GUJARAT

MoU signed for Gujarat’s first desalination plant

An MoU was signed in the presence of Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in Gandhinagar on Saturday, for establishing the state’s first desalination plant, at Jodiya in Jamnagar.

The plant, with a daily capacity of 10 crore litres (100MLD), will have an RCC sump, connecting pipeline, and a pumping machinery.

The salinity of seawater off the Gujarat coast ranges from 35,000 ppm to 60,000 ppm.

Reverse osmosis (RO) technology will be used to desalinate the water.

After initial filtration and chemical processes to regulate the pH value, the seawater will be kept in settlement tanks and will then be passed through sand filters, before it goes through a reverse osmosis membrane at a pressure of 70kg/sq cm, which will remove the dissolved salts.

Calcium and magnesium will later be added to mineralize the water and it will then be potable, with a TDS value of less than 500.

INTERNATIONAL

India and Morocco sign Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters

An Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters was signed between Government of Republic of India and Mr Mohamed Aujjar, Minister of Justice on behalf of the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco.

The Agreement will strengthen bilateral cooperation with Morocco and enhance effectiveness and provide a broad legal framework for prevention, investigation and prosecution of crimes; as well as in tracing, restraint and confiscation of funds meant to finance terrorist acts.

Both Ministers reiterated their resolve to jointly counter the threats posed by organized crime and terrorism.

Bajrang Punia Becomes Number 1 wrestler in World in 65kg

Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia touched a new high in his career by achieving the number one rank in the world in the 65kg category.

The 24-year-old Bajrang, who has won five medals, including CWG and Asian Games gold and a silver at the World Championship, was placed atop the ranking table with 96 points in the UWW list.

NATIONAL

INS Rana to participate in Bilateral Exercise ‘ Samudra Shakti’

INS Rana of the Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command is on deployment to the South East Asia and arrived at the port of Surabaya to participate in the inaugural edition of Indian Navy – Indonesian Navy Bilateral Exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’ scheduled from 12 to 18 Nov 18.

The aim of the exercise is to strengthen bilateral relations, expand maritime co-operation, enhance interoperability and exchange best practices.

The strategic partnership between the two nations was elevated to ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ during the visit of Honourable Prime Minister of India in May 18 and Defence co-operation has been a significant pillar in this partnership.

· RBI not to favor NBFCs in liquidity issue

Despite the growing demand forliquidity support for Non-banking Finance Companies (NBFC), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) does not favour to provide any special support to the sector. But it will continue to provide funds to the banking system as liquidity deficit in the system is a concern.
The RBI says that bigger NBFCs are not facing any liquidity issues. The middle and smaller NBFCs, mostly housing finance firms, are the ones who face some issues.
The liquidity issue for NBFCs has been a bone of contention between the central bank and the Finance Ministry. The Centre has cited the never-used provision under section 7 of the RBI Act to initiate consultations with RBI. Under this section, the government can issue directions to RBI. All eyes are now on the RBI’s board meeting scheduled for November 19.

Online video market to reach $5 billion in India by 2023: Report

The market for over-the-top (OTT) content, which is video content that is delivered over the Internet as an alternative to traditional media, will reach $5 billion in India by 2023, from $5 billion in 2018, according to a new report

This growth is being driven by rising affluence, increase in penetration of data into rural markets and adoption across demographic segments including women and older generations, according to the report by global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

There is room for many types of OTT models such as SVOD (subscription-based platforms), AVOD (advertising-based platforms) and TVOD (transaction-based platforms) to succeed in the market. Of the estimated 650 million Internet users in India by 2023, nearly half are expected to be from rural areas and with development of regional content by various players, the rural market is poised to become a significantly large opportunity for OTT players

Health ministry proposes social support of up to Rs 5 lakh for organ donor’s dependents

The Union health ministry has proposed providing “social support’’ of up to Rs 5 lakh to the dependants of an organ donor in cases of cadaver organ donation.

The social support will be provided not in the form of cash but by sponsoring medical treatment or education of dependents.

The health ministry, she added, will provide Rs 1 lakh to hospitals for maintenance of the donor who has been declared brain dead till the organs are retrieved. Such patients require to be infused with fluids and medication to maintain their organs.

As per estimates, the annual requirement of kidney transplant for new cases is around two lakh with merely 8,000 transplants happening annually.

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