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Aurobindo Ashram School building inaugurated in Nepal

January 23, 2020

Dr. Ajay Kumar, the Charge d’ Affairs of Embassy of India in Nepal ceremonially inaugurated new building of Aurobindo Ashram School in Thankot, Kathmandu. The programme was attended by Director General, Department of Urban Development and Building Construction of Nepal, Mani Ram Gelal along with political and community leaders.

The three storey building comprises eleven class rooms, three labs, four store rooms, two staff rooms, rooms for – accounts, administration, record, library and principal. It also has examination and multi-purpose hall. The new infrastructure is constructed with the Government of India’s grant assistance of 25 million Nepali rupees.

Brexit divorce law approved by UK Parliament

January 23, 2020

The Brexit divorce deal completed its passage through Parliament on Wednesday evening, ensuring that the U.K. will leave the European Union at the end of the month. After passing the upper and lower parliamentary chambers, the Brexit divorce deal that Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU last year now just needs signoff from the queen to become British law.

On the European side, the EU council and commission presidents are due to sign off on the agreement Friday. The European Parliament needs to vote it through next Wednesday, but that step is considered a formality. The passage of the bill through Parliament ends nearly four years of British political paralysis sparked by the vote to leave the EU in 2016.

Mr. Johnson’s commanding majority in Parliament following his December election victory meant that the Brexit deal went through Parliament un-amended. It paves the way for the U.K. to end its 47-year relationship with the EU on the evening of January 31.

Dharmendra Pradhan launches ‘SERVICE’ to promote Philanthropist Activities

January 23, 2020

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched a scheme ‘SERVICE‘ of SAIL to promote Voluntary Philanthropist Activities (VPA) by its employees. 

The scheme called “SAIL Employee Rendering Voluntarism and Initiatives for Community Engagement (SERVICE)” will promote and facilitate philanthropist activities by the employees in a structured manner. 

The Minister also launched “SAIL SERVICE” portal for implementation of this Scheme, it shall act as a platform for enabling faster interaction and communication amongst the various stakeholders.

Telangana: Closure of Hindustan Fluorocarbons plant approved

January 23, 2020

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved closure of Hindustan Fluorocarbons Ltd (HFL), a central public sector enterprise with just 88 employees. The decision was taken in a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

HFL has only one plant located at Rudraram, District Sangareddy in Telangana. HFL has been making losses since 2013-14 and has negative net worth. Government granted a interest free loan of over 77 crore rupees to HFL for expenditure exclusively on closure.

India, Tunisia, Papua New Guinea to sign MoU on elections

January 23, 2020

The Union cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval allowing the Election Commission (EC) to sign memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with its counterparts in Tunisia and Papua New Guinea.

The EC will enter into MoUs with the Independent High Authority for Elections of Tunisia (ISIE) and the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC) for cooperation in the field of electoral management and administration.

The Cabinet also gave its nod for the four agreements between India and Brazil in the field of oil and natural gas, Geology and Mineral Resources, mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and cooperation in the field of early childhood care.

Nation pays tribute to Subhas Chandra Bose on his 123rd birth anniversary

January 23, 2020

The nation pays tribute to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 123rd birth anniversary today. It was on this day in 1897, Netaji was born in Cuttack, Odisha. President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have paid tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

In West Bengal, Governor Jaghdeep Dhankhar will pay floral tribute at the statue of Netaji in Kolkata. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will pay homage at a function in Darjeeling this afternoon. State Government is organizing Subhash Utsav in each Blocks of the state.

People from all works of life are visiting the house of Netaji in South Kolkata since early morning to pay their homage to the great hero of the freedom movement. Netaji Research Bureau has also organized programmes in Kolkata on the occasion.

Rs 4300 cr approved to establish permanent campuses for new NITs

January 23, 2020

Union Cabinet approved the Revised Cost Estimates for establishment of permanent campuses of new National Institutes of Technology, NITs, at a total cost of 4371.90 crore rupees for the period till 2021-2022. These NITs will be fully functional from their permanent campuses by 31st March, 2022.

At a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet approved funds for the NITs in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Puducherry and Delhi. It also approved the extension of tenure of the Commission constituted under Article 340 of the Constitution by six months till 31st July 2020, to examine the issue of sub-categorization within Other Backward Classes in the Central List.  

Cabinet has also granted approval to addition of Term of Reference to the existing ToR of the Commission which include studying various Entries in the Central List of OBCs and recommending correction of any repetitions, ambiguities, inconsistencies and errors of spelling or tranion. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, Daman will be the capital of newly carved out Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. 

Avadi Ordnance Factory doubles the manufacturing capacity of Battle Tanks

January 23, 2020

The engine manufacturing capacity for the battle tanks in the Indian Ordnance Board’s Engines Factory near Chennai has been more than doubled to 750 per annum to meet the increasing demand of the Indian Army. It was earlier fixed at 350 engines per year, as stated by the Board Chairman, Hari Mohan.

The new system is the first to be installed in any of the Ordnance Factories in the country to help increase productivity. The Engine Factory at Avadi is the only unit in the country dedicated to manufacturing fully indigenized engines for the Army’s Main Battle Tanks.

ISRO unveils ‘Vyommitra’ robot for Gaganyaan Space Mission

January 23, 2020

‘Vyommitra’ or ‘friend in the sky‘ a female humanoid robot for Gaganyaan Space Mission has been unveiled by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ISRO has planned to execute two unmanned missions in December 2020 and June 2021, before the Ganganyaan mission. The inaugural session of the “Human Spaceflight and Exploration – Present Challenges and Future Trends” was held in Bengaluru.

ISRO chairman K Sivan stated, the humanoid will simulate human functions in space and also interact with the environment control life support system, it will check whether the system is right. This will be very useful to simulate, as if a human is flying.

Indian Navy signs MoU with Geological Survey of India for offshore data

January 23, 2020

Indian Navy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Geological Survey of India (GSI) for ‘Sharing of seabed sediments data, products and expertise for Naval Application in Meteorology and Oceanography’. The MoU was signed on 21 January 2020 between Commodore AA Abhyankar, who heads Indian Navy’s Oceanology and Meteorology Directorate and Shri N Maran, Deputy Director General of GSI.

GSI’s Marine and Coastal survey Division based at Mangaluru has mapped most of India’s 2.1 Million square km Exclusive Economic Zone and has a vast repository of offshore data. This data collected using GSI’s state-of-the-art oceanic research vessels Samudra Manthan, Samudra Kaustubh, Samudra Shaudhikama and Samudra Ratnakar, will now be used by Indian Navy’s rapidly growing blue water fleet for reliable and accurate oceanographic modeling to support their expansive maritime operations in the Indian Ocean region.