Chandrayaan-3 touchdown point to be known as "Shiva Shakti Point": PM Modi
Bengaluru (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew down to Bengaluru on Saturday directly from the Greek capital of Athens to interact with ISRO scientists on the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission and announced the decision to name the place where lander 'Vikram' touched down on the lunar surface as "Shiva Shakti Point".
Terming the success of Chandrayaan-3 mission as an 'extraordinary moment' in the history of India's India's space programme, he said the place where the Chandrayaan-2 lander crash-landed on the Moon's surface in 2019 would be known as "Tiranga Point".
August 23, the day the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the lunar surface, would be celebrated as "National Space Day", said the Prime Minister, who turned emotional while addressing the team ISRO at ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) here, as he lavishly praised them for their dedication and passion .
ISRO Chairman S Somanath briefed him about the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
A large number of people, many of them holding aloft national flags, gathered outside the HAL Airport and Jalahalli Cross, which is close to ISTRAC, to greet the Prime Minister.
On Wednesday evening as the Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully touched down on the lunar surface, Modi had joined the ISRO team at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISTRAC virtually from Johannesburg, where he was attending the 15th BRICS summit.
Modi had also flown down to Bengaluru on the night of September 6, 2019 to watch the planned touch down of Chandrayaan-2 mission's 'Vikram' lander.
But in the early hours of September seven, barely minutes before it was slated to land, ISRO lost contact with the craft, just 2.1 kms above the lunar surface.
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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses EC of ‘bias’, defends state guarantee schemes ahead of bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused the EC of "double standards" and "bias" after it sought details on the state’s guarantee schemes in Davanagere and Bagalkot districts, where bypolls are scheduled for Thursday.
In a post on 'X' on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said the Election Commission of India had asked the Karnataka government for information on fund releases under five ongoing guarantee schemes in the constituencies going to polls.
The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, respectively.
The schemes are Gruha Jyothi, which provides 200 units of free electricity to every household; Gruha Lakshmi, offering Rs 2,000 to women heading families; and Anna Bhagya, supplying 10 kg of rice per month to each member of BPL families.
In addition, Yuva Nidhi grants Rs 3,000 to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders aged 18–25 for two years, while Shakti enables women to travel free of charge within Karnataka on government non-luxury buses.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the ECI had remained silent when similar cash transfer schemes were announced in Maharashtra and Bihar ahead of elections, calling the scrutiny of Karnataka’s schemes a "clear case of bias".
"In states like Maharashtra and Bihar, cash transfer schemes were announced or fast-tracked just before elections, directly benefiting voters. Yet the ECI remained silent. This is not neutrality—it is complicity," he said.
The CM accused the BJP and NDA governments of "a double standard", noting that when they act, the ECI "looks the other way", but when Karnataka fulfils its promises, it faces "intense scrutiny".
He added that targeting the state’s guarantee schemes is "not just political but anti-poor, anti-women, and anti-Karnataka."
Siddaramaiah clarified that these schemes were not launched in connection with the bypolls but are ongoing programmes implemented as part of the Congress government’s commitments from the 2023 Assembly elections.
Funds are transferred regularly to beneficiaries in a transparent and structured manner, he added.
"The guarantees are part of governance—a direct investment in human dignity, household stability, and economic participation, not inducement," he said.
He also accused the BJP of "hypocrisy", saying that while it criticises Karnataka’s schemes as "freebies", it rolls out similar programmes in states it governs.
"The Karnataka model has set a benchmark for the country. What is deeply concerning, however, is the ECI’s selective approach," Siddaramaiah added.
