NATIONAL

2^nd edition of  ‘Innovations for You’ and ‘The Ingenious Tinkerers’ released

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and  NITI Aayog today released the second edition of – ‘Innovations for You’- a compilation of innovations focused on agriculture featuring 70 startups supported by Atal incubation Centers (AICs) of AIM and ‘The Ingenious Tinkerers’ – a compilation on the innovations on technology featuring 41 innovations from Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) of India.
• The ‘Innovations For You’ is a compilation of successful innovations by the entrepreneurial minds of India solving problems of present for future.
• ‘The Ingenious Tinkerers’ is a compilation of the top innovations created by young student innovators who participated in the ATL Marathon - which invites school students to address a problem that they see or face on a day-to-day basis.
• The ‘Innovations For You’ in its second edition, focuses on the startups and innovations in field of Agriculture and Allied services.
• The book is a compilation of 70 Agriculture -Tech startups, incubated at Atal Incubation Centres spread across the country.
• The books are also available in digi book series.

Quantum Lab established

• Indian Army along with the support of the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) has recently established the Quantum Lab at Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, Mhow  at Madhya Pradesh.
• Indian Army has also established an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centre at the same institution with over 140 deployments in forward areas and active support of industry and academia.
• Training on cyber warfare is being imparted through a state of art cyber range, and cyber security labs.
• Research undertaken by Indian Army in the field of Quantum Technology will help into next generation communication and transform the current system of cryptography in the Indian Armed Forces to Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC).
• Key thrust areas are Quantum Key Distribution, Quantum Communication, Quantum Computing and Post Quantum Cryptography.

North Eastern Region District SDG index released

• The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MODNER) along with Niti Aayog has released first of its kind North Eastern Region District SDG index with the technical support from UNDP.
• The index measures the performance of the District of the eight NE States and will be used as a base for planning of development and welfare activities, education, health care.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has also approved a revival package of Rs. 77.45 crore for revival of North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited.
• The MODNER has also laid foundation stone for the training cum examination centre at Dimapur and also inaugurated the soil testing laboratory at the State Directorate of Soil and Water Conservation in Kohima, Nagaland.
• The National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) as a new centrally sponsored scheme with a special focus on NE Region and A&N islands was also launched.

INTERNATIONAL

Japan and China to launch Military hotline

• Japan and China have agreed to establish a military hotline by 2022 in a bid to put in place a system to defuse potential crises over disputed islands and the Taiwan Strait.
• Defence minister of Japan Nobuo Kishi and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe agreed to set up the link by the end of 2022 during a two-hour video conference.
• The ministers agreed on the “timely establishment” of a hotline between the two militaries, the Japanese defence ministry said, in order to improve the effectiveness of the maritime and aerial communication mechanism.

New Nuclear powered ice breaker launched

• Russia has launched a new nuclear powered icebreaker Sibir to keep Northern Sea Route open for shipping throughtout the year.
• The Icebreaker weighs 33,500 tonne and it is 173 metres long and 34 metres wide, It is the Considered as one of the largest ice breaker,It is constructed under Project 22220.
• Currently Russia has 6 nuclear powered-Taymr, Vaygash , 50 Let pobedy, Yamal, Arktika and Sibir.
• This will help countries to transfer hydrocarbons, oil and gas throughout the year, it will also enable countries to explore the resources in the Barents area of Artic region.

BANKING, FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

India welcomes Egypt

• India has welcomed Egypt as the fourth new member of BRICS New Development Bank.
• Recently Bangladesh, UAE, and Uruguay joined in the New Development Bank this year.
• The New Development Bank aims to mobilize resources for development projects in BRICS, emerging economies, and developing countries.

NDB President- Marcos Troyjo

NDB headquarters-Shanghai, China.  

Debit card for Coporates launched

• The Central Bank of India and National Payments corporation of India limited has set to launch RuPay Buisness Platinum Debit Card for corporates.
• The card offers ATM withdrawal limit of Rs 1 lakh along with a purchase of upto Rs 3lakh at E-Commerce.
• The card users can withdraw Rs 75,000 at ATM’s abroad with a purchase of upto Rs 3lakh at E-Commerce abroad or with international online merchants.