GUJARAT

Gujarat: ‘36,000km fibre network by March’

To provide high-speed internet connectivity to thousands of villagers, the Gujarat government aims to lay 36,000 kilometres of optical fibre across the state by March 2020, in the second phase of the Centre’s ambitious BharatNet initiative. The first phase saw 16,000km of optical fibre laid to provide broadband connectivity to 6,400 gram panchayats.

Gujarat government floated the special purpose vehicle (SPV) GFGNL to work with the Centre’s Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL), which is setting up the optical fibre network under the BharatNet project.

GFGNL has been established under Gujarat’s science and technology department and is creating a backbone network which will help mobile operators, internet service providers and government agencies to deliver multiple services to the doorsteps of villagers.

Of 7,692 villages, optical fibre connectivity has already been provided to 3,651 gram panchayats in the second phase as of December 2019.

INTERNATIONAL

Scientists found the oldest material on Earth from an ancient meteorite

Scientists found a meteorite that was crashed into rural southeastern Australia in a fireball in 1969 contained the oldest material ever found on Earth. The stardust predated the formation of the solar system by billions of years.

The oldest of 40 tiny dust grains trapped inside the meteorite fragments were retrieved around the town of Murchison in Victoria state.

It dated back to about 7 billion years ago which is about 2.5 billion years before the sun, Earth and the rest of the solar system formed.

All of the dust specks that were analyzed in the research came from before the solar system’s formation which is known as pre-solar grains.

About 60% of them dated between 4.6 and 4.9 billion years old. Among the stardust, the oldest 10% dated to more than 5.6 billion years ago.

China operationalised the world’s largest radio telescope, FAST

China operationalized the world’s largest radio telescope in southwest China’s Guiyang city, the capital of Guizhou province. The FAST telescope is was launched after three years of trial operation.

FAST telescope:

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) telescope is with a diameter of half-a-kilometer. It is dubbed as China Sky Eye.

The device is expected to make major scientific discoveries.

FAST is 2.5 times as sensitive as the second-largest telescope in the world.

It is capable of receiving a maximum of 38 gigabytes (GB) of information per second.

The receiving area of the telescope is around 30 football fields.

The cost of the telescope is around the US $170 million.

The telescope includes a 5 km radius as the core zone, 5 km to 10 km radius as the

intermediate zone and a peripheral zone that covers 10 km to 30 km in radius.

World’s First Transcatheter Mitral Valve Approved in Europe

The Abbott Tendyne Transcatheter Mitral Valve Implantation (TMVI) system received the European CE mark. It is the first transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) technology in the world.

The main aim is to make critical need to eliminate mitral regurgitation when surgery or mitral repair is not an option in high-risk surgical patients. This therapy treats significant mitral regurgitation (MR) in patients requiring a heart valve replacement.

Tendyne device builds upon our history of developing groundbreaking therapies that offer new treatment options for people with structural severe heart conditions who have limited treatment options. The Tendyne as a treatment option in Europe provides physicians with an additional tool that has been shown to correct MR in acutely ill patients completely, and it adds to Abbott’s portfolio of life-changing and life-saving treatments.

NATIONAL

India topped the Annual Ranking by Nation 2019 by ISSF

India topped the Annual Ranking by Nation (Rifle, Pistol & Shotgun ISSF World Cups for the year 2019 by International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). It is followed by China and the United States. India leads the standings with 30 medals overall. The tally stood at 21 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze.

China stood second with a medal tally of 11 gold, 15 silver, and 18 bronze.

The USA stands third with a medal tally of six gold six silver and three bronze.

RBI directs issuers to provide a facility to switch on, off cards

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks and other card-issuing companies to provide a facility to customers to switch on and off their debit or credit cards.
The move by RBI aims to enhance the security of digital transactions. It assumes significance amid rising instances of cyber fraud.

RBI observed the volume and value of transactions made through cards have increased manifold.

It stated that all cards at the time of issue or re-issue, physical and virtual, should be enabled for use only at contact-based points of usage, ATMs, and Point-of-Sale (PoS) devices, within India.

It also suggested the card issuers to enable set or modify transaction limits, within the overall card limit, if any, set by the issuer, for all types of transactions including domestic and international at PoS/ATMs/online transactions/contactless transactions. It should be provided on a 24×7 basis through multiple channels.

West Bengal emerges at the top in vegetable production

West Bengal has overtaken Uttar Pradesh and emerged as the top State in vegetable production in 2018-19.

According to the State-wise horticulture production data released at a conference organised by the Agriculture Ministry last week, West Bengal produced 29.55 million tonnes (mt) of vegetables last year.

Andhra Pradesh continued to hold on to the pole position in fruits with 17.61 mt, followed by Maharashtra (10.82 mt) and UP (10.65 mt).

ISRO launches a low-cost satellite launch vehicles

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) declares that it is preparing low-cost satellite launch vehicles costing around 30-35 crores rupees, each which can put into orbit satellites weighing 500 kgs. The first launch is expected to take place in the next four months from the country. The ISRO has a significant commercial boost as it will be able to cater to micro, mini, and medium segments of the market. ISRO earmarked 1,600 million Dollars for launch vehicles, of which 870 million Dollars will be for PSLV and the remaining for GSLV.

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