Daily Bulletin: Chandrayaan 2 set to land on moon after midnight; finance ministry to meet heads of CPSEs today; day's top stories

Chandrayaan 2: Vikram module set for final descent for soft landing on Moon on 7 September Chandrayaan-2's landing module 'Vikram' will begin its final descent to pull off a historic soft landing on the lunar surface on Friday night, as the Indian Space Research Organisation awaits with bated breath for the “terrifying moment.” [caption id=“attachment_4414641” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  GSLV launch. ISRO.[/caption] A successful landing will make India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to achieve a soft landing on the moon. But it will be the first to launch a mission to the unexplored lunar south pole. Joined by about 60-70 high school students from across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present at the ISRO centre in Bengaluru to witness live the space feat, according to officials. ‘Vikram’ with rover ‘Pragyaan’ housed inside is scheduled for a powered-descent between 1 am and 2 am on 7 September, followed by its touchdown between 1.30 am and 2.30 am. The lander is now in an orbit that would be about 35 km from the lunar surface at its nearest point from where it will begin its final descent. ISRO has said Chandrayaan-2 will attempt to soft-land the lander and rover in a high plain between two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, at a latitude of about 70 south. ISRO Chairman K Sivan said the proposed soft landing on the Moon was going to be a “terrifying” moment as the ISROhas not done it before, whereas Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) manoeuvre was successfully carried out during the Chandrayaan-1mission. Explaining the landing manoeuvres, Sivan had said once the manoeuvre starts from about 30 km to land on the surface of the moon, it will take 15 minutes. “This 15 minutes travel of lander is new to ISRO. It is for the first time we are going to another body where there is no atmosphere and using the propulsion system we will have to break the velocity and bring the vehicle safely to soft-land. To achieve this we will have to balance between the gravity and thrust. So we have to modulate the thrust of the engine,” he had said. Following the landing, the rover ‘Pragyaan’ will roll out from ‘Vikram’ between 5.30 am and 6.30 am. While, the ‘Pragyaan’ will carry out experiments on the lunar surface for a period of one lunar day, which is equal to 14 earth days, the main orbiter will continue its mission for a year. Finance ministry to meet heads of CPSEs today for capital expenditure push To revive the sagging economy, the Finance Ministry will hold a meeting with heads of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) on Friday to impress upon them the need to expedite capital expenditure. The government has a capital expenditure plan of Rs 3.3 lakh crore during the current financial year. These include expenditure by the Ministry of Railways and Road Transport. Besides, various CPSEs have earmarked funds for expansion and capacity enhancement. According to official sources, the finance ministry will review the progress made by various CPSEs with regard to their capital expenditure envisaged for the current fiscal. Since the investment from the private sector is not forthcoming, the sources said the government and CPSEs are the biggest spenders that play a major role in boosting liquidity and demand. The meeting, to be chaired by Expenditure Secretary GC Murmu, will also review pending payment issues, the sources said. This is going to be part of the series of meetings being held at the finance ministry to find ways to reinvigorate the sagging economy, which hit over 6-year low of 5 percent during the first quarter of the current financial year. BJP to oppose resolution against NRC in West Bengal Legislative Assembly today BJP is expected to oppose the resolution against National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam to be brought by ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition Congress and Left Front jointly in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Friday. The BJP leader hit out at TMC, the saffron party’s most caustic opponent, for behaving “like anti-nationals” by opposing the National Register of Citizens in Assam. “The entire exercise on NRC in Assam was done as per orders of the Supreme Court. BJP had nothing to do with it except that it supported the exercise which was executed to drive out infiltrators from Assam. It was in the national interest, but TMC is opposing it just to appease its minority vote bank,” BJP state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said. The intention of bringing the resolution is to malign BJP. “We will oppose the resolution tooth and nail in the floor of the assembly. We don’t have the numbers but we will register our protest. Both Mamata Banerjee and the Congress has forgotten their past - that they had opposed illegal Bangladeshi infiltration,” he said. BJP has only six MLAs in the 294-member House, far behind 211 held by TMC. The rest of the seats are held by the Left parties and the Congress. Assam is the only state in the country to have the updated NRC, which is a validation of Indian citizenship in the north-eastern state. The NRC is a register maintained by the government of India containing names and certain relevant information for identification of all genuine Indian citizens. The register was first prepared after the 1951 Census of India. BJP legislative party leader Manoj Tigga said his party will oppose the resolution. “The NRC has been published keeping in mind national security to drive out infiltrators. If the TMC, Congress and Left Front are opposing it then they are working against the interests of the country,” he added. India lose 1-2 to Oman in opening 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier Sunil Chhetri gave India the lead in their opening 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Guwahati but two second half goals from Rabia Alawi Al Mandhar denied Igor Stimac’s men the win. Oman scored in the 82nd and 89th minute to seal the win and break India hearts. Huawei press conferences to happen today at IFA 2019 The Chinese giant has said that it will be business as usual at IFA today, even though there’s a big cloud looming over its future thanks to the US blacklist on companies working with Huawei. Like last year, the company will be unveiling its latest flagship chipset which is touted to be called the Kirin 990 and it should be available either in the Mate 30-series or the P40-series expected next year. Tom Holland says the future of Spider-Man is safe in Sony Pictures’ hands Tom Holland said he is thankful to Sony Pictures for the opportunity to play Spider-Man onscreen, adding that the superhero’s future is in safe hands. “Sony has also been really good to me, and the global success of Spider-Man: Far From Home is a real testament to their support, skill, and commitment. The legacy and future of Spidey rests in Sony’s safe hands,” said the actor. Spider-Man exited the Marvel Cinematic Universe following the end of the movie rights sharing deal between Sony and Marvel.