GUJARAT
Gujarat govt announces e-vehicle subsidy
The state government announced a new scheme for promotion of electric vehicles (two and
three wheelers) on the occasion of completion of eleven years of the climate change
department in Gujarat.
School (class IX and above) and college students who buy electric two-wheelers will get a
government subsidy of Rs 12,000, while rickshaw drivers and self-employed persons who
buy electric three-wheelers will get a subsidy of Rs 48,000 per vehicle.
Gujarat is the leader in the residential solar rooftop power generation scheme, which has at
a subsidized cost, installed solar rooftops at over 1.38 lakh houses in the state with an
aggregate capacity of 513MW.
INTERNATIONAL
India joined the UK-led campaign against encrypted social media messages
India is among seven countries to back a UK-led campaign against end-to-end encryption
of messages by social media giants such as Facebook. It has been claimed that this feature
hinders the law enforcement against illegal activities by blocking all access to them. Further,
the system also prevents law enforcement investigating and prosecuting against online child
sexual abuse,and terrorist content.
The UK and India will be joined by the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
A joint international statement addressed to all tech companies to ensure that they do not
blind themselves for illegal activity on their platforms such as child abuse images.
It marks an expansion of the so-called “Five Eyes” group of nations, a global alliance on
intelligence issues,by including India and Japan.
Gk bit: FVEY
The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance.
The origin of the FVEY date back to the post–World War II period.
During that time, the FVET developed the ECHELON surveillance system in order to monitor
the communications of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.
Now this system is used to monitor private communications worldwide.
FVEY comprises of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United
States.
It is a surveillance program operated by the United States with the help of four signatory
states of the UKUSA Security Agreement namely, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the
United Kingdom.
NATIONAL
Modi govt puts Rs 43,000 crore bet on decarbonising coal
The Centre government has put a Rs 43,000 crore bet on new technologies to decarbonise
India’s vast reserves of Black Diamond as the world’s second-largest coal the consumer
continues to draw flak from climate activists and renewables chip away at demand from
thermal power stations.
In its latest initiative to find cleaner use for coal, state-run behemoth Coal India and its
subsidiaries are in the process of setting up five projects to make methanol, or methyl
alcohol, from coal using what is commonly known as CTL (coal-to-liquid) technology. Each of
these projects is estimated to cost approximately Rs 6,000 crore.
Methanol is an excellent energy carrier, making it ideal for lacing motor fuels up to 15%,
which improves combustion and contributes towards reducing the country’s coil imports.
Methanol also has wide industrial applications and is the building block for a range of
everyday products — from plastics to synthetic yarns for making textiles.
Cabinet nod for Rs 5,700cr WB project to boost edu
The Union Cabinet approved a Rs 5,718-crore World Bank aided project for improving
school education. The Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States or STARS
scheme, will in sync with the National Education Policy 2020, focus on “quality based
learning outcomes”.
Implementation of the STARS project will be with financial support of the World
Bank amounting to $500 million (approximately Rs 3,700 crore). It would be implemented as
a new centrally sponsored scheme under department of school education and literacy,
ministry of education and will cover six states — Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra,
Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha.
In line with the goals of NEP 2020, STARS will train students in soft skills and STEM/ STEAM
(science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) related skills. This will revolutionise
the educational kaleidoscope and result in enhanced employability of students.
Culture & Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel launches Life in Miniature project
The Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Shri Prahlad Singh Patel launched ‘Life
in Miniature’ project.
The project is a collaboration between the National Museum, New Delhi, Ministry of
Culture, and the Google Arts and Culture.
Under the ‘Life in Miniature’ project, various miniature paintings from the National Museum
can be viewed online on Google Arts and Culture by people around the world.
It would include miniature art like the Ramayana, Royal Saga, Pahari style paintings in never
before seen ways and in extraordinary detail.
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