The Evening Wrap: PM Modi flags off nine Vande Bharat Express trains

The nine Vande Bharat Express trains flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 24 have a host of new features incorporated after passengers’ feedback. From improvising the seat reclining angle to incorporating deep wash basins to avoid water from splashing out, the coach manufacturers have paid attention to minute details. The railways also rolled out its first orange-coloured Vande Bharat Express from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram, a high demand route which now operates two such trains, a senior Indian Railways official said. Over the next two months, nine more orange-coloured Vande Bharat Express trains are expected to be rolled out. Among the new features introduced on the trains based on passenger feedback are: the seat reclination angle raised from 17.31 degrees to 19.37 degrees, hardness of cushion optimised and the colour of seat in executive class coach changed from red to pleasant blue. The changes also include improved accessibility of mobile charging point under the seats, extended footrest for seats and magazine bags for executive class coach-end seats as well. The new features include provision for securing points for wheel chairs of Divyangjan passengers in driving trailer coaches. The new trainsets also have improved air tightness for better airconditioning with insulation over panels, better roller blind fabric with more tear strength with less transparency and smooth touch controls for luggage rack lights by changing from resistive touch to capacitive touch. The trains also have improved aerosol based fire detection and suppression system inside the coaches. Hangzhou Asian Games | Indian women’s 10m air rifle team bags silver; Ramita win individual bronze The experienced trio of Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita Jindal and Ashi Chouksey’s bagged the women’s team silver while Ramita also clinched an individual bronze in the 10m air rifle event as Indian shooters made an impressive start to their Asian Games campaign on September 24. A combined score of 1,886.0 earned the Indian troika the second spot behind hosts China, who smashed the Asian record with a score of 1,896.6. Junior world champion Ramita then won the individual bronze in her event, shooting 230.1 in the eight-shooter finals. China won both the gold and silver medals in the event with Huang Yuting breaking the Games record with a score of 252.7 on way to top podium finish. Han Jiayu came in second with 251.3 points. Mongolia finished third with a combined scored of 1880.0. The 19-year-old Ramita was in contention for a silver medal before she fell behind because of a rank poor 9.9 on the 13th shot. Mehuli, the other Indian to make the eight-shooter final, finished fourth with a score of 208.43. Ramita scored 631.9 in qualification to finish second, while Mehuli was fourth with a score of 630.8 points. The third Indian, Ashi, was slightly off-target, managing managing 623.3, to finish 28th in the qualification round. Hangzhou Asian Games | Rowing duo Arjun Jat Lal, Arvind Singh power to silver; coxed-eight team too comes in second Indian rowers powered their way to two silver and a bronze medal, launching their campaign in the Asian Games on a rollicking note in Hangzhou on September 24. On a pleasant morning with the conditions just perfect for rowing at the Fuyang Water Sports Centre, Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh opened the country’s account with a silver medal in the men’s lightweight doubles sculls event. The Indian duo clocked 6:28.18s to finish behind China’s Junjie Fan and Man Sun, who won gold with 6:23.16s. The Uzbekistan pair of Shakhzod Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaroliyev bagged the bronze clocking 6:33.42s. The silver was just the preview of the things to come as the gruelling men’s coxed eight event saw a keen tussle between China and India before the latter finished second with a time of 5:43.01s, which was 2.84s behind the host team, which clocked 5:40.17. The Indian men’s coxed-eight team comprised Neeraj, Nareskh Kalwaniya, Neetish Kumar, Charanjeet Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Puneet Kumar and Ashish. Indonesia, who clocked a time of 5:45.51s were third. In the coxless pair event, India Babulal Yadav and Lekh Ram had to settle for bronze with a time of 6:50.41 sec, behind gold medallists Hong Kong, China (6:44.20 sec) and Uzbekistan 6:48.11 sec. Probably winning Telangana, certainly winning M.P. and Chhattisgarh, ‘very close’ in Rajasthan: Rahul Gandhi Exuding confidence about a good showing in the upcoming Assembly polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on September 24 said that as of now the Congress is certainly winning Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, probably winning Telangana, and in a “very close” contest but hopeful in Rajasthan. He also said that the Opposition is adapting and working together and the BJP is “in for a surprise in 2024” general elections. Speaking at a conclave organised by the Pratidin Media Network of Assam, Gandhi said the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’ was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people. He referred to the row over BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s derogatory remarks against BSP leader Danish Ali in Lok Sabha, alleging that the BJP indulges in such tactics to distract from the demand for a caste census. The main issues in India are concentration of wealth, huge