KERALA

Ernakulam gets national award for reviving water sources

Ernakulam district has grabbed the second position among south Indian states in central government’s National Water Award 2018 for rehabilitation and revival of water sources.

Madurai got the first place in the category which included districts from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Pondicherry and Lakshadweep.

The water-protection measures undertaken by the district for reviving ponds, lakes and other waterbodies over the last two years were considered for the award. Rainwater harvesting projects by the district were also considered for the award.

Around 113 public ponds were cleaned and 156 public ponds were revived under a 100-pond revival project that was implemented with public participation in the district in 2018.

In 2018 under the NREGA project ‘Jala Samrudhi’, 150 new ponds were dug up in the district during April, May and June. In the same year, storage of 4,812 lakh litres was achieved through the project.

The Ente Kulam project is the one of the main drought-mitigation programme implemented by the district administration and also one of the most successful initiatives of large-scale water conservation methods undertaken in Ernakulam.

INTERNATIONAL

International Mother Language Day: 21 February

International Mother Language Day is celebrated every year on 21st February.

The main purpose of celebrating this day is to promote the awareness of language and cultural diversity all across the world.

It was first announced by UNESCO on November 17, 1999. Since then it is being celebrated every year.

The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh the 21 February is the anniversary of the day when Bangladeshis fought for recognition for the Bangla language.

Saudi Arabia joins International Solar Alliance

Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to become the 73rd member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

The organisation now has a total of 122 member countries.

The signing of the agreement took place after a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who arrived on a state visit to India.

NATIONAL

Operation Digital Board launched to provide better digital education

Government has launched Operation Digital Board on the lines of Operation Blackboard to provide better digital education in schools.
Under the initiative seven lakh classrooms of 9th, 10th and 11th standards and two lakh classrooms of colleges and Universities will be equipped with digital boards in the next three years.

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said that it will convert the monologue classrooms into interactive ones.

It will also improve the quality of education and offer new opportunities and new ways of teaching and learning.

OFB gets clearance for producing 114 long-range artillery gun ‘Dhanush’

The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has received a bulk production clearance from the Indian Army and the Defence Ministry for production of 114 ‘Dhanush’ artillery guns.

‘Dhanush’ is the first long-range artillery gun to be produced in India.

It is a major success story of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

It is the product of efforts by the OFB and the Army with various contributions.

Government relaxes Angel Tax Norms for Start-ups

The Union government has liberalised angel tax rules, exempting registered start-ups of a specified size from the tax.

Investments of up to Rs. 25 crore in an eligible company will be exempt from the angel tax.

In addition, investments made by a listed company with a networth of at least Rs. 100 crore or a turnover of at least Rs. 250 crore will also be exempt.

Also an entity shall be considered a startup upto 10 years from its date of incorporation / registration instead of the existing period of 7 years.

· Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, launched SWAYATT in New Delhi

Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation launched SWAYATT in New Delhi.
SWAYATT-an initiative to encourage Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage Through eTransactions on Government e-Marketplace (GeM).
It aims at creating a conducive atmosphere for interaction between key stakeholders within our entrepreneurial ecosystem and Government e-Marketplace which is the national procurement portal.
A Startup Runway which is an initiative under the collaboration of GeM with Startup India, established to provide help to start-ups, registered with Startup India so that it can gain access to the public procurement market and sell innovative products and services to government buyers.

· PM Modi inaugurated supercomputer ‘PARAM Shivay’ at IIT-BHU

Supercomputer named ‘PARAM Shivay‘ of 833 teraflop capacity is built for ₹32.5 crore, at IIT-Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
It will include 1 peta byte secondary storage.
It was built under the ₹4,500-croreNational Supercomputing Mission (NSM), under which 73 supercomputers would be installed.
India’s first supercomputer called PARAM 8000was launched in 1991.

· Kerala Police inducts India’s first humanoid robot officer

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inducted India’s first humanoid robot ‘KP-BOT‘, gendered female, into the Kerala Police force at the rank of Sub-Inspector (SI).
It’ll receive the visitors & direct them to different places according to their needs.

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