New software to assess coal resources

The three-day long 28th edition of Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise SIMBEX concluded on Saturday. The Indian Navy was represented by Guided Missile Destroyer INS Ranvijay with a ship borne helicopter, ASW Corvette INS Kiltan and Guided Missile Corvette INS Kora and one P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft.Participants from the Republic of Singapore Navy included one Formidable Class Frigate, RSS Steadfast, embarked with an S-70B naval helicopter, one Victory Class Missile Corvette, RSS Vigour, one Archer Class Submarine and one Fokker-50 Maritime Patrol Aircraft. Four F-16 fighter aircraft of the Republic of Singapore Air Force also participated in the exercise during the Air Defence Drills.Initiated in 1994, SIMBEX is the Indian Navy’s longest uninterrupted bilateral maritime exercise with any foreign navy. Sustaining the continuity of this significant engagement despite the challenges of the ongoing pandemic further underscores the strength of bilateral defence ties between both countries.

-Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi and submitted a representation urging him to give approval for the IPS cadre review in the state. In the letter submitted to the Union Home Minister, the Chief Minister said, the State government reorganized the then existing 10 districts into 31 districts for administrative convenience and for efficient delivery of services to the people. On account of this, he urged the Home Minister to increase the total IPS cadre strength in the State from 139 to 195. He also urged the Home Minister to treat it as a special case and grant approval. It may be recalled that the Chief Minister called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and submitted representation on 10 issues including IPS cadre review.

-Mumbai has become the first district to complete one crore vaccinations against Covid-19, according to the data published on CoWin portal. A total of 1,00,60,411 crore vaccine doses have been administered as on Friday, covering 78% of the adult population with at least one shot. Mumbai has an estimated adult population of 93.48 lakh people, of which 44,88,645 have got one dose and 27,85,883 got both. Over 43 lakh doses have been administered in the private sector, giving the city an advantage over other districts. Around 97% senior citizens have been covered with at least one dose, while 89% people aged 45-59 have got one shot. Among metros too, Mumbai is the second to hit one crore vaccinations after Delhi.The Mumbai Municipal Corporation administration said that till date, it has given 88 lakh 7 thousand 945 covishild vaccines. 8 lakh 6 thousand 189 vaccines of Covaxin and 30 thousand 632 vaccines of Sputnik. According to Mumbai civic body, an estimated 2.5 lakh people are awaiting their second dose in the city.

-Two person were charred to death and five others were injured, some of them seriously, in an explosion and fire at Jakharia Fabric Ltd, a textile factory in Tarapur industrial area of Maharashtra’s Palghar district early on Saturday morning. Palghar district Disaster Management Cell chief Vivekanand Kadam said that the incident occurred around 6 am. He said that the sound of the explosion was so loud that it was heard four to five kilometers away. He added that the explosion triggered a major fire at the unit located in Tarapur MIDC, Boisar. According to Kadam, the two deceased workers were identified while the injured were admitted to a local hospital.The fire brigade personnel and police rushed to the spot on being alerted and launched a rescue operation. Soon the blaze was brought under control and while the cooling operation is currently underway.

-Coal India Limited under the Ministry of Coal has launched a new software named Spectral Enhancement SPE which will help in identifying thin coal seams under the earth crust and improve assessment of coal resources using seismic survey during coal exploration process. The launch of SPE software assumes significance as the present seismic survey techniques for coal resource exploration have limitations in identifying the thin coal seams under the earth, which will now be possible as this new software helps in enhancing resolution of seismic signals leading to delineation of thinnest coal seams.Coal India Limited’s research and development arm Central Mine Planning and Design Institute has developed this first of its kind software in association with Gujrat Energy Research and Management Institute and the company will also file for its copyright protection. The Made in India software will also help to save time and cost of coal exploration and thus boost the mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat in coal production.

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