IT Minister releases ‘Digital North East Vision 2022’ in Guwahati

  • Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has released the ‘Vision Document’ for a digital North East by 2022.
  • The aim is to enhance peoples’ lives by capacity building of government staff and doubling BPO strength in the region.
  • The plan focuses on leveraging digital technologies to transform the lives of the people of the North East and enhance the ease of living.
  • A cloud hub for the North East will be created in Guwahati and capacity building for 50,000 government staff will be taken up in using digital technologies.
  • According to the vision, high speed broadband connectivity in all the uncovered villages in the North Eastern region shall be provided.

India to launch 2nd lunar mission ‘Chandrayaan-2’ on January 3, 2019

  • India will launch its second lunar mission, dubbed Chandrayaan-2, on January 3, 2019.
  • The mission objective is to land on the moon with a lander and rover.
  • The Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission will cost 800-crore rupees.
  • The 3,890-kg Chandrayaan-2 will be launched on board the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-3.
  • The aim is to study lunar conditions and to collect data on the moon’s topography, mineralogy and exosphere.

Government provides Rs.66,000-crore fund to increase India’s forest cover

  • The Centre has unlocked more than 66,000-crore rupees to increase the country’s forest cover.
  • The fund has accumulated over the past 10 years. It is comprised of money deposited by agencies as compensation for diverting forest land for non-forest purposes.
  • 80% of the amount has to be used for plantations, assisted natural regeneration of forests, forest fire prevention, pest and disease control in forests, soil and moisture conservation works, and improvement of wildlife habitat.

Exim Bank signs MoU with BRICS Development Banks

  • India’s Exim Bank has signed a multilateral cooperation agreement with member development banks of BRICS.
  • The aim of the umbrella agreement is to undertake “collaborative research” in distributed ledger/blockchain technology.
  • Under the agreement, the signatories will constitute a joint research working group, which will formulate the research agenda and targeted outcome.

India’s first genetic bank for rare species inaugurated in Hyderabad

  • Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the National Wildlife Genetic Resource Bank.
  • It is India’s first genetic bank for rare species.
  • So far, genetic resources from 23 species of Indian wild animals have been collected and preserved.
  • The facility aims to increase the collection of genetic resources from wildlife by collaborating with zoos across the country.

Individual farmers in Maharashtra can avail of Rs 1.50 lakh loan waiver

  • The Maharashtra government has expanded the scope of the loan waiver scheme by extending the benefits to every member of the farmer’s family, in case of a separate loan account.
  • Earlier, a farmer’s family was considered one unit for the claim waiver of Rs. 1.5 lakh of agricultural debt.
  • More than 35 lakh farmers have benefited from this scheme, for which loans of nearly 14 thousand crore rupees have been waived up to March this year.

Israel opens Visa Application Centre in Kolkata

  • Israel has opened a Visa Application Centre in Kolkata for tourists from West Bengal and the northeastern states.
  • The aim is to encourage more Indian travelers to visit the country.
  • Israel recently announced a reduction in visa fees to Rs.1,100 from its previous Rs.1,700 for Indian citizens.

NASA launches Parker Solar Probe, first probe to ‘touch the sun’

  • NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has been launched from Florida to begin its journey to the Sun on a landmark mission.
  • The mission’s findings will help researchers improve their forecasts of space weather events, which are known to damage satellites and harm astronauts in orbit, disrupt radio communications, and even overwhelm power grids.
  • The probe will fly as close as 15 million miles from the Sun – within the blazing solar atmosphere, known as the corona – closer than anything made by humanity has ever gone before.

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