India has extended a line of credit (LoC) of USD 75 million (over Rs 500 crore) to finance solar parks in Cuba. The line of credit is as per agreement signed between Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and Banco Exterior De Cuba for installation of 75 MW Photovoltaic Solar Parks in the Republic of Cuba. Banco Exterior De Cuba is a nominated agency of the Government of Cuba.
Star opening batsman Rohit Sharma laid down the foundation stone for an international cricket stadium and training centre at Heartfulness Institute on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The cricket stadium has been named after Rohit Sharma and this facility will provide the youngsters at the institute to perfect their cricketing skills. The cricket stadium will be 138 meters in diameters.
The cricketer met the spiritual master of the institute, Kamlesh Patel (also known as Daaji) at the global headquarters in Kanha Shantivanam, Chegur, Hyderabad.
World Book Fair 2020 will be organised by the National Book Trust(NBT) in New Delhi
Book Fair will be inaugurated by the Union Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.
Chief Guest of the event will be Gandhian Scholar Girishwar Mishra.
Book Fair will be held from 4 January 2020 to 12 January 2020 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will inaugurate YSR Aarogyasri scheme at Eluru in West Godavari district. The scheme will be inaugurated in each district by respective mandal and district officials. Over one crore individuals will be benefited under this new health scheme. A total of 2,059 medical ailments have been covered under the scheme.
In all, 16,37,230 Aarogyasri cards will be distributed across the State. While a few cards will be handed over on an inaugural day, the rest of the beneficiaries will get them by the end of February. The chief minister has also announced to compensate for wage loss incurred during the post-operative period. With monthly cap of Rs 5,000 Dr YSR Aarogyasri Health Care Trust will pay Rs 225 per day for the prescribed recovery period.
This category of allowance will be applicable for 836 kinds of surgeries out of the total ailments covered under the scheme. Patients suffering from leprosy will also be given Rs 3,000 a month as pension. YSR Aarogyasri scheme is applicable to people having an annual income of up to Rs 5 lakh.
To boost the digital payments, the government has stated that all businesses with a turnover of Rs 50 crore or more have to operationalise payments through Rupay and Bhim UPI, failing which they have to pay a hefty penalty of Rs 5,000 per day from February 1.
The value of UPI transactions had breached the Rs 2 lakh crore mark in December last year, witnessing a 100 per cent rise year-on-year. It is for the first time since UPI’s inception in 2016 that the value of transactions has reached Rs 2 lakh crore.
The surge has gone in favour of private sector players such as Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe, which dominate the UPI space as most of the transactions are done via these platforms. Government-run BHIM, which also uses UPI, still trails its private sector peers.
However, after this Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notification comes into place, the market will tilt in favour of Rupay and Bhim, with both expected to see a major boost. The CBDT notification says that business establishments with an annual turnover of more than Rs 50 crore, shall offer low-cost digital modes of payment (such as BHIM UPI, UPI QR Code, Aadhaar Pay, Debit Cards, NEFT, RTGS etc.) to their customers, and no charge or Merchant Discount Rates (MDR) shall be imposed on customers and merchants.
VilLgro Innovation Foundation, one of the country’s top social enterprise incubators has collaborated with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) for a $2.5 million initiative to support start-ups working on clean energy solutions.
The initiative aims to provide dedicated capital, technical and sectoral growth support to at least five enterprises which are deploying innovative, clean energy-powered livelihood appliances and shall enable them to undertake large scale commercial deployments over a period of three years. Investment firms like Caspian Debt, Upaya Social Ventures and others have been roped in under the initiative.
Start-ups that leverage cleantech and renewable energy sources are slowly gaining traction in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Karnataka, which is home to one-fourth of all start-ups in the country has also emerged as the highest renewable energy producer according to a report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurates the three-day National Traders Convention at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi. He stated that government is committed to protect the interests of traders and to promote ease of doing business.
The convention has been organised by Confederation of All India Traders and will deliberate upon various issues concerning traders.
A Yoga Science meet was organised as part of the ongoing Indian Science Congress in Bengaluru. The head of SVYASA Yoga deemed University Dr. HR Nagendra spoke on the benefits of Yoga in busting stress, healing the mind, body and soul thereby insulating those doing yoga from diseases.
Dr. Indranil Basu Ray, a cardiologist from Canada spoke on Yoga research. He pointed out that meditation and yoga can compose our body and mind and give relief from any anxiety and stress. The penultimate day of 107th Indian Science Congress in Bengaluru will focus on farming and rural development .
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 5 new scientific laboratories of DRDO in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad, which will employ only scientists under the age of 35 to develop cutting-edge and futuristic technologies for military weaponry.
A committee, chaired by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the government, K Vijay Raghavan, has selected the directors of these laboratories. Each lab is working on key advanced technology of importance to the development of futuristic defense systems.
Research in the area of rapidly evolving artificial intelligence will be carried out at Bengaluru. The all-important area of quantum technology will be based out of IIT Mumbai. The future is dependent on cognitive technologies and IIT Chennai will house the lab embarking in this area of research.
New and futuristic areas of asymmetric technologies, which will change the way wars are fought, will be based out of the campus of Jadavpur University, Kolkata. The research in hot and critical areas of smart materials and their applications will be based out of Hyderabad.
Prince William announced The Earthshot Prize, the most prestigious environment prize in history to encourage new solutions to tackling climate change. Itwill be awarded to five people every year over the next decade, and aims to provide at least 50 answers to some of the greatest problems facing the planet by 2030.
The prize, inspired by US president John F. Kennedy’s ambitious “Moonshot” lunar programme in the 1960s, promises “a significant financial award”.
They include promoting new ways of addressing climate change and issues surrounding energy, nature and biodiversity, the oceans, air pollution and fresh water.