inequality in wealth, massive unemployment, huge unfairness towards the lower caste, OBCs, and tribal communities, and price rise, he said. The Congress learnt a very important lesson in Karnataka that the BJP wins elections by distracting and not allowing us to construct our narrative and so we fought the polls constructing our party’s narrative, he added. Ordinary households, small businesses hit due to high unemployment and inflation: Jairam Ramesh Ordinary households and small businesses are under intense pressure in the face of high unemployment and inflation levels and the Union government is too inept to fix it, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said in a statement issued on September 24, citing various data points from the Reserve Bank of India’s latest bulletin and other sources. Countering the government’s claims that savings had declined because people were buying cars and homes, Ramesh pointed to RBI data showing a 23% increase in gold loans and 29% increase in personal loans in the last one year — calling these “clear signs of distress, as people go into debt to meet basic expenses”. He said that the latest bulletin of the RBI showed the “complete failure of the Modi government to execute a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic”. He pointed out that around 43% of the population was in the labour force as of February 2020 and 3.5 years later labour force participation stood at around 40%. Mr. Ramesh also noted that in 2022, women were still making only 85% of what they made pre-pandemic and also cited a recent report of the Azim Premji University which showed that over 42% graduates under the age of 25 were unemployed in 2021-22. He highlighted the price rise in essential commodities such as pulses, sugar, atta, besan, and gur, which, he said, was impacting the household budget of ordinary families. The Congress leader said small businesses were losing out because of the Modi government’s crony capitalism, which had made it “impossible for the MSMEs to compete”. In Brief: NASA’s first asteroid samples fetched from deep space parachuted into the Utah desert on September 24 to cap a seven-year journey. In a flyby of Earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the sample capsule from 100,000 km (63,000 miles) out. The small capsule landed four hours later on a remote expanse of military land, as the mothership set off after another asteroid. The pebbles and dust delivered on September 24 represent the biggest haul from beyond the moon. Preserved building blocks from the dawn of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, the samples will help scientists better understand how Earth and life formed. [logo] The Evening Wrap 24 September 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]( PM Modi flags off nine Vande Bharat Express trains The nine [Vande Bharat Express trains flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi]( on September 24 have a host of new features incorporated after passengers’ feedback. From improvising the seat reclining angle to incorporating deep wash basins to avoid water from splashing out, the coach manufacturers have paid attention to minute details. The railways also rolled out its first orange-coloured Vande Bharat Express from Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram, a high demand route which now operates two such trains, a senior Indian Railways official said. Over the next two months, nine more orange-coloured Vande Bharat Express trains are expected to be rolled out. Among the new features introduced on the trains based on passenger feedback are: the seat reclination angle raised from 17.31 degrees to 19.37 degrees, hardness of cushion optimised and the colour of seat in executive class coach changed from red to pleasant blue. The changes also include improved accessibility of mobile charging point under the seats, extended footrest for seats and magazine bags for executive class coach-end seats as well. The new features include provision for securing points for wheel chairs of Divyangjan passengers in driving trailer coaches. The new trainsets also have improved air tightness for better airconditioning with insulation over panels, better roller blind fabric with more tear strength with less transparency and smooth touch controls for luggage rack lights by changing from resistive touch to capacitive touch. The trains also have improved aerosol based fire detection and suppression system inside the coaches. Hangzhou Asian Games | Indian women’s 10m air rifle team bags silver; Ramita win individual bronze The [experienced trio of Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita Jindal and Ashi Chouksey’s bagged the women’s team silver]( while Ramita also clinched an individual bronze in the 10m air rifle event as Indian shooters made an impressive start to their Asian Games campaign on September 24. A combined score of 1,886.0 earned the Indian troika the second spot behind hosts China, who smashed the Asian record with a score of 1,896.6. Junior world champion Ramita then won the individual bronze in her event, shooting 230.1 in the eight-shooter finals. China won both the gold and silver medals in the event with Huang Yuting breaking the Games record with a score of 252.7 on way to top podium finish. Han Jiayu came in second with 251.3 points. Mongolia finished third with a combined scored of 1880.0. The 19-year-old Ramita was in contention for a silver medal before she fell behind because of a rank poor 9.9 on the 13th shot. Mehuli, the other Indian to