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Rakhi fest: Free travel for women in CTU buses

The Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) has announced free travel for women on Raksha Bandhan, which falls on August 30. The service is applicable on all regular CTU bus routes within the city limits. The free service will be available during the standard operating hours of CTU buses on the aforementioned date. The facility will not be applicable on long-route CTU buses. This initiative is a token of the CTU's appreciation for the integral role women play in society and a gesture of gratitude for the community's continued support, says a press release.

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GoFirst Settles Dues Of Deutsche Bank

GoFirst has settled out of court the loans it owes to Deutsche Bank. Consequently, the German bank has told the airline’s committee of creditors that it intends to withdraw from the group. Although Deutsche Bank confirmed the settlement, it did not disclose the terms. The bank’s claims against the airline stood at INR13.65 billion Indian rupees (USD164.1 million) in June, although at the time, Go First’s resolution professional was yet to verify that claim. However, reports say the bank provided loans worth USD300 million to Go First’s owners, the Wadia Group, over 2021 – 22. A portion of that funding, USD190 million, was used to create fixed deposits which, in turn, was used as security to help finance Go First, reports Economic Times. The bank’s claims against Go First, which were unsecured, included INR8.55 billion (USD102.8 million) lent by Deutsche Bank India and INR5.1 billion (USD61.3 million) lent by DB International Asia and the India-based Catalyst Trusteeship. The Economic Times says that of the INR246.41 billion (USD3 billion) in claims filed against Go First, the resolution professional, India’s equivalent of an insolvency administrator, has only verified claims worth INR51.17 billion (USD615.3 million). While Deutsche Bank may be exiting the Go First insolvency process, a raft of other creditors remain, including three major Indian banks that have claims worth INR37.524 billion (USD451.2 million) verified so far. They include the Bank of Baroda with verified claims of INR17.44 billion (USD210 million), the Central Bank of India with verified claims of INR19.24 billion (USD231.4 million), and the IDBI Bank with verified claims of INR740 million (USD8.9 million). These banks have supported Go First’s planned restart and indicated an in-principle willingness to provide loans up to INR4 billion (USD48.1 million) to finance the airline’s relaunch and short-term costs. However, so far, funding has yet to be provided as the banks grapple with internal rules governing the provision of loans to distressed entities, and uncertainty remains over the ability of a relaunched Go First to retain any of its aircraft.

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Delhi over the moon as Chandrayaan-3 lands

NEW DELHI: "Kal tak ham chand ko dharti se dekhte the... Aaj ham chand par pahunch gaye. Feeling so proud at being an Indian," exulted Class VII student Vansh Kumar at the Nehru Planetarium, where he and his parents watched the Vikram lander descending on the moon's surface. Like the boy from Janakpuri, many others, old and young, experienced the euphoric moment and were moved to raise slogans of "Bharat Mata ki jai" and "Vande Matram". As the clock ticked the people waited with bated breaths and beating hearts and applauded each successful manoeuvre with loud claps and waving of the national flag. Rajeev Khanna, a 74-year-old businessman who lives in Defence Colony, was flush with joy. "I could have watched the event at home peacefully, but I wanted to cheer with the crowd and be part of this proud moment with others," he said. His wife, Reena Khanna, 68, similarly said it was the right occasion to jointly celebrate the historic moment and gushed, "Saare jahan se acha Hindustan hamara." Anjana Singh who had come from Delhi Cantonment cheered loudly when Vikram alighted safely. "It is such a great feeling to know that we landed our own spacecraft on the moon. I wanted to share my happiness with everyone and capture this moment on my phone," she said. A placard with the words "Duniya ne dekha India ka dum. Chanda mama ke ghar pahuche ham (The world has seenIndia's prowess in reaching Chanda mama's home)" summed up student Sandipni Misra's happiness. She beamed, "Everyone is talking about the success of our nation and the hard work of our scientists." As ecstatic was senior citizen SK Jha, who was there with his wife, Kastoorba. "I wanted to be a part of the excitement and happiness of my fellow citizens. That is why I came here ignoring the rain. I was certain the landing would succeed," he said. He also made a few drawings with the inspiring words of We Shall Overcome modified in Hindi - "Ham honge kamyab aaj ke din/ Ham chalenge sath sath aaj ke din/ Chandrayaan 3 aaj hi pahuchenge hame pura hai vishwas" - adorning the sketches. Nehru Planetarium officiating director Anurag Arora recalled the crowd growing from a paltry number due to the rain to full capacity by the evening. "We gave information about the moon and the history of moon missions, including the American Apollo and Russian Luna, to the audience," Arora said. "This was followed by details of India's efforts, starting with Chandrayaan 1.

