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SAMPADA – Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing & Development of Agro-Processing Clusters
Scheme
for Agro-Marine Processing & Development of Agro-Processing Clusters
(SAMPADA) – an umbrella scheme to integrate various ongoing schemes like the
Mega Food Parks, Integrated Cold Chain, Food Safety & Quality and some new
schemes like the Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters, Creation of
Backward & Forward Linkage and Creation / Expansion of Food Processing
& Preservation Capacities; has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs. This scheme is intended to cover a five year period from 2016
to 2020 and is likely to greatly boost the Food Processing sector. |
India’s First Private Sector Small Arms Manufacturing Unit Unveiled
India’s
first private sector small arms manufacturing plant has been inaugurated at
Malanpur in Madhya Pradesh. This unit is a joint venture of India based Punj
Lloyd Raksha Systems Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of infrastructure giant
Punj Lloyd, and Israel Weapon Industries (IWI). The plant will manufacture
small arms X95 Carbine & Assault Rifle, Galil Sniper Rifle, Tavor Assault
Rifle and Negev Light Machine Gun for use by Indian forces as well as for
export to other countries of the world. This is likely to greatly boost the
defence indigenisation programme and will help in replacing the outdated small
arms and weaponry being used by our forces. |
Facebook’s “Express Wi-Fi” Launched in India
Facebook
has launched its low cost, high bandwidth service to complement mobile data
offerings commercially across four states of Gujrat, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand
& Meghalaya by setting up 700 hotspots. The company intends to expand this
service throughout the country by setting up at least 20000 hotspots in
partnership with leading private telecom player Bharti Airtel. Indonesia,
Kenya, Nigeria & Tanzania are the other countries where the company is
already providing the Express Wi-Fi services. |
RFID Tags for Identification of Railway Coaches, Wagons & Locomotives
In order to know the exact location of the
locomotives, coaches and wagons, Indian Railways have introduced the system of
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags designed by the Centre for Railway
Information System (CRIS). This will enable the Railways to maintain and manage
the resources in a better way. In this system, RFID tags fitted on coaches,
locomotives and wagons will emit radio frequency signals that will be received
and read automatically by the trackers installed at the railway stations. This
information will then be transmitted over the network connected through server.
A pilot project for RFID tracking had already been conducted at the
Vishakhapatnam – Talcher – Paradeep section. |
Automated Weather Stations (AWS) for Farmers of Maharashtra
Maharastra
has become the first state to provide information related to weather to the
farmers of the state through the Automated Weather Stations (AWS) to be
installed at taluka level. These weather stations will be set up by Skymet
Weather Pvt Ltd and the weather information will be provided to the farmers on
the mobile app of the company as well as on the state government agriculture
and weather information portal Mahavedh. The data provided by the use of AWS
will also be used by the government to set up weather database bank, to issue
location specific advisories to the farmers, better disaster management and to implement
crop insurance schemes. The first such weather station was inaugurated by the
state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Dongargaon in Nagpur region. |
Dubai – First City to Have Its Own Font
Dubai, the largest city of the UAE has
become the first city in the world to have a font of its own, designed by the
Microsoft Corporation. The Dubai Font was recently launched by the Crown Prince
of UAE Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Makhtoum. This font is
available in 23 languages and carries typeface in Latin & Arabic scripts.
Languages in which the font is available are : Afrikaans, Arabic, Basque,
Britannic, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Farsi (Prussian),
Gaelic, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Sami,
Spanish, Swahili, Swedish & Urdu. |
New Train Service : TEJAS EXPRESS (First Train : Mumbai to Goa)
In
order to make the journey of the passengers safer and more comfortable, Tejas Express
- a new train service promised in previous year’s budget - is likely to be
launched in the month of June. First of such train will ply between Mumbai
& Goa, which will be soon followed by another between Delhi &
Chandigarh. This train will have automatic doors & secure gangways, and
will have integrated Braille displays for the visually disabled, digital boards
and electronic reservation charts. Other features of the Tejas Express include
bio-vacuum toilets, individual LCD screens, Wi-Fi, improved aesthetics, tea
& coffee vending machines, snacks table, cuisines by renowned chefs and
variety of newspapers & magazines. |
Real Estate Regulation Act Comes into Force
In
order to ensure transparency & accountability in the real estate sector,
the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act has come into full effect
with effect from May 01st . Real Estate sector is a state subject
(Land being a state matter), the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty
Alleviation (HUPA) has directed all the states & the UTs to enforce the act
with full vigour. This enactment paves the way for setting up of Real Estate
Regulatory Authority to deal with issues related to development of projects and
disputes arising between the buyers and developers of the projects. It will
make registration of projects and real estate agents mandatory. Developers will
have to open a separate bank account for each project and developers will have
pay penalty for delay in the projects. |
Vidya Veerta Abhiyan : A Tribute to the Param Veer Awardees
“Vidya
Veerta Abhiyan” a campaign to educate the youth of the country about the Param
Veer Chakra awardees and their heroic deeds during war time, has been launched
by the Union Government through the Ministry of Human Resource Development. As
a part of this campaign, portraits of all the 21 brave-hearts who have been
awarded the Param Veer Chakra till date, will be displayed in universities and
educational institutions throughout the country. This is being done to imbibe a
spirit of nationalism and patriotism among the youth of the country. It is
worth mentioning that Param Veer Chakra is the highest gallantry award given
during the war time for display of acts of exemplary courage and bravery for
defending the motherland. |
Indian Young Scientist Academy (INSA) Medal for Dr Sanjay Pratihar
Indian Young Scientist Academy (INSA) has
selected Sanjay Pratihar to award the INSA Medal for the year 2017. The award consists of a Bronze Medal and
carries a cash prize of Rs 25,000/-, is presented annually to honour the young
Indian scientist for their contribution in the fields of science and
technology. Sanjay Pratihar is a PhD in Organometallic Chemistry from IIT
Kharagpur. His contribution to multi-metal complexes, theoretical understanding
and sensing of Hq2+ ions in application in the field of agriculture has enabled
him to be selected for this award. He had also received the DST- INSPIRE
Faculty award in 2012. |
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