1) NITI Aayog To Host Investors’ Conference For Development Of Islands
•NITI Aayog will host an Investors’ Conference at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra for the Holistic Development of Islands. The Conference will be inaugurated by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog. It will attract investment for the sustainable development of eco-tourism projects in Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands.
•The 11 anchor tourism projects are proposed to be implemented with private sector participation under suitable risk-sharing model and through open-competitive bidding.
2) Rajasthan 1st State To Implement Biofuel Policy
•Rajasthan has become the first State in the country to implement the national policy on biofuels unveiled by the Centre this year. The desert State will lay emphasis on increasing production of oilseeds and establish a Centre for Excellence in Udaipur to promote research in the fields of alternative fuels and energy resources.
•The policy on biofuels seeks to help farmers dispose of their surplus stock in an economic manner and reduce the country’s oil import dependence.
3) India, Germany Sign Pact On Financial And Technical Cooperation
•India and Germany have signed an agreement on financial and technical cooperation focusing on sustainable urban development and renewable energy. The government-to-government Umbrella Agreement on Financial Cooperation and Technical Co-operation 2017 is worth about 5,000 thousand crore rupees.
•The agreement under the Indo-German Bilateral Development Cooperation was signed between Joint Secretary in the Finance Ministry, Sameer Kumar Khare, and German Ambassador to India, Martin Ney, in New Delhi.
4) France’s Parliament Signed Into Law, Asylum And Immigration Bill
•France’s Parliament has signed into law a controversial asylum and immigration bill. The bill is designed to accelerate asylum procedures by cutting the maximum processing time from the current 120 days to 90 days after entering France.
•The text was adopted on a final reading by 100 votes in favour to 25 against with 11 abstentions. The Senate had rejected the bill, but the Lower House passed the text as President Emmanuel Macron’s La Republique En Marche party holds a large majority, even if the law has exposed divisions within his own camp.
5) NDA Act 2019 Passed, Capping US Aid To Pakistan To $150 Million
•The United States Congress has passed the National Defense Authorisation Act-2019 (NDAA-19) which capped its security-related aid to Pakistan to $150 million, significantly below the historic level of more than $ 1 billion to $750 million per year.
•This year’s defence legislation removes certain conditions like action against Haqqani network or Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as was the case in the past few years for disbursement of US aid to Pakistan.
6) Indian-Origin Mathematician Akshay Venkatesh Wins Prestigious Fields Medal
•Akshay Venkatesh, a renowned Indian-Australian mathematician, is one of four winners of mathematics’prestigious Fields medal, known as the Nobel prize for math. New Delhi-born Venkatesh, 36, who is currently teaching at Stanford University, has won the Fields Medal for his profound contributions to an exceptionally broad range of subjects in mathematics.
•Each winner receives a 15,000 Canadian-dollar cash prize. The other three winners are: Caucher Birkar, a Cambridge University professor of Iranian Kurdish origin; Germany’s Peter Scholze, who teaches at the University of Bonn and Alessio Figalli, an Italian mathematician at ETH Zurich.
7) IWAI Launches Dedicated Portal FOCAL For Cargo Owners And Shippers
•The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has launched a dedicated portal to connect cargo owners and shippers with real-time data on the availability of vessels. The portal has been named as the Forum of Cargo Owners and Logistics Operators (FOCAL) and it will facilitate responses from the logistics operators against the requirement raised by cargo owners and vice-versa.
•It has been designed and developed by the in-house IT Department and the traffic wing of IWAI as part of its preparedness for optimal use of its ongoing capacity development on various National Waterways.
8) Lewis Hamilton Wins 6th Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix
•Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes won the Hungarian Grand Prix for the 6th time, at the Hungaroring circuit, in Hungary. This is the 67th career victory for Lewis Hamilton.
•Daniel Ricciardo was named Driver of the Day by Formula One for finishing at fourth position after starting from the 12th position. Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari finished second in the race.
