharashtra became a separate state on May 1, 1960.