The Evening Wrap: India becomes first country to land near Moon's south pole

India has become the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon as the Chandrayaan-3’s lander module with the Rover in its belly successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface on August 23. Precisely at 6.03 p.m. the lander touched the lunar surface and there was euphoric celebrations at the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru as India joined an elite list of countries like the US, Russia and China to achieve this feat. By achieving this feat India has also become the first nation to touch down on the polar region of the Moon. We have achieved soft landing on the moon, India is on the moon, the ISRO Chairman said. The successful landing on Wednesday has erased the painful memories of failure of the Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander in 2019. During the descent the Vikram lander gave up at an altitude of 2.1 km before touchdown and crashed on the lunar surface. It subsequently lost communication with the ground stations. However, this time everything went as per plan. At around 5.44pm, the powered descent of the lander module was initiated and 19 minutes later at 6.04 pm the lander made a safe and soft landing on the Moon. Following the successful landing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation, saying “We have reached where no one has reached in the past. This success is not India’s alone. This success belongs to all of humanity, it will help moon missions of other countries in the future.” India’s solar mission Aditya L1 to be launched soon, mission to Venus also on cards, Modi said. In a few hours from now the Lander will deploy the Rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility. The Lander and the Rover with a mission life of one Lunar day (14 Earth days) have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface. The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous lander module, propulsion module and a Rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for Inter planetary missions. The mission objectives of the mission is to demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface, to demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and conduct in-situ scientific experiments. The soft-landing took place days after Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after spinning out of control. Article 370 hearing: ‘Centre has no intention to touch special provisions applicable to Northeast’ As a five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud continued its hearing on several petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on August 23 submitted on specific instructions of the Union that the “Union Government has no intention to affect any of the special provisions applicable to Northeast or any part of India”. Advocate Manish Tewari, appearing for an intervenor, during the hearing, submitted, “The underlying principle of autonomy under Article 370 and Article 371 is more or less the same. So therefore, what your lordships will hold in this matter, will have implications on Article 371.” He said, “Even a slight apprehension in the periphery of India can have serious implications.” Article 371 accords special provisions to several States, including those in the north-eastern region. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected to the submission and said that there were no such apprehensions and the Centre does not intend to change the special provisions provided to northeastern States. “I have instructions to say this. We must understand the difference between temporary provision which is Article 370 and special provisions with regard to the northeast. The Central government has no intention to touch any part which gives special provisions to North East and other regions. This submission will have very potential mischief. There is no apprehension and there is no need to create apprehension,” Mehta said. CJI Chandrachud disposed of the Interlocutory Application (IA) by taking the Solicitor General’s submission on record. “You have nothing to say on Article 370? So why should we hear?... We will close your Interlocutory Application (IA) by taking the submission of the Solicitor General on record,” he said, addressing Tewari. Board exams twice a year, class 11, 12 students to study 2 languages: MoE’s new curriculum framework Board examinations will be conducted twice a year with students having the option to retain the best score, while class 11 and 12 students will have to study two languages instead of one, according to the Ministry of Education’s new curriculum framework. According to Ministry officials, the curriculum, as per the New Education Policy (NEP), is ready and textbooks will be developed on its basis for the 2024 academic session. “In classes 11 and 12, students will have to study two languages and one of them has to be an Indian language,” the final NCF (National Curriculum Framework) document accessed by PTI said. In order to make the board exams “easier” from the current “high stakes” practice, the examination will assess the understanding and achievement of competencies rather than months of coaching and memorisation. “Board exams will be offered at least twice a year to ensure students have enough time and opportunity to perform well. Students can then appear for a board exam in subjects they have completed and feel ready for. They will also be allowed to retain the best score,” it said. The choice of subjects in classes 11 and 12 will not be restricted to streams such as Arts, Science and Commerce to get flexibility to choose. “In due course of time, school boards are to develop capacities to offer ‘on demand’ exams in due course of time. Besides board exam test developers and evaluators will have to go through university-certified courses before taking up this work,” it said. The new framework has also noted that the current practice of ‘covering’ textbooks in classroom will be avoided, while stressing that the cost of textbooks should be optimised. Years of data goes missing from Union government’s RTI portal Right to Information activists on Wednesday noticed that the records of their previous applications have disappeared in the hundreds from the RTIOnline portal, which allows citizens to file for access to public information from the Union government. The Hindu viewed and verified samples of applications from two RTI activists, one of whom has had their entire account purged of information from before 2022. