India’s 1st CoE for Skill Development in Power Sector inaugurated in Gurugram

1. India’s 1st CoE for Skill Development in Power Sector inaugurated in Gurugram

• The Minister of State for Skill Development, Raj Kumar Singh has inaugurated the first Centre of Excellence (CoE) for ‘skill development in the power sector’ in Gurugram.
• The CoE has been established in the campus of National Institute of Solar Energy, Gurugram, Haryana.
• This new centre has been set up by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, in collaboration with the Ministry of National Education and Youth, Government of France and Schneider Electric.
• It has high-end modern labs designed keeping in mind the future technology, which will further strengthen India and France’s relationship in the energy sector.
• The centre will design and deliver Training for Trainers, Instructors, Training of Assessors and other high-end programmes in the power and solar sector.

2. Singapore’s ‘Hawker’ Culture gets UNESCO recognition

• The Hawker Culture of street food in Singapore has been inducted by UNESCO in its prestigious ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’.
• The Hawker Culture is a popular Singaporean style of street dining and culinary practices in a multicultural urban environment.
• Hawker centres are naturally-ventilated premises with stalls selling food from various cultures like Chinese, Malay, Indian, among others.
• The Hawkers of Singapore are known to master a variety of cuisines which they serve at the ‘community dining rooms’ where people from across all walks of life gather and share their unique experiences.

3. “Varasat” campaign launched in Uttar Pradesh

• The Uttar Pradesh government has launched a special campaign ‘Varasat’ (natural succession) to curb property & land-related disputes in rural areas.
• This is a first of its kind campaign in the state which aims to put an end the land-related issues in the rural areas and eradicate the exploitation of the villagers over succession rights by land mafias, who generally target disputed properties. The two-month-long special drive will continue till 15th February 2020.
• Under the arrangements, the villagers will get both online and offline facilities for registering their ‘Varasat’.
• For the people who have landed in the village but they are living at some other place, a special counter will be opened at the Tehsil-level where they can apply for the same.

4. RBI extends restrictions on PMC Bank for 3 months

• Reserve Bank of India has further extended the restrictions on crisis-ridden Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank by three months till 31 March 2021. The bank has also received four Expression of Interest (EoI) for its revival.
• To examine them, the bank would need some more time. These proposals will be examined by the bank with regard to their viability and feasibility taking into account the best interest of the depositors.
• As per the Expression of Interest, the bank wants to identify a suitable equity investor/ group of investors willing to take over management control so as to revive the bank and commence regular day-to-day operations.

5. Rajnath Singh inaugurates advanced “HWT” test facility in Hyderabad

• Union Minister of Defence, Rajnath Singh has inaugurated the advanced Hypersonic Wind Tunnel (HWT) test facility of the DRDO in Hyderabad, Telangana.
• The state-of-the-art HWT Test facility has made India as the only third country in the world, after the US and Russia, to have such a huge facility in size and capability.
• The indigenously developed HWT Test facility is a pressure vacuum-driven enclosed free jet facility having a nozzle exit diameter of 1 metre. This will simulate Mach No 5 to 12 (Mach represents the multiplication factor to the speed of sound)”.
• The facility has the capability to simulate hypersonic flow over a wide spectrum and will play a major role in the realization of highly complex futuristic aerospace and defence systems.

6. Rajnath Singh hands over high-tech systems to chiefs of 3 armed forces

• The Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh recently handed over three indigenously developed high technology systems to chiefs of the three armed forces: the Indian Army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force.
• The three systems namely, Border Surveillance System (BOSS), Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System (IMSAS) and ASTRA Mk-I Missile, have been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

7. 20th IORA Council of Ministers Meeting Held in UAE

• The 20th edition of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Council of Ministers (COM) Meeting via video conferencing under the Chairmanship of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
• The theme of the meeting was “Promoting a Shared Destiny and Path to Prosperity in the Indian Ocean”.
• The Indian delegation was led by V. Muraleedharan, MoS, Ministry of External Affairs. Sri Lanka has assumed the charge of Vice-Chair of IORA for the period 2021-23.

8. S. Jaishankar addresses 5th Annual Global Technology Summit

• The 5th edition of the annual Global Technology Summit (GTS) was organised virtually by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India in collaboration with Carnegie India (CI).
• GTS is one of the four flagship annual conferences organised by MEA. The other three conferences are the Raisina Dialogue, the Geo-economic dialogue, and the Indian Ocean Conference.
• The theme of the 2020 GTS was “The Geopolitics of Technology”. The speakers from included the External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar, and Dr K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

9. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Telecom Skill Excellence Awards announced

• Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has presented the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Telecom Skill Excellence Awards, including a cash award of Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively, to both awardees.
• The nominations were called for the first time for the year 2018.
• Sreenivas Karanam, Bengaluru was selected for the FIRST prize for his contribution in developing a cost-effective customized technical solution under the brand ‘C mobile’, for deep-sea communication, operating along the Kerala coast, facilitating communication among fishermen and issue of weather alerts etc.
• Subrat Kar, New Delhi was selected for the SECOND prize for his innovative solution on development & deployment of a large scale sensor network and devices to avoid a train-animal collision, which works without interfering with natural movements/behaviour of animals, thereby helping in wildlife conservation.

10. Veteran Journalist and first official RSS Spokesperson MG Vaidya passes away

• Senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue, MG Vaidya has passed away.
• He was a veteran journalist, a Sanskrit scholar and the first official spokesperson of the RSS. He became a member of the RSS in 1943.

11. World Bank approves several projects to support development in India

• The World Bank has approved 4 India projects worth over $800 million. The projects will support a range of development initiatives that supports the efforts of India to rebuild itself by creating a sustainable and resilient economy. The projects that have been approved are:
• $400 million Second Accelerating India’s COVID-19 Social Protection Response Program.
• $100 million Chhattisgarh Inclusive Rural and Accelerated Agriculture Growth Project (CHIRAAG).
• $68 million Nagaland: Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources Project.
• $250 million Second Dam Improvement and Rehabilitation Project (DRIP-2).