Focus Merit

Category: National Current Affairs

Russia to deliver five S-400 air defence systems by 2025

January 18, 2020

Russia has started production of S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile systems for India. All five units will be delivered to India by 2025. The S-400 air defence missile systems are among the best in the world and it would serve well for Indian security.

India signed a USD 43-billion deal with Russia for the purchase of five S-400 systems during the 19th India-Russia Annual Bilateral Summit in New Delhi on October 5, 2018, for long-term security needs.

NITI Aayog and Ladakh UT sign MoU to develop infrastructure projects

January 18, 2020

NITI Aayog entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Union Territory of Ladakh administration on 17 January 2020. The MoU NITI Aayog will be supporting the UT’s administration through its crucial initiative Development Support Services to States for Infrastructure Projects (D3S-i).

The MoU executed in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Joint Secretary MC Jauhari. It will be signed by NITI Aayog Senior Adviser Dr. Yogesh Suri and Adviser to the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Umang Narula.

NITI Aayog committed to assist the UT’s administration in creating a strategic plan for identifying prioritized infrastructure projects and by providing end-to-end transaction-management support for the identified projects.

India to host 19th SCO Heads of Government meeting 2020

January 17, 2020

The 19th council of heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will be hosted by India later this year. This would be the first high-level meeting of the SCO that would be organised here since India’s admission to the eight-member grouping. The SCO Heads of Government meeting will be held in India in the second half in autumn.

SCO General Secretary Vladimir Norov, who arrived on Sunday on a four-day trip, made the announcement on the sidelines of an event. India took over the presidency of the heads of government’ meeting last year and it was announced in the 18th meeting of the SCO’s Council of heads of government-held in Tashkent in 2019.

Henley Passport Index 2020: India ranks 84th, Japan told

January 17, 2020

Henley Passport Index 2020 recently released the rankings of the world’s most powerful passports. The rankings of these passports are based on data collected from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The list included passports of 199 countries and 227 tourist places. This list has been prepared based on new visa policies. The list included the most powerful and weakest passport of the world.

Japan has topped the Index for third consecutive year followed by Singapore, Germany, and South Korea. The Indian passport ranked 84th, along with Tajikistan and Mauritania. The top 10 most powerful passports for 2020 are Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Finland, Spain, USA and UK, Luxembourg, Denmark. Afghanistan is among the world’s worst passports.

PM Modi renames Kolkata Port Trust after BJP icon Syama Prasad Mukherjee

January 12, 2020

PM Narendra Modi announced to rename Kolkata Port Trust as Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Port on the occasion of 150th years celebration of Kolkata Port Trust. He dedicated a Commemorative Stamp to mark 150 years of Kolkata port trust to India.

PM Modi launched several Port led development projects worth Rs 600 cr rupees to mark the day. The projects include upgraded Ship repair facility at Netaji Subhash Dry Dock, upgraded railway infrastructure of Kolkata dock system of the Kolkata Port for smooth cargo movement and river front development scheme.

PM Modi honored two oldest pensioners of the Port Smt. Nagina Bhagat of 105 years and 100-year old Naresh Chandra Chakraborty on the occasion besides launching the Port Anthem at the event. He also advocated for expansion of water based tourism in the country besides creating new infrastructures in Port connected cities.

State Energy Efficiency Index 2019 unveiled by Union Govt.

January 11, 2020

The Union Government has released the “State Energy Efficiency Index 2019”. The index was released during the ‘Review, Planning and Monitoring (RPM)’ meeting held in New Delhi. The index is developed by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) along with Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE). The SEE Index 2019 traces the expansion and achievements of Energy Efficiency (EE) drives running in 36 states and union territories. The State Energy Efficiency Index 2019 was topped by Haryana, Karnataka and Kerala while Manipur, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Rajasthan performed worst in their respective groups.

Union Home Minister inaugurates the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre

January 11, 2020

Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) and also dedicated National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal to the nation . This state-of-the-art Centre is located in New Delhi. The scheme to set up I4C was approved in October 2018 at an estimated cost of around 416 crore rupees to deal with all types of cyber-crimes with specific focus on crimes against women, children, particularly child pornography, child sex abuse material, online content pertaining to rapes.

At the initiative of Home Ministry, 15 States and UTs have given their consent to set up Regional Cyber Crime Coordination Centres. It constitutes 7 elements: National Cyber Crime Research and Innovation Centre, National Cyber Crime Forensic Laboratory Ecosystem, National Cyber Crime Training Centre, Cyber Crime Ecosystem Management Unit, National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit, National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and Platform for Joint Cyber Crime Investigation Team.

On the other hand, National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) is a citizen-centric initiative that will enable citizens to report cyber-crimes online through the portal. All the cyber-crime related complaints will be accessed by the concerned law enforcement agencies in the States and Union Territories for taking action as per law. This portal was launched on pilot basis on 30th August, 2019. 

23rd National Youth Festival 2020 begins in Lucknow

January 11, 2020

On the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, 23rd National Youth Festival 2020 started with a grand inauguration ceremony in Lucknow, Uttar. The festival will take place between from 12th to 16th January.

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the State Government of Uttar Pradesh are jointly organising the national youth festival. The objective of NYF is to provide a platform to bring the youth of the country together in an attempt to provide them opportunity to showcase their talents in various activities.

The theme of the 23rd National Youth Festival 2020 is ‘FIT YOUTH FIT INDIA’ in pursuance of the goal of Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi for New India to be a fit India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed youth of country to try only to purchase local products By 2020 which will help our countrymen.

Indian scientists receive ‘Merck Young Scientist Award 2019’

January 11, 2020

Indian researchers have received first Merck Young Scientist Award 2019 in Chemical Sciences recently at Bangalore instituted by Merck, a science and technology company operating worldwide. Merck Young Scientist Award is given to researchers with less than ten years of experience with expertise in solving some of the toughest problems in chemical sciences. The winners received cash award of INR 2,00,000 and Travel Award of INR 1,50,000

Dr. Sakya Singha Sen, a senior scientist from National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Pune has been awarded for doing remarkable research in chemical science. Sen and his research team specializes in main group chemistry and involves in the synthesis of compounds with main group element and their catalytic application.

The other recipient of the award are Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi (IGIB); Dr Dipyaman Ganguly, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata (CSIR-IICB); Dr Siddhesh S Kamat, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune; Dr Mahendran K .R, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram (RGCB) and; Dr Basker Sundararaju, Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Kanpur.

India needs 6.3% labour productivity growth to achieve 8% GDP: India Ratings

January 10, 2020

India Ratings and Research stated India will have to raise its labour productivity growth to 6.3% to achieve 8% GDP growth while it has to be up by 7.3% in order to achieve economic growth of 9%. The labour productivity growth in the current financial year has been pegged at 5.2%. Labour productivity during 2004-05 to 2007-08 have stood at 8.5%.

It is 40.4% higher than the level attained in FY19. Given the growth slowdown, it looks unlikely in the near term but is not unachievable. India’s labour productivity growth, like other nations, came under pressure in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, especially during FY11-FY15 (5.0%). However, it recovered thereafter and grew at 5.8% during FY16-FY19.