National Scholarship Portal Mobile App launched
New Delhi, Sep 13 : Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday launched the country's first National Scholarship Portal mobile app here that would make the government welfare schemes more accessible to needy students.
Naqvi said that the app will ensure a "smooth, accessible and hassle-free scholarship system for students from poor and weaker sections".
Naqvi said the students will get all the information regarding various scholarships on this mobile app. They will be able to apply for scholarships through the app. The students can also upload necessary documents on this app, can check the status of their application and scholarship disbursement status etc.
Students from far-flung/hilly areas and from the North-East will benefit the most.
He said that all the scholarships are being given directly into the bank accounts of the needy students under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode through the National Scholarship Portal which has ensured that there is no scope for duplication and leakage.
The Minister pointed out that the Ministry of Minority Affairs has gone "completely online", which has eliminated middlemen and the benefits of every scheme are reaching directly to the needy without any obstacle.
The Minister said that during the last four years, about three crore students belonging to the poor and weaker sections of minorities have benefited from various scholarship programmes. The beneficiaries include about 1.63 crore girls.
He added that the school dropout rate among Muslim girls, which was earlier more than 70 per cent, has now been reduced to about 35-40 per cent due to awareness and educational empowerment programmes of the Modi government.
"Our goal is to bring it down to zero per cent. A transparent and hassle-free scholarship system has helped in this endeavour and the new mobile app will help strengthen this transparent mechanism," Naqvi said.
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ISRO successfully conducts second integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi (PTI): Space agency ISRO has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at the space station in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
The system is essential to ensure a safe recovery of the crew module -- the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight -- during re-entry and landing.
Union minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully conducting the test.
"Congratulations #ISRO for the successful accomplishment of Second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) for #Gaganyaan, India's first Human Space flight scheduled next year. The second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) was successfully conducted at Satish Dhawan Space Station Sriharikota," Singh said in a post on X.
The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft's return to Earth. An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open and the spacecraft's orientation and safety during splashdown etc.
In the IADT-02 test, a simulated crew module, weighing about 5.7 tonnes, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about three kilometres and released over a designated drop zone in the sea, near the Sriharikota coast.
In a statement, the ISRO said, "Ten parachutes of four types were deployed in a precise sequence during the descent of the crew module, gradually reducing the velocity for safe touchdown. Subsequently, the simulated crew module was successfully recovered in coordination with the Indian Navy."
