13th Council of Ministers Meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association was held in Australia

Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) held its 13th Council of Ministers meeting in Perth,
Australia on 1 November 2013. On the occasion, India handed over the chair of the IORA to
Australia. India chaired the IORA, since 2011.

The Perth reviewed the process made by IORA since 2012 meeting in Gurgaon, India. The future
directions and initiatives to advance were considered then for the interests of the IORA and its
members.

The thirteenth Council of Ministers' Meeting was visited by the member states Foreign Ministers
namely Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania,
Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Agni-1 missile test fired from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast
India successfully test fired the indigenous Agni-1 missile from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast
on 8 November 2013. The user trial of the 12 ton bomb was conducted from Chandipur in
Balasore district of Odisha.

The surface to surface missile Agni-1 was launched from a mobile launcher. It can travel a
distance of 700 kilometers. The 15 meter long missile can carry a payload of 1000 kilogram. It
has a specialized navigation system that ensures it to reach the target with a high degree of
accuracy and precision.

Agni-I was developed by the advance systems laboratory, the premier missile development
laboratory of the DRDO and was collaborated with the Defence Research Development
Laboratory and the Research Centre Imarat and integrated by the Bharat Dynamics Limited,
Hyderabad.

The sophisticated Agni-1 was for the last time was successfully carried out on 12 December
2012 from the same place.
National Conference on Intellectual Disability Inaugurated
The Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Kumari Selja inaugurated the National
Conference on Intellectual Disability, jointly organised by the Department of Disability Affairs,
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and National Institute for Mentally Handicapped,
Secunderabad, on 7 November 2013.
ISRO successfully raised Mars Orbiter Spacecraft's Orbit
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 7 November 2013 performed the first orbit
raising manoeuvre of the Mars Orbiter spacecraft. The spacecraft was fired for 416 seconds by
the command from the Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and
Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya, Bangalore from the 440 Newton Liquid Engine of the
spacecraft. With this engine firing, the spacecraft`s apogee (the farthest point to Earth) was
raised to 28825 km, while its perigee (nearest point to Earth) was at 252 km. Earlier, Mars
Orbiter Spacecraft was launched on 5 November 2013.

A series of five orbit raising operations during the Mars mission will be performed, of which the
second and third raising operations would be performed on 8 November 2013 to apogee 40000
and 71650. The fourth and fifth raising to apogee of one lakh km and 1.92 lakh km will be
performed on November 11 and 16 November 2013. After the operations will be completed, the
mission is expected to take on the crucial event of the trans-mars injection on 1 December 2013.

The Mangalayaan, the Mars orbiter of 1350 kilogram was successfully injected by ISROs PSLV-
C25 into the orbit around Earth in 44 minutes after launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre
at Sriharikota on 7 November 2013.

The International Designator or the NSSDC ID of India's Mars mission is 2013-060A.
Ministry for I & B Instituted New Centenary Award to Honour Contribution to Indian Cinema
The Ministry for Information & Broadcasting on 7 November 2013 announced the institution of a
special award in the series of initiatives undertaken to commemorate the 100 years of Indian
Cinema. The Centenary award would be given every year to an outstanding Indian film
personality- A Film Icon, for his/her contribution to Indian Cinema at IFFI.

About the Centenary Award

The award reiterated the rich legacy of Indian Cinema where eminent personalities had
contributed to its growth through different stages of its evolution.
The award is the second in the series instituted by the Government to commemorate the
centenary celebrations.
Engineers to attempt extraction of fuel rods from the wrecked reactor at Fukushima
Engineers in Japan on 7 November 2013 prepared to extract the first of more than 1000 nuclear
fuel rods from one of the wrecked reactor of Fukushima nuclear power station. Being risky, the
process will be taken as a step towards stabilizing the site. The fuel rods in the unit 4, storage
pool is in the precarious stage.

In March 2011, the building as damaged badly due to the Great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
The work of removal of the rods to a safe place would become possible after repair work and
planning will be done. The repairing work can take more than a month.
Exhibition Titled Czech Castles Inaugurated At the Red Fort, Delhi
The Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch along with Jan Kohout, Minister of Foreign
Affairs of the Czech Republic and Jiri Balvin, Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic, on 7
November 2013 jointly inaugurated an exhibition titled Czech Castles.

It is for the first time that this exhibition has been organised in India in collaboration with the
Archaeological Survey of India and the Ministry of Culture, Government of India by the National
Museum of the Czech Republic and the Embassy of the Czech Republic, New Delhi.

It is important to note that a cultural agreement was signed between India and Czech Republic in
the year 1959. At the occasion of inauguration of the exhibition, a Memorandum of
Understanding was also signed between the ASI and the National Museum of the Czech
Republic at the Red Fort for promotion of cultural exchange and bilateral cooperation. The MoU
will form the basis for more active cooperation between the two institutes.
Competition Commission of India Imposed Penalty on Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association
Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed the penalty of 41393 Rupees on Tamil Nadu
Film Exhibitors Association (TNFEA) (now known as Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association).
The penalty was imposed after the information filed by Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.
(RBEPL).

Reliance Big Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (RBEPL) alleged that Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners
Association contravened the provisions of Section 3 and 4 of the Competition Act, 2002. RBEPL
alleged that it was entitled to distribute a film titled Osthe in Tamil language that was a remake of
Hindi film Dabang. However, TNFEA boycotted this film with an effort to secure a claim of its
members against a third party Sun TV.

CCI in its investigation concluded that the decisions and conduct of TNFEA in respect of the
boycott against film Osthe and other films dealt by Sun TV were in contravention of the
provisions of Section 3(3) (b).

Therefore, the penalty of 41393 Rupees was imposed at the rate of 10 percent of the average
turnover of the Association for the relevant last three years. The penalty should be deposited
within 60 days of receipt of the order of penalty. At the same time, CCI also directed TNFEA to
cease and desist from indulging in such anti-competitive conduct in future.
India to host Men's Hockey World Cup in 2018
India was selected by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on 7 November 2013 to host the
Mens World Cup of Hockey in 2018. The finals will be played from 1 to 16 December 2018. Also,
England will host the Womens World Cup of hockey from 7-21 July, 2018. This was announced
by Leandro Negre, the President of FIH at Lausanne during the special ceremony.

Hockey's World Cup is held every four years and is second only to the Olympics in significance.

India hosted the world cup in 2010 at New Delhi. The 2014 edition of Hockey World Cup would
be played in The Hague, Netherlands
Vice President Released a Book on Indias Nuclear Energy Programme
The Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari released a book entitled Indias Nuclear Energy
Programme: Future Plans, Prospects and Concerns at a function organized by Indian National
Science Academy (INSA) on 7 November 2013. The book is edited by Prof. R. Rajaraman.