Suresh Prabhu launches ‘ReUnite’ mobile app to trace missing children

  • Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, launched a mobile application called ReUnite.
  • The app will help to track and trace missing and abandoned children in India.
  • The multiuser app will allow parents and citizens to upload pictures of children, providing details such as name, birth mark and address, and report it to the police.
  • The app will use Amazon Rekognition, a web facial recognition service, to identify missing children.

Govt notifies Electoral Bond Scheme 2018

  • The Government of India has launched the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018, under which anyone who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India will be able to purchase Electoral Bonds.
  • The scheme allows people to purchase Electoral Bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.
  • Electoral Bonds will be encashable by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorized Bank, State Bank of India.

Railways eliminates all unmanned level crossings from 4 zones

  • The Indian railways has eliminated all unmanned level crossings from four zones. It had targeted to remove all such crossings in 11 of its zones by September 2018.
  • On broad gauge routes, West Central Railway, Central Railway, Eastern Railway and South East Central Railway – which jointly cover 11,545 route kilometres – have become free of Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLCs).

NITI Aayog partners with GNFC for fertilizer subsidy

  • NITI Aayog and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GNFC) have reached an agreement to use Blockchain Technology for management of fertiliser subsidy disbursement.
  • From the partnership, NITI Aayog will gain experience and be able to suggest policy recommendations and actions in strengthening the subsidy mechanism.
  • The aim is to make it more transparent and immune to leakages.
  • Currently, fertilizer subsidy disbursal takes two to three months’ time and involved multiple entities, making the process very cumbersome.

NASA to launch world’s lightest satellite designed by Chennai students

  • Four first year engineering students from Chennai have built what might just be the world’s smallest and lightest satellite.
  • NASA plans to launch the mini-satellite into space in August 2018, along with other scientific material.
  • The 4cm ‘cube’ satellite is named Jai Hind-1S and weighs only 33.39 grams.
  • It was built using a 3D printer; the outer casing is made from polylactic acid (PLA) nylon material.

NITI Aayog releases first Delta ranking of Aspirational Districts

  • NITI Aayog has launched the first Delta ranking for the Aspirational Districts.
  • The rankings cover five developmental areas – Health and Nutrition; Education; Agriculture and Water Resources; Financial Inclusion and Skill Development; and Basic Infrastructure.
  • The aim of these rankings is to spur a sense of competition among the dynamic teams in the districts.
  • The rankings are calculated based on self-reported data from the districts.

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