TAMILNADU
Tamil Nadu gets Sipcot to establish innovation centres
With an aim to unlock the growth potential of Tamil Nadu by combining the manufacturing capabilities with technology, the state Industries department is establishing innovation centres in select state-owned Sipcot industrial estates in the state.
The initiative, to spawn technology startups in the industrial manufacturing space, will also seek to include the 80-odd innovation centres in leading educational institutions, but mostly remaining non-functional.
Two Sipcot Industrial Innovation Centres (SIICs) are coming up at Sriperumbudur and Hosur, the two largest industrial clusters in the state. Branded as FORT (Force of Rapid Transformation), the SIICs are envisioned as world-class incubation centres to pave the way for new-age tech-based manufacturing ventures.
The initiative is focused to achieve transformation in three areas. To achieve faster rate of GDP growth through companies engaged in translating innovation output into higher value-added goods; employment generation through highly-skilled knowledge work; higher per capita income arising from value addition from skilled manpower resources.
INTERNATIONAL
Largest Contingent to Tokyo Paralympics
The upcoming Tokyo Paralympics will witness the biggest ever Indian contingent being sent, with fifty-four para-sportspersons collaborating throughout 9 sports disciplines.
The 54-member Indian contingents had been given a formal and virtual send-off on August 12, 2021, by Youth Affairs Minister and Sports Anurag. The 2020 Summer Paralympics Games are scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan from August 24 to September 05, 2021.
NATIONAL
Tackling Malnutrition with Rice Fortification
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced the fortification of rice distributed below a number of government schemes, together with the Public Distribution System (PDS) and mid-day foods in schools, by 2024.
Highlights:
The announcement is vast as the United States has high levels of malnutrition amongst women and children.
According to the Food Ministry, each second lady in the united states of america is anaemic and each and every third baby is stunted.
India ranks ninety four out of 107 countries and is in the ‘serious hunger’ class on the Global Hunger Index (GHI).
Malnutrition and lack of integral vitamins in poor ladies and bad teenagers poses important obstacles in their development.
According to the Food Ministry, fortification of rice is an economical and complementary method to make bigger diets and mineral content in diets.
According to FSSAI norms, 1 kg fortified rice will include iron (28 mg-42.5 mg), folic acid (75-125 microgram) & Vitamin B-12 (0.75-1.25 microgram).
Four New Ramsar Sites – Wetlands of India
Four more Indian sites – two every from Haryana and Gujarat – have been acknowledged as wetlands of global significance below the Ramsar Convention.
Highlights:
Further, according to latest estimates through Wetlands International South Asia, almost 30% of the natural wetlands in India have been misplaced in the last three decades. Majorly, the loss of Wetlands is extra distinguished in Urban areas.
Wetlands International of South Asia was established in the year 1996, with an office in New Delhi, as a section of the Wetlands International community to promote conservation and sustainable improvement of wetlands in the South Asia region.
New Ramsar Sites:
The Ramsar Convention has specified four new wetlands in India, as wetlands of world importance.
Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary which is the largest wetland in Haryana is a human-made freshwater wetland.
Sultanpur National Park from Haryana helps more than 220 species of resident, iciness migratory and nearby migratory waterbirds at integral degrees of their existence cycles.
The Thol Lake Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat lies on the Central Asian Flyway and more than 320 chook species can be found here.
Wadhwana Wetland from Gujarat is internationally necessary for its birdlife as it provides a wintering floor to migratory waterbirds, such as over 80 species that migrate on the Central Asian Flyway.
First Cattle Genomic Chip of India – IndiGau
India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip IndiGau was released. IndiGau is India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip for the conservation of pure types of indigenous cattle breeds like Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole, etc.
About IndiGau:
This indigenous chip was once developed by way of the concerted efforts of scientists of the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad, an self-reliant institution underneath the aegis of the Department of Biotechnology.
According to the announcement released, IndiGau is the biggest cattle chip in the world.
It has 11,496 markers (SNPs) extra than that placed on 777K Illumina chips of US & UK breeds.
IndiGau will have sensible utility in the authorities schemes to attain the purpose of conservation of the indigenous breeds with better characteristics.
SNP chip:
SNP chip is a small sliver of glass, about the dimension of a fingernail, into which are etched a very giant variety of very small pits. Each of these hold a tiny quantity of DNA, which has been extracted from the tissue pattern of an animal or plant and can be ‘read’ via a DNA sequence-reading machine.
SonChiraya Launched by MoHUA
The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the manufacturer -‘SonChiraiya’ – for Urban SHG products.
Details:
The ‘SonChiraiya’ company and logo used to be launched by way of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for advertising urban Self-Help Group (SHG) products.
This initiative will prove as a step in the right direction in the direction of expanded visibility and world entry for the products made through city SHG women.
The Ministry expects to hyperlink many extra such SHG members, with a range of professionally packaged, homemade ethnic products, accomplishing the doorsteps of the clients globally.
Launch of Vehicle Scrappage Policy
PM Narendra Modi launched the Vehicle Scrappage Policy in India on Friday, 13 August, at the Gujarat Investor Summit and requested youths and start-ups to be part of the programme.
Highlights:
Personal vehicles older than 20 years and business automobiles older than 15 years will have to bear a health test at government registered ‘automated fitness centres’.
Vehicles that fail to omit the test will be declared as ‘end-of-life vehicles’ that means that they would have to be recycled. Thus, paving the way for older motors to be scrapped.
In case, the automobiles ignore the test, the proprietors will have to pay a hefty rate for re-registration that would be hiked to around eight instances for non-public vehicles, and around 20 times for commercial vehicles.
The coverage is a waste-to-wealth mission and an important phase of the round financial system that will reduce pollution in our cities and additionally replicate the government’s dedication toward speedy development.
The policy will additionally convey investments worth extra than Rs 10,000 crore and, in the process, create employment possibilities for lots of youngsters.
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