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G20 Meet: Delhiites may face travel curbs

Stringent security measures will be put in place across Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) during the G20 summit on September 9-10 for seamless movement of 30 leaders, including invitees and their entourages, according to people aware of the matter. The movement of residents of Delhi-NCR could be restricted for three days, from September 8-10, they said, as most of the invitees will arrive in Delhi on September 8 and depart either on September 10 evening or September 11, the people said. While September 9-10 is a weekend, September 8 might be declared a holiday in New Delhi owing to the security arrangements for the event, according to those in the know. Special arrangements are being made for movement of the media covering the G20 summit, they said. More than 20 hotels in the capital have been booked for the visiting leaders - Saudi Arabia, US and China are expected to send big delegations to the event. The summit venue - International Exhibition Cum Convention Centre at Pragati Maidan - will have a rest area for the delegates and a facility for live screening of the meetings. Bilateral meeting rooms have also been set up. The conference centre is spread over 53,399 square metres and has the capacity to seat 7,000 people in its multi-purpose and plenary halls combined. It is larger than the iconic Sydney Opera House, which can hold around 5,900.

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India Travel Security Top of Mind for Government

The Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Mr. M. R. Synrem, said today while highlighting the importance of India’s G20 Presidency that the India travel and tourism sector is providing an unparalleled opportunity to highlight India’s tourism offerings and success stories on the global stage. Speaking on the initiatives of the government, Mr. Synrem said that the Ministry is developing platforms for personalization and traveler engagement. “Today, digital technology allows us to collect and analyze data to create [a] personalized experience. The Ministry will soon introduce several new initiatives with the existing helpline number “1363” to address safety and security concerns of … travelers. We are working towards digitalization in the travel and tourism industry,” he noted. This service is available 365 days in a year with its multilingual help desk. The objective of this helpline is to provide information relating to travel and tourism in India to the domestic and international tourists. The helpline also advises callers during times of distress, if any, while travelling in India and alerts the concerned authorities, if required. This is a unique endeavor by the Government of India which gives foreign tourists a sense of safety and security during their travel in India. Addressing FICCI’s 5th Digital Travel, Hospitality & Innovation Summit 2023, Mr. Synrem stated that the Ministry of Tourism is working on key identified priority areas with major focus on digitalization. “The National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry (NIDHI) is one of the initiatives of the ministry towards Atmanirbhar Bharat using technology to empower our businesses. NIDHI is not just a database but poised to become a major gateway to opportunities in the hospitality industry,” he stated, adding, “The Tourism Track meetings under the G20 focused on key areas like sustainable development, digitalization, and promotion of inclusive growth.” A 24/7 toll-free Tourist Helpline number 1-800-11-1363 or on a Short Code: of 1363 is supported in several languages, including English, Hindi, Arabic, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (Chinese), Portuguese, and Russian.

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Rover Pragyan takes a walk on moon: 'Made in India, made for moon'

Rover Pragyan has ramped down from Vikram lander and has taken a walk on the moon, the Isro tweeted in the first development of Chandrayaan 3 after the successful and historic soft launch on the south pole of the moon. "Made in India, Made for the Moon, The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!" Isro tweeted. After the successful landing at 6.04pm on Wednesday, Chandrayaan 3 waited for the lunar dust to settle down. The process of Pragyan rover -- which was attached to the belly of Vikram lander -- rolling out started and it came out. The first picture of Pragyan coming out of Vikram has been shared by Pawan K Goenka, the chairman of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre. Will Chandrayaan 3 return to earth? What will Vikram, Pragyan do after 14 days? Chandrayaan 3 moon landing: What happened in last 12 hours At 6.04pm, Chandrayaan 3 soft-landed on the south pole of the moon. It chose a flat region on the lunar surface for the landing. It sent a photo of the landing site captured by the landing imager camera. The communication link was established between Chandrayaan 3 lander and MOX-ISTRAC Bengaluru. The lander took some photos of the landing during the descent which it sent to earth. Then the process of rover Pragyan rolling out of the lander started.The first photo of the rover rolling out of Vikram was sent to earth.Now, Pragyan ramped down and took a walk. What is Pragyan rover? What will it do on the moon now? Pragyan rover will now carry out a series of experiments on the lunar surface for the next 14 days and send those data to the lander. It weighs 26kg and has two payloads. One will analyse the chemical composition of the lunar surface, another will determine the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks around the landing site.

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