PM Modi betrayed Karnataka: Moily
Udupi, May 4: Former chief minister and Congress Manifesto Drafting Committee chairman M Veerappa Moily said that instead of investing Rs 56,000 crore in HAL Company of Bengaluru to manufacture Rafale fighter jets as per the agreement between India and France during UPA period, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has scrapped the deal in order to help private corporate companies and thus betrayed Karnataka.
Speaking to reporters here on Friday evening, Moily said that though Modi had toured in the coastal region during last Assembly election, the Congress had managed to win seven seats out of eight in Dakshina Kannada and three out of five in Udupi. This time, the Congress would sweep all the 13 seats, he exuded confidence.
Dalits of the country have turned against the central government and in the same way, women have also been opposing the Modi government. Though the police have arrested rape accused BJP MLA in Uttar Pradesh, the party has not yet suspended him from the party. It is ridiculous that the minister of Jammu and Kashmir who supported the rape accused of Kathua incident was given promotion and thus, both the Prime Minister and the Central government have lost their credibility, he said.
BJP is on the declining path and it would be clear after May 12. Same thing will happen in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh elections. Rahul Gandhi would come to power in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he said.
On BJP manifesto, Moily said it was a copy of Congress manifesto, because it has no credibility. There is a drought for new programmes in that manifesto. Assurance of waiving of farmers loans upto Rs 1 lakh is another cheating strategy of BJP. Because, when the BJP was in power, then CM Yeddyurappa himself had said that he cannot mint the money, he said.
During Modi’s tenure, more than Rs 95000 crore was looted from the banks and the NPA which was just 2 per cent during UPA period was jumped to 10 per cent now, he said.
Rajya Sabha Member and AICC leader Oscar Fernandes, leaders Dominik P, Janardhan Tonse, Gopal Bhandari, Dinesh Putran, BA Bava, MA Gafur and others were present.
Siddu is Pulikeshi-2
When asked as to why Siddaramaiah is contesting from two constituencies despite having confidence of winning the election, Moily said that it was not the decision of Siddaramaiah. It was a decision of the party and there is a historic importance for that decision, he said.
Drawing inference from history, Moily said that Pulikeshi-II of Chalukya dynasty had made Badami as their kingdom. During that period, when King Harshavardhana of Uttar Bharat had tried to cross Narmada River, Pulikeshi-II had defeated him and chased. In the same way, Siddaramaiah who is contesting from Badami, would check Modi’s invasion into the South, he said.
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Gopi Thotakura becomes 1st Indian space tourist on Blue Origin's private astronaut launch
Washington, May 19: Gopi Thotakura, an entrepreneur and a pilot, on Sunday became the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin’s NS-25 mission.
Thotakura was selected as one of the six crew members for the NS-25 mission, making him the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to venture into space after the Indian Army's Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
Blue Origin's seventh human flight, NS-25, lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Sunday morning, the company announced on social media.
This mission was the seventh human flight for the New Shepard programme and the 25th in its history. To date, the programme has flown 31 humans above the Karman line, the proposed conventional boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin.
According to Blue Origin, "Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive."
He co-founded Preserve Life Corp, a global centre for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
In addition to flying jets commercially, he pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot.
A lifelong traveller, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Andhra Pradesh-born Thotakura is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Other crew members of the flight include Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, who was selected by President John F Kennedy in 1961 as the nation's first Black astronaut candidate but was never granted the opportunity to fly to space.
The rocket booster landed safely a couple minutes prior to the capsule, CNN reported.
During the mission, the crew soared to more than three times the speed of sound. The rocket vaulted the capsule past the Kármán line, an area 100 kilometers above Earth’s surface that is widely recognized as the altitude at which outer space begins — but there’s a lot of gray area, the channel said.
At the peak of the flight, passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness and striking views of Earth through the cabin windows, it added.
During the flight, each astronaut carried a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future.
This programme gives students access to space on Blue Origin’s rockets, including an all-digital method to create and send postcards. The Club’s mission is to inspire and mobilise future generations to pursue careers in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) for the benefit of Earth.
From an environmental standpoint, nearly 99 per cent of New Shepard’s dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engine, landing gear, and parachutes.
New Shepard’s engine is fuelled by highly efficient liquid oxygen and hydrogen. During the flight, the only byproduct is water vapour with no carbon emissions, the company earlier said.
Blue Origin released the NS-25 mission patch. A few of the symbols embedded include: The Gemini spacecraft represents Dwight’s aerospace training era. The hand lifting of the crew capsule is a nod to his extensive artwork.
The sunrise represents Angel and Schaller’s desire to experience the overview effect. The mountains symbolise Schaller, Thotakura, and Chiron’s passion for climbing and skiing.
Jeff Bezos’ space company had paused its suborbital tourism programme following a liftoff malfunction of the New Shepard rocket. In September 2022, an uncrewed flight of New Shepard ended in flames around a minute after liftoff.