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which administers the portal and disseminates training and standards for how government officials must handle RTI applications, did not respond to a query from The Hindu on the missing data. Chandra Shekhar Gaur, an RTI activist from Madhya Pradesh, said that there was a mismatch of several hundreds in his account. Two accounts used by The Hindu are also missing several years worth of applications and their responses. The RTIOnline portal allows citizens to pay ₹10 through many digital payment options to file an RTI application, a facility that is far more convenient than the other typical method of mailing an application through post with a postal cheque, which must be purchased and stamped beforehand. The portal is maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The scale of the deletion on the portal may be staggering. According to data obtained by The Hindu, the RTIOnline portal has processed over 58.3 lakh applications from 2013, when it was launched, to 2022. The number of applications filed has been growing steadily, with over 12.6 lakh applications filed in 2022. This disappearance of public information represents an additional step in the RTIOnline portal’s deteriorating performance over the last few months. For at least two periods of multiple days, the portal has lagged in speed and performance, and applications were not filed with authorities until days after users made a payment. The site allows citizens to file applications with all Union Ministries, their Departments, subsidiary institutions, regulators, India’s foreign missions, and to governments of certain Union Territories. Last year, the Union Government removed the facility of creating an account on the RTIOnline portal, with the DoPT citing a “heavy load” on the website. Existing account holders must file at least one application in a six-month period if they wish to retain their accounts. Gaur, the activist from Madhya Pradesh, noted that the portal also lacked a ‘forgot password’ option, meaning that the few people who still have an account risk losing access completely if they misplace their login credentials. Having an account enables applicants’ personal details to be pre-filled, making the filing process more convenient. Without it, applicants now have to fill in their personal details each time they file an application. In Brief: PM Modi, South African President Ramaphosa discuss regional & multilateral issues of mutual interest Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held a bilateral meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during which they reviewed the progress made in bilateral ties, exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues and also on ways to work jointly to strengthen the voice of the Global South. PM Modi met President Ramaphosa in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit. “Both leaders reviewed the progress made in bilateral relations between the two countries and expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved in various fields including defence, agriculture, trade and investment, health, conservation and people-to-people ties,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a press release. Biden to visit India from September 7-10 to attend G20 Leaders’ Summit U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to India from September 7 to 10 to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit during which he will discuss with other leaders a range of global issues, including the Ukraine conflict, the White House announced on Tuesday. Biden would be commending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership of the G20, the White House said in a statement. The G20 world leaders’ summit is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. The summit is expected to be one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in India. India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1, 2022, from Indonesia. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 23 August 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( ‘India is on the Moon’: Chandrayaan-3’s lander module successfully lands on Moon [India has become the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon as the Chandrayaan-3’s lander module with the Rover in its belly successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface on August 23.]( Precisely at 6.03 p.m. the lander touched the lunar surface and there was euphoric celebrations at the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru as India joined an elite list of countries like the US, Russia and China to achieve this feat. By achieving this feat India has also become the first nation to touch down on the polar region of the Moon. We have achieved soft landing on the moon, India is on the moon, the ISRO Chairman said. The successful landing on Wednesday has erased the painful memories of failure of the Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander in 2019. During the descent the Vikram lander gave up at an altitude of 2.1 km before touchdown and crashed on the lunar surface. It subsequently lost communication with the ground stations. However, this time everything went as per plan. At around 5.44pm, the powered descent of the lander module was initiated and 19 minutes later at 6.04 pm the lander made a safe and soft landing on the Moon. Following the successful landing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation, saying “We have reached where no one has reached in the past. This success is not India’s alone. This success belongs to all of humanity, it will help moon missions of other countries in the future.” India’s solar mission Aditya L1 to be launched soon, mission to Venus also on cards, Modi said. In a few hours from now the Lander will deploy the Rover which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility. The Lander and the Rover with a mission life of one Lunar day (14 Earth days) have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface. The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous lander module, propulsion module and a Rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for Inter planetary missions. The mission objectives of the mission is to demonstrate Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface, to demonstrate Rover roving on the moon and conduct in-situ scientific experiments. The soft-landing took place days after Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after spinning out of control. Article 370 hearing: ‘Centre has no intention to touch special provisions applicable to Northeast’ As a five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud continued its hearing on several petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370, S[olicitor General Tushar Mehta on August 23 submitted on specific instructions of the Union that the “Union Government has no intention to affect any of the special provisions applicable to Northeast or any part of India”.]( Advocate Manish Tewari, appearing for an intervenor, during the hearing, submitted, “The underlying principle of autonomy under Article 370 and Article 371 is more or less the same. So therefore, what your lordships will hold in this matter, will have implications on Article 371.” He said, “Even a slight apprehension in the periphery of India can have serious implications.” Article 371 accords special provisions to several States, including those in the north-eastern region. