NIA’s scope swells

The National Investigative Agency (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, empowering the body to investigate cases not only in India, but also those affecting the “interests of India” abroad. Despite a heated debate over the bill, as Opposition parties raised serious objections to it, it managed to get a nod as the ruling party reigns in the lower house.

The bill proposed to broaden the NIA’s powers enabling it to investigate and prosecute ‘scheduled offences’ (a specific list of offences) and creation of special courts for trial among other things. G Kishan Reddy, minister of state (home affairs), told the House on Monday that NIA has a good track record with 90 per cent convictions.

Reddy said that the special court judges will be appointed by the Chief Justice of India in a bid to fast-track the justice delivery process. “State governments must constitute special courts to tackle terrorism. NIA will investigate cases under the Arms Act, and tackle cyber-terrorism,” he said.

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Exports contract for the first time in nine months

India’s merchandise exports contracted for the first time in nine months in June while imports shrank first time in four months, signalling that rising protectionism and trade tensions between the US and China are impacting India’s trade prospects as well.

Exports in June fell 9.71% to $25.01 billion, while imports dipped 9.06% to $40.29 billion, leaving behind a trade deficit of $15.28 billion during the month. Comparatively, China’s exports in June fell 1.3%, while imports shrank 7.3%, leading to a trade surplus of $50.98 billion, significantly higher than what analysts projected.

During June, petroleum exports declined 33% while non-oil, non-gems and jewellery exports contracted by 4.86%. Among other major items, exports of gems and jewellery (10.7%), ready-made garments (-9.18%), chemicals (-8.17%) and engineering goods (-2.65%) also contracted.

Chandrayaan-2 launch aborted

India postponed its second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, roughly an hour before blast-off after scientists noticed a glitch in the launch vehicle, delaying its bid to become only the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon.

Fifty-six minutes and 24 seconds before the scheduled lift-off at 2.51 am on Monday from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation noticed a snag in the indigenously built GSLV Mark III, India’s most powerful rocke.

The glitch was detected by the rocket’s inbuilt system.

This is the fifth time India’s second lunar mission has been postponed, but the first time it happened after the assembly of the spacecraft was completed at the country’s only launch site at Sriharikota.

No revised launch schedule was released but a former Isro scientist, who worked on the mission, said scientists were racing to plug the leak in time for a new launch window at the end of the month.

If that window is missed, the next opportunity for launch will come in September, which will necessitate changing the spacecraft’s orbit. This will require more fuel and likely drive up costs of the mission.

All senior Isro officials, including chairperson K Sivan, are investigating what went wrong, but no scientist has been allowed near the rocket because it is still filled with fuel.

The 3,850 kg Chandrayaan-2 consists of an orbiter that will circle the moon for about a year, taking images and testing the atmosphere; a lander named Vikram, after Vikram Sarabhai, known as the father of India’s space exploration; and a rover named Pragyaan, which was scheduled to soft-land between two lunar craters on the south pole of the moon on September 6.

It was to spend 14 days studying the topography, seismography and chemical and mineral composition of lunar rocks and look for water deposits — confirmed by India’s first lunar mission in 2008, Chandrayaan-1, which didn’t land on the moon.

Chandrayaan-2 will follow Chang’e-4, launched by China, which in January became the first spacecraft to successfully land on the far side of the moon. Only three countries — the United States, the erstwhile Soviet Union, and China — have successfully landed missions on the moon.

Floods in Assam inundate 28 of 33 districts

As the second wave of floods in Assam worsened by the day, with 12 lakh more people getting affected and four more deaths being reported over 24 hours, the Army was pressed into rescue operations and asked to remain on standby on Sunday.

The National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force have been engaged to rescue 7,833 people in 11 districts. As many as 800 people were rescued on Sunday. Death toll rose to 11 as bodies of four more people were retrieved on Sunday.

According to a state disaster management authority report, over 26 lakh people have been affected in 28 districts, leaving just five districts unaffected in the state. Meanwhile, 90% of Kaziranga’s 430-sqkm area has gone under water.

Floods have marooned over 5,000 people in Tripura where incessant rain over the last two days washed a person away and forced the administration to move people to around 25 relief camps.

All set for Chandrayaan 2

More than a decade after Chandrayaan-1, and at a time of renewed global interest in lunar science, India will start its second trip to the Moon from the Sriharikota spaceport at 2.51 am on Monday.

While a successful mission will mark multiple firsts for India, the attempt is seen as the country’s next step in the international space race as it vies to rub shoulders with giants like the United States, Russia and China.

In the 10 years between Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2, China has landed on the Moon multiple times, the latest being ‘Chang’e 4’ that touched down on the far side of the Moon in January, a first for any country.

While keeping its eyes firmly on Mars, Nasa is also working on the Artemis programme that may use GPS while orbiting the Moon before putting humans there again. Isro missed multiple launch windows in 2018 and one in January 2019, which would have made it the first to soft-land on Moon’s south polar region. Chandrayaan-2 will ride aboard a GSLV-MkIII.

The actual achievements will come 52 days later, when it lands on the lunar surface. The Rs.978-crore mission involves an orbiter around the Moon, a lander (Vikram) and a rover (Pragyan).

Its success, Isro chairman K Sivan says, will make India the fourth nation to land a probe on Moon. Most of Nasa landings were in the equatorial region, while Chang’e 4 landed near the south polewhere India boldly goes now.

Discovery of water molecules by an instrument carried by Chandrayaan-1 has given a boost to hopes of finding water in a more thorough manner in the second mission.

Chandrayaan-2, a project cleared in September 2008 by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will also try to understand the history of early solar system, and learn secrets of Earth’s formation.

Inflation inches up, industrial growth dips

Rising for the eighth month in a row, retail inflation climbed to 3.2% in June though remaining well within the RBI’s comfort zone, leaving scope for a rate cut by the central bank to boost industrial production which has yet to gain traction.

Factory output growth based on Index of Industrial Production slipped to 3.1% in May as against 4.3% in the previous month, mainly on account of subdued performance of mining and manufacturing sectors.

Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index inched up to 3.2% in June, from 3.1% in May, primarily due to firming prices in the food basket.

However, the data revealed that inflation in vegetables and fruits segments eased over the previous month.