1) IIEST creates India's first smart grid project
•IIEST has successfully created the country's first smart grid project, which will generate power from renewable sources of energy.
•The project will be inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee.The smart grid will be synchronized to generate power from solar, wind and vegetable waste resources, depending on the weather conditions and availability of waste products. It is the first of its kind in the country.
2) J&K to host 14th GST Council meet in Srinagar
•The Jammu and Kashmir government is hosting the 14th Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council meeting in the summer capital Srinagar beginning today (18th May 2017). The State administration is gearing up for the meeting of the GST Council headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
•The State General Administration Department has appointed 69 KAS officers as liaison officers for the meeting. The GST is a value added tax and is proposed to be a comprehensive indirect tax levied on the manufacture, sale, and consumption of goods as well as services by the Central and State governments. J&K is among 8 States which are yet to ratify the GST.
3) Country's first ornamental fish park to come up at Chennai
•India's first Aquatic Rainbow Technology Park, an ultra modern exclusive facility for ornamental fish equipped with multi-species hatchery and live feed culture units, will become operational at Chennai in coming three months.
•Fulfilling a major requirement of the industry for mass production of high value aquarium fish the facility was being developed by Fisheries College and Research Institute (FCRI), Ponneri in Tamil Nadu the second largest exporter of ornamental fish after West Bengal.
4) Cabinet approves construction of 10 units of India’s indigenous Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors
•In a significant decision to fast-track India’s domestic nuclear power program, and give a push to country’s nuclear industry, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for construction of 10 units of India’s indigenous Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR).
•The total installed capacity of the Plants will be 7000 MW. The 10 PHWR project will result in a significant augmentation of nuclear power generation capacity. India has current installed nuclear power capacity of 6780 MW from 22 operational plants. Another 6700 MWs of nuclear power is expected to come onstream by 2021-22 through projects presently under construction.
•It would be one of the flagship “Make in India” projects in this sector. It also supports India’s commitment to sustainable development, energy self-sufficiency and bolsters global efforts to combat climate change.
5) SpaceX launches Inmarsat communications satellite
•The USA based SpaceX has launched a communications satellite for Inmarsat, marking its first launch for the London-based mobile broadband company.
•The Inmarsat-5 F4 satellite, built by Boeing, blasted off atop Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite is the fourth in the company's Global Xpress (GX) constellation, aimed at providing high-speed mobile broadband service.
6) Andhra Pradesh Amends Act to appoint PV Sindhu as Group-1 officer
•The Andhra Pradesh Legislature passed a Bill to appoint Olympics silver medalist P V Sindhu as a Group-1 officer in the government, by amending the State Public Services Act.
•Certain provisions in the Andhra Pradesh (Regulation of Appointments to Public Services and Rationalization of Staff Pattern and Pay Structure) Act, 1994, prevented the appointment of the badminton player as any recruitment in public service should only be through the AP Public Service Commission, selection committee or employment exchange.
•To give effect to the Cabinet resolution, the government decided to amend Section 4 of the aforementioned law to enable the appointment of Sindhu directly in the cadre of a revenue divisional officer.
