1) Anji Khad bridge: Indian Railways’ 1st cable-stayed rail bridge
•The Railways Minister Piyush Goyal has announced, India’s first cable-stayed Railways bridge “Anji Khad Bridge” to connects Katra and Reasi in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). This bridge being developed by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL). This bridge is as a part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project.
•The USBRL project also involves the Chenab river bridge. The Chenab Bridge once completed, will become the world’s highest rail bridge.
2) Poba Reserve Forest in Assam will be upgraded to Wildlife Sanctuary
•Assam Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal has announced, Poba Reserve Forest in Dhemaji district would be upgraded to a wildlife sanctuary. The announcement was made during a meeting with senior officials of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Majuli districts at Jonai. Poba Reserve Forest declared in 1924 with an area of 10,522 hectares is home to a large number of flora and fauna.
3) INCOIS Hyderabad observes Swachhata Pakhwada
•The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad observed “Swachhata Pakhwada“. During the event, several activities were conducted to aware people about the mission objectives such as to eradicate open defecation, efficient management of solid and liquid waste, overall cleanliness etc. It also included plantation of trees at ITCOocean campus, single-use plastic avoidance pledge, campus sanitization etc.
•The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad is an autonomous institution under Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. It offers free dedicated ocean information services to the country. Tsunami Early Warning Service, Potential Fishing Zone Advisory Service and Ocean State Forecast Service are the three primary services offered by the institution.
4) Hyderabad Airport gets India’s 1st contactless car parking
•The GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) has introduced India’s first-ever fully contactless airport car parking to provide a safe airport amid COVID-19. GHIAL has also scaled up its NETC (National Electronic Toll Collection) FASTag Car Parking in collaboration with NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India).
•The parking payment is done using the Reloadable Electronic Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag linked to a prepaid account which enables the automatic deduction of the parking charges.
5) Suriname elects Indian-origin ‘Chan’ Santokhi as President
•Indian-origin, Chandrikapersad ‘Chan’ Santokhi has been elected the president of South American country “Suriname”. A former Justice Minister, Santokhi of the Progressive Reform Party (PRP) was elected unopposed. He will succeed Desi Bouterse, a former military strongman, whose National Party of Suriname (NPS) lost the election in May as he sent the country to an economic precipice.
•Suriname is a former Dutch colony where people of Indian descent make up the largest ethnic group comprising 27.4 per cent of the population of 587,000.
6) Defence Ministry entrusts capital procurement powers to Armed Forces
•Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has entrusted capital procurement powers to Armed Forces. The decision was taken during the Special Meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council held under the chairmanship of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh. With this, the Armed Forces will now be able to progress urgent Capital Acquisition Cases upto Rs 300 crores to fulfil their emergent operational requirements.
•The new powers to the Armed Forces will decrease the procurement timelines. It will ensure the placement of orders within six months and the delivery within one year. The decision has been taken after considering the security environment caused by prevailing situation along the Northern Borders.
7) Tunisia’s Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh resigns
•Prime Minister of Tunisia, Elyes Fakhfakh has submitted his resignation to the President of Tunisia. His resignation has come after a campaign to oust him in a vote of no confidence gathered momentum and to avoid more conflicts between state institutions in the country.
•Elyes Fakhfakh was appointed prime minister of Tunisia in January 2020. He is currently under investigation over allegations of conflict of interest of owning shares in companies that had received public contracts.
8) Google to buy 7.73% stake in Jio Platforms
•IT giant, Google to buy 7.73% stake in Reliance Industries Limited(RIL)’s Jio Platforms for Rs 33,737 crores. For this purpose, they have signed a binding partnership and an investment agreement. This investment will strengthen the existing efforts of Google and Jio Platforms to expand the benefits of digitization across India.
•According to exchange filing, Google is investing at an equity valuation of Rs 4.36 lakh crore. With this, the total investment from financial and strategic investors into Jio Platforms stands at Rs 1,52,056 crore.
9) CCI approves acquisition by Aceso Company Pte. Ltd. in HCG
•The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved acquisition by Aceso Company Pte. Ltd. (Aceso) in HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited (HCG). CCI has approved acquisition under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act, 2002.
•Aceso Company Pte. Ltd. (Aceso) is an entity which forms part of the CVC Network. The CVC Network consists of three entities which are privately owned and offers investment advice to and / or managing investments on behalf of certain investment funds as well as platforms. HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited (HCG) is engaged in the business of offering services via cancer treatment clinics, multi-specialty hospitals, and fertility treatment centres.
10) N Chandrasekaran & Jim Taiclet to receives Global Leadership Award 2020
•Tata group chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran and Chief Executive Officer and President of Lockheed Martin, Jim Taiclet to receive the US-India Business Council(USIBC) Global Leadership Award 2020.
11) 5th edition of conference on A & D Manufacturing Technologies
•Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Yesso Naik has inaugurated the 5th edition of the conference on “Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Technologies“. The conference was held with the theme Empowering India with ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Mission’. Tamil Nadu Technology Development & Promotion Centre (TNTDPC) jointly organised the conference with Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM), and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
•Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Yesso Naik addressed the conference and stated that aerospace and defence market of India has immense growth potential and strong fundamentals to be globally competitive. He also dwelt on industry further developing into a leading hub and net exporter for design, manufacturing, engineering, technology development and services. The Aerospace and Defence industry in India has been projected to reach around 70 billion Dollar by 2030.
