New Delhi, Sep 23 : The government is planning to spend around Rs.33,000 crore in the next three years on its broadband projects, Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg said here Tuesday.The projects are National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN) and Government Users Network (GUN)."Government will spend Rs.33,000 crore in the next three years in these projects," Garg said.
He was speaking at the 10th national summit on "E-governance & Digital India: Minimum Government, Maximum Governance", organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
The government has already approved Rs.21,000 crore for the NOFN programme that aims to connect 2.5 lakh gram panchayats by 2017 through broadband connectivity.
London, :-Arctic Sea ice removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and if Arctic Sea ice is reduced further, we will face an increase in atmospheric concentration of CO2, says a study.Because of global warming, more and more parts of Arctic Sea ice melt in the summer and when these freeze over in the winter, the ice is thinner.As the Arctic summers get warmer, we may see an acceleration in global warming as reduced sea ice in the Arctic will remove less CO2 from the atmosphere, the researchers said.
"If our results are representative, then sea ice plays a greater role than expected, and we should take this into account in future global CO2 budgets," said Dorte Haubjerg Soegaard from Nordic Center for Earth Evolution, University of Southern Denmark.
It was known for long that the Earth's oceans could absorb huge amounts of CO2 and it was thought that ocean areas covered by ice were not capable of such absorption given their impenetrable nature.
"However, this is not true. New research shows that sea ice in the Arctic draws large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere into the ocean," Haubjerg Soegaard added.
The chemical processes in sea level have a deeper impact on the ability to remove CO2 than biological processes, showed researchers.
"In summer, when the sea ice melts, calcium carbonate dissolves, and CO2 is needed for this process. Thus, CO2 gets drawn from the atmosphere into the ocean - and therefore CO2 gets removed from the atmosphere," Haubjerg Soegaard explained.
Frost flowers, flower-like ice formations formed on the surface of newly formed sea ice, in the winter hold extremely high concentrations of calcium carbonate, which can have a further significant impact on the potential CO2 uptake in the Arctic, found Dorte Haubjerg Soegaard.
CHENNAI, Sep 24 (AGENCY) The success of the Mars mission “underscores the country's technological capability in the space sector", said a senior nuclear scientist Wednesday.
India Wednesday made history by becoming the first country in the world to enter the Martian orbit in its maiden attempt.
"The nation must celebrate this achievement. The success of this Mars mission just underscores the country's technological capability in the space sector," Anil Kakodkar, former chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and now a member, told IANS.
However, he does not considers that India's success in the space sector will add pressure on the country's nuclear establishment in delivering as per promises made.
"There is no competition between the two sectors (space and atomic energy). And there is no pressure on the atomic power sector owing to the success achieved by the Indian space scientists," Kakodkar said.
According to him, the Indian atomic energy establishment is achieving success in its own sphere of activity.
"The 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) is around the corner. It will demonstrate the huge technological feat of India in the nuclear power sector. There is also good progress in the advanced heavy water reactor project," he said.
The indigenously designed PFBR is expected to go on stream next year at Kalpakkam near here.
According to him, addition of nuclear power generation capacity through international collaboration would happen once the foreign suppliers understand the Indian law on nuclear liability issue.
However, suspense still continues about the starting power generation on commercial basis at the first 1,000 MW unit at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP).
India's atomic power plant operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) is setting up two 1,000 MW Russian reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, 650 km from here. The total outlay for the project is over Rs.17,000 crore.
The KNPP is India's first pressurised water reactor belonging to the light water reactor category.
The first unit attained criticality July 2013, which is the beginning of the fission process.
Mumbai, Sep 24 : A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday was trading 50.47 points or 0.19 percent up as healthcare stocks gained.
Good buying was observed in healthcare, consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors, while selling pressure was seen in auto sector.The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,817.94 points, was trading at 26,826.16 points (at 09.37 a.m.) in the early session, up 50.47 points or 0.19 percent from the previous day's close at 26,775.69 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 26,844.70 points and a low of 26,741.38 points in the trade so far.
The S&P healthcare index gained 124.01 points, consumer durables index 79.47 points and FMCG index moved up by 60.98 points. However, auto index was down by 17.25 points.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading 8.90 points or 0.11 percent up at 8,026.45 points.