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected to the submission and said that there were no such apprehensions and the Centre does not intend to change the special provisions provided to northeastern States. “I have instructions to say this. We must understand the difference between temporary provision which is Article 370 and special provisions with regard to the northeast. The Central government has no intention to touch any part which gives special provisions to North East and other regions. This submission will have very potential mischief. There is no apprehension and there is no need to create apprehension,” Mehta said. CJI Chandrachud disposed of the Interlocutory Application (IA) by taking the Solicitor General’s submission on record. “You have nothing to say on Article 370? So why should we hear?... We will close your Interlocutory Application (IA) by taking the submission of the Solicitor General on record,” he said, addressing Tewari. Board exams twice a year, class 11, 12 students to study 2 languages: MoE’s new curriculum framework [Board examinations will be conducted twice a year]( with students having the option to retain the best score, while class 11 and 12 students will have to study two languages instead of one, according to the Ministry of Education’s new curriculum framework. According to Ministry officials, the curriculum, as per the New Education Policy (NEP), is ready and textbooks will be developed on its basis for the 2024 academic session. “In classes 11 and 12, students will have to study two languages and one of them has to be an Indian language,” the final NCF (National Curriculum Framework) document accessed by PTI said. In order to make the board exams “easier” from the current “high stakes” practice, the examination will assess the understanding and achievement of competencies rather than months of coaching and memorisation. “Board exams will be offered at least twice a year to ensure students have enough time and opportunity to perform well. Students can then appear for a board exam in subjects they have completed and feel ready for. They will also be allowed to retain the best score,” it said. The choice of subjects in classes 11 and 12 will not be restricted to streams such as Arts, Science and Commerce to get flexibility to choose. “In due course of time, school boards are to develop capacities to offer ‘on demand’ exams in due course of time. Besides board exam test developers and evaluators will have to go through university-certified courses before taking up this work,” it said. The new framework has also noted that the current practice of ‘covering’ textbooks in classroom will be avoided, while stressing that the cost of textbooks should be optimised. Years of data goes missing from Union government’s RTI portal [Right to Information activists on Wednesday noticed that the records of their previous applications have disappeared in the hundreds from the RTIOnline portal]( which allows citizens to file for access to public information from the Union government. The Hindu viewed and verified samples of applications from two RTI activists, one of whom has had their entire account purged of information from before 2022. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which administers the portal and disseminates training and standards for how government officials must handle RTI applications, did not respond to a query from The Hindu on the missing data. Chandra Shekhar Gaur, an RTI activist from Madhya Pradesh, said that there was a mismatch of several hundreds in his account. Two accounts used by The Hindu are also missing several years worth of applications and their responses. The RTIOnline portal allows citizens to pay ₹10 through many digital payment options to file an RTI application, a facility that is far more convenient than the other typical method of mailing an application through post with a postal cheque, which must be purchased and stamped beforehand. The portal is maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The scale of the deletion on the portal may be staggering. According to data obtained by The Hindu, the RTIOnline portal has processed over 58.3 lakh applications from 2013, when it was launched, to 2022. The number of applications filed has been growing steadily, with over 12.6 lakh applications filed in 2022. This disappearance of public information represents an additional step in the RTIOnline portal’s deteriorating performance over the last few months. For at least two periods of multiple days, the portal has lagged in speed and performance, and applications were not filed with authorities until days after users made a payment. The site allows citizens to file applications with all Union Ministries, their Departments, subsidiary institutions, regulators, India’s foreign missions, and to governments of certain Union Territories. Last year, the Union Government removed the facility of creating an account on the RTIOnline portal, with the DoPT citing a “heavy load” on the website. Existing account holders must file at least one application in a six-month period if they wish to retain their accounts. Gaur, the activist from Madhya Pradesh, noted that the portal also lacked a ‘forgot password’ option, meaning that the few people who still have an account risk losing access completely if they misplace their login credentials. Having an account enables applicants’ personal details to be pre-filled, making the filing process more convenient. Without it, applicants now have to fill in their personal details each time they file an application. In Brief: PM Modi, South African President Ramaphosa discuss regional & multilateral issues of mutual interest [Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday held a bilateral meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa]( which they reviewed the progress made in bilateral ties, exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues and also on ways to work jointly to strengthen the voice of the Global South. PM Modi met President Ramaphosa in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit. “Both leaders reviewed the progress made in bilateral relations between the two countries and expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved in various fields including defence, agriculture, trade and investment, health, conservation and people-to-people ties,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a press release. Biden to visit India from September 7-10 to attend G20 Leaders’ Summit [U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to India from September 7 to 10 to attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit]( during which he will discuss with other leaders a range of global issues, including the Ukraine conflict, the White House announced on Tuesday. Biden would be commending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership of the G20, the White House said in a statement. The G20 world leaders’ summit is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. The summit is expected to be one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in India. India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1, 2022, from Indonesia. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [Sign up for free]( Today’s Top Picks [[One giant step: Moon race heats up] One giant step: Moon race heats up]( [[LCA Tejas successfully test-fires Astra Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missile] LCA Tejas successfully test-fires Astra Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missile]( [[India faces TB drug shortage, no shortage in Tamil Nadu] India faces TB drug shortage, no shortage in Tamil Nadu]( [[Watch | Did you know there were rumours of demonetisation 50 years ago?] Watch | Did you know there were rumours of demonetisation 50 years ago?]( Copyright @ 2023, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( Manage your newsletter subscription preferences [here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](