New non-permanent members to the Security Council of United Nations

Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela and Spain were elected as the new non-permanent members of the Security Council by the UN General Assembly. The term of their membership will be two years.

The retiring members are Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Rwanda.

Five non-permanent members are elected every year to join the five permanent and veto-wielding members (also known as P5 countries) - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US.  The five other non-permanent members, Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania and Nigeria are halfway into their terms. The UN Security Council has five permanent and ten non-permanent members which change after every two years. Every year, voting takes place in the General Assembly to replace five of these ten non-permanent members.

The United Nations has 193 member states and a two-thirds majority of 129 votes is needed to win a non-permanent seat in the council.

India had last held a seat as the non-permanent member in 2011-2012.

India successfully test fired Nirbhay - Nuclear capable cruise missile

Nirbhay which means "Fearless" is an long range nuclear capable cruise missile indigenously developed by DRDO has been successfully test fired at Indian Army's Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha.

Nirbhay

• Nirbhay is an all-weather low-cost long-range cruise missile with stealth and high accuracy.
• The missile has a range of more than 700 km and it weighs about one tonne and has a length of 6 metres.
• It carries a ring laser gyroscope for high-accuracy navigation and a radio altimeter for the height determination.
• It is capable of being launched from multiple platforms on land, sea and air and shall be inducted into Indian Navy, Army, and Air Force.
• Nirbhay is very maneuverable and can fly at tree-top level making it difficult to detect on radar.
• The missile has a fire-and-forget system that cannot be jammed.
• Nirbhay is being adapted for the Indo/Russian Su-30MKI. The missile is capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
• It would be capable of delivering 24 different types of warheads depending on mission requirements and will use an inertial navigation system for guidance.
• It is India's answer to America's Tomahawk and Pakistan's Babur missile.

Cruise Missile Vs Ballistic Missile:

A Cruise Missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system, usually a jet engine, to allow sustained flight. Cruise missiles are generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many hundreds of miles with high accuracy. BRAHMOS is the Supersonic Cruise Missile.

A Ballistic Missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering a warhead to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the laws of orbital mechanics and ballistics. Prithvi I and Prithvi II, Agni I and Agni II are some of the example of ballistic missile.

Indian born Scientist presented the World Food Prize

Eminent Indian scientist Sanjaya Rajaram has been awarded the World Food Prize in recognition of his significant contributions to global wheat production.

Sanjaya Rajaram was born in Varanasi and he is a veteran plant scientist currently in Mexico. He has been recognized for his scientific research that led to a prodigious increase in world wheat production (1.3 per cent rise in global wheat production per annum).

Mr. Rajaram, currently a Senior Scientific Advisor at the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), has developed some 480 wheat varieties that have been released in 51 countries across six continents and an estimated 58 million hectares.

Conceived by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug, World Food Prize emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people. Borlaug saw the prize as a means of establishing role models who would inspire others.

M.S. Swaminathan was the first recipient of this award in 1987. The selection of Dr. Rajaram is being billed significant as this year marked the centenary year of Dr. Borlaug. Regarded as the most prestigious award in the area of food and agriculture, the Prize, carries a cash prize of $ 250,000.

Source Hindu