Developed by Thomas Biotech Lab, the papaya variety, christened ‘Dawn Delight’, grows only up to three or four feet and is best for cultivation on the terrace, balconies, and kitchen gardens.
Category: RECORDS, INDIA (National)
** Maharashtra has highest number of SC entrepreneurs
Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan occupy second and third slots
Maharashtra tops India’s list in the number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) owned by entrepreneurs from the Scheduled Castes with as many as 96,805 enterprises.
Tamil Nadu with 42,997 enterprises and Rajasthan with 38,517 units occupy the second and third slots, according to the data furnished by the Office of the Development Commissioner in the Union Ministry of MSME exclusively to The Hindu regarding the number of SC-owned enterprises covered under the Udyam system of registration.
The fourth, fifth and sixth slots belong to Uttar Pradesh (36,913 units), Karnataka (28,803 enterprises) and Punjab (24,503 units) respectively. As on January 23, 2022, the number of SC-owned enterprises at the all-India level was 4,53,972, of which micro enterprises accounted for 4,50,835, small – 3,004 and medium – 133.
** India delivers 3 tonnes of medical assistance to Afghanistan
Prior to this, India has supplied three shipments of medical assistance, consisting of 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine and essential life-saving medicines to Afghanistan.
India has supplied three tonnes of essential life-saving medicines to Afghanistan in the fourth batch of medical assistance to the war-torn country and will provide further humanitarian help to the people there in form of medicines and foodgrains in coming weeks, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday.
** India’s largest electric vehicle charging station set up in Gurugram
It will be able to charge 100 EVs round the clock
India’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging station, with 100 charging points for four-wheelers, was commissioned in Sector 52 here on Friday. Before this, the country’s largest EV charging station was in Navi Mumbai, with 16 AC and 4 DC charging ports for such vehicles.
The EV charging station in Gurugram, with 72 AC slow-chargers and 24 DC fast-chargers, has been installed and is operated by a partner company of National Highways for Electric Vehicle (NHEV), as part of a pilot project to install charging stations on the Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Agra highways, and turn them into e-highways.
** Decommissioned INS Khukri to be converted into museum
The ship is planned to be developed as a full-scale museum, the Navy said in a statement.
INS Khukri, the lead ship of the Indian Navy’s Khukri class missile corvettes which was decommissioned last December, was on Wednesday handed over to the Diu administration to be converted into a museum.
The ship is planned to be developed as a full-scale museum, the Navy said in a statement.
As part of developing and revitalising the Khukri Memorial, the Diu administration had approached the Defence Ministry in 2019 for gifting to it, for public display, a decommissioned naval vessel, the Navy said. “The ship commenced her last journey under tow by Navy ships from Visakhapatnam and arrived at Diu on January 14, it stated.
** Six Army men honoured with Shaurya Chakra for gallantry
Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Olympic gold medallist Subedar Neeraj Chopra was named for the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) on the eve of Republic Day, while six Army personnel, five of them posthumously, have been selected for the Shaurya Chakra, the third highest peacetime gallