19 December 2014 Current Affairs
DRDO successfully Tests 1000 kg Class Indigenous Guided Glide Bomb
India’s Defence Research and Development Org (DRDO) on 19 December successfully tested a 1000 kg glide bomb designed and developed by it. The bomb had successfully hit a target 100 km away in the Bay of Bengal off the Odisha coast. The bomb was dropped by an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft in the ocean. It glided for nearly 100 km before hitting the target with great precision. The bomb was guided by an on-board navigation system.
Veteran Gandhian Chunibhai Vaidya Died
A veteran Gandhian and freedom fighter Chunibhai Vaidya passed on 19 December at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He was 97. A true Gandhian and a Sarvoday veteran Chunibhai Vaidya began his life in activism with freedom struggle. He also actively participated in Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan Movement. An editor of Bhoomiputra- magazine- committed to Sarvodaya movement, he waged battle against political emergency in 1975 and faced imprisonment. He was felicitated with Vishva Gujarati Pratibha award by Vishva Gujarati Samaj. He wrote a book titled Assassination of Gandhi : Facts and Falsehood which was translated and published in eleven languages.
Pro-democracy Activist Xu Youyu Conferred with Swedish Human Rights prize
Chinese pro-democracy activist Xu Youyu has been conferred with the prestigious Swedan’s Sweden’s Olof Palme Human Rights prize. As per Stockholm-based Olof Palme Memorial Fund, Xu has worked consistently for a democratisation of Chinese society, while condemning any form of violence as a political method. The Olof Palme Prize is an annual prize granted by the Swedish labour movement. Prize includes monetary sum of $ 75,000. It commemorates the memory of the Nordic country’s Social Democratic Prime Minister- Olof Palme, who was an outspoken international human rights advocate, who was assassinated in the Swedish capital in 1986.