make the eight-shooter final, finished fourth with a score of 208.43. Ramita scored 631.9 in qualification to finish second, while Mehuli was fourth with a score of 630.8 points. The third Indian, Ashi, was slightly off-target, managing managing 623.3, to finish 28th in the qualification round. Hangzhou Asian Games | Rowing duo Arjun Jat Lal, Arvind Singh power to silver; coxed-eight team too comes in second [Indian rowers powered their way to two silver and a bronze medal]( launching their campaign in the Asian Games on a rollicking note in Hangzhou on September 24. On a pleasant morning with the conditions just perfect for rowing at the Fuyang Water Sports Centre, Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh opened the country’s account with a silver medal in the men’s lightweight doubles sculls event. The Indian duo clocked 6:28.18s to finish behind China’s Junjie Fan and Man Sun, who won gold with 6:23.16s. The Uzbekistan pair of Shakhzod Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaroliyev bagged the bronze clocking 6:33.42s. The silver was just the preview of the things to come as the gruelling men’s coxed eight event saw a keen tussle between China and India before the latter finished second with a time of 5:43.01s, which was 2.84s behind the host team, which clocked 5:40.17. The Indian men’s coxed-eight team comprised Neeraj, Nareskh Kalwaniya, Neetish Kumar, Charanjeet Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Puneet Kumar and Ashish. Indonesia, who clocked a time of 5:45.51s were third. In the coxless pair event, India Babulal Yadav and Lekh Ram had to settle for bronze with a time of 6:50.41 sec, behind gold medallists Hong Kong, China (6:44.20 sec) and Uzbekistan 6:48.11 sec. Probably winning Telangana, certainly winning M.P. and Chhattisgarh, ‘very close’ in Rajasthan: Rahul Gandhi [Exuding confidence about a good showing in the upcoming Assembly polls]( Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on September 24 said that as of now the Congress is certainly winning Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, probably winning Telangana, and in a “very close” contest but hopeful in Rajasthan. He also said that the Opposition is adapting and working together and the BJP is “in for a surprise in 2024” general elections. Speaking at a conclave organised by the Pratidin Media Network of Assam, Gandhi said the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’ was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people. He referred to the row over BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s derogatory remarks against BSP leader Danish Ali in Lok Sabha, alleging that the BJP indulges in such tactics to distract from the demand for a caste census. The main issues in India are concentration of wealth, huge inequality in wealth, massive unemployment, huge unfairness towards the lower caste, OBCs, and tribal communities, and price rise, he said. The Congress learnt a very important lesson in Karnataka that the BJP wins elections by distracting and not allowing us to construct our narrative and so we fought the polls constructing our party’s narrative, he added. Ordinary households, small businesses hit due to high unemployment and inflation: Jairam Ramesh [Ordinary households and small businesses are under intense pressure]( in the face of high unemployment and inflation levels and the Union government is too inept to fix it, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said in a statement issued on September 24, citing various data points from the Reserve Bank of India’s latest bulletin and other sources. Countering the government’s claims that savings had declined because people were buying cars and homes, Ramesh pointed to RBI data showing a 23% increase in gold loans and 29% increase in personal loans in the last one year — calling these “clear signs of distress, as people go into debt to meet basic expenses”. He said that the latest bulletin of the RBI showed the “complete failure of the Modi government to execute a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic”. He pointed out that around 43% of the population was in the labour force as of February 2020 and 3.5 years later labour force participation stood at around 40%. Mr. Ramesh also noted that in 2022, women were still making only 85% of what they made pre-pandemic and also cited a recent report of the Azim Premji University which showed that over 42% graduates under the age of 25 were unemployed in 2021-22. He highlighted the price rise in essential commodities such as pulses, sugar, atta, besan, and gur, which, he said, was impacting the household budget of ordinary families. The Congress leader said small businesses were losing out because of the Modi government’s crony capitalism, which had made it “impossible for the MSMEs to compete”. In Brief: [NASA’s first asteroid samples fetched from deep space parachuted into the Utah desert on September 24 to cap a seven-year journey](. In a flyby of Earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the sample capsule from 100,000 km (63,000 miles) out. The small capsule landed four hours later on a remote expanse of military land, as the mothership set off after another asteroid. The pebbles and dust delivered on September 24 represent the biggest haul from beyond the moon. Preserved building blocks from the dawn of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, the samples will help scientists better understand how Earth and life formed. 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