Category: All Current Affairs

Rajnath Singh flags off 51st K9 VAJRA-T at L&T Gujarat

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flagged off 51st K9 VAJRA-T Gun from Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Armoured System Complex at Hazira in Gujarat. The gun weighs 50 tonnes and can fire 47-kilogram bombs at targets up to a distance of 43 kilometres.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion, Rajnath Singh called for an active participation of the private sector in defence manufacturing, reaffirming the government’s commitment to make India an arms manufacturing hub and net defence exporter.

Rajnath Singh assured that the government will make all efforts to remove any roadblock and work together to achieve the goal of indigenisation and self-reliance in defence sector.

IIM-Indore partners with TikTok for management lessons

The Indian Institute of Management, Indore has signed an MoU with the video sharing platform “TikTok“. The MoU will facilitate the production of short video modules for students and trained professionals.

These videos will be catered to the existing student demographic of IIM Indore, facilitating management courses at the institute. These include professionals working in managerial positions, entrepreneurs as well as government officials.

Since Tik Tok is a social media platform that is quite popular among the youth, this novel approach to imparting management education by one of the top B-Schools in India can be seen as a smart move. It is a good step towards modernising education and making it more accessible.

The South Central Railway zone signs MoU with SBI for “doorstep banking”

The South Central Railway (SCR) zone of Indian Railways has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with State Bank of India for “doorstep banking” that will enable direct collection of earnings. The MoU will coverall the 585 railway stations of the zone. The MOU was signed on January 13, 2020 by the SCR zone and the SBI officials in Secunderabad.

According to the MOU, the direct pick up of cash from all the railway stations under the SCR zone dispenses with the complex as well as tedious step of movement of cash earnings through the ‘cash safes’ by trains. This doorstep banking system will allow an easier and hassle free collection of traffic earnings by the SBI and will also allow remittance into the government account, by avoiding delay in transmission of the cash earnings.

National Book Trust appoints Lt Col Yuvraj Malik as the Director

Lt Col Yuvraj Malik appointed as the Director of the National Book Trust on deputation from the Indian Army. He will replace Sahitya Akademi-awardee writer Rita Chowdhury. He has 15 years of administrative experience in various capacities in government organizations.

He served with the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, Raj Bhawan in Jammu & Kashmir, United Nations Missions in Africa, and several operational areas in administrative and operational assignments, including Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Punjab, and Rajasthan.

Gujarat: Chief Minister launched the 7th Economic Census process

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani launched the 7th Economic Census process in the state. The Economic Census process organized by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with the help of Common Service Centres. Around 40 thousand enumerators will use mobile applications for the first time to gather information under the guidance of 6,500 supervisors.

The enumerators will personally visit door to door for necessary information like members of the family, their economic activity, whether it is shop, office, or factory. It will continue till 30th June 2020. The entire data will be compiled on 30th September 2020. The data of this Economic Census will be classified into the village, taluka, and district-wise to be developed into a National Business Register. This will be a very useful document for application into socio-economic issues of the country.

‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ Indo-Japanese joint exercise begins off Chennai Coast

Indian and Japanese coast guards participated in a joint exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ on January 16. The aim is to strengthen the bond between the two countries. One ship of the Japanese Coast Guard and four ships and an aircraft of the Indian Coast Guard took part in the exercise. The exercise marked demonstrations of search and rescue, external fire-fighting and sharing of best practices.

Led by Commanding Officer Captain Kiyoshi Harada, the ‘Ehigo PLH08’ and the four ships and a Dornier aircraft of Indian Coast Guard participated in the 5-day drill in the Bay of Bengal around 50 nautical miles off Chennai.

ISRO successfully launched GSAT-30 satellite aboard Ariane rocket

ISRO successfully launched India’s “high power” communication satellite GSAT-30, onboard Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. GSAT-30 is an operational communication satellite aimed at providing high-quality television, telecommunications and broadcasting services.

The 3,357-kg satellite, was deployed from the lower passenger position of Ariane-5 launch vehicle (VA 251) into to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). EUTELSAT KONNECT – which was produced by Thales Alenia Space for Eutelsat – was riding in the upper position of Ariane 5’s payload arrangement, and was released first in the flight sequence at 27 minutes following liftoff.

GSAT-30 is to serve as replacement to the “aging” INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage. Since the launch of India’s APPLE experimental satellite on Ariane Flight L03 in 1981, Arianespace has orbited 24 satellites, including GSAT-30, for the Indian space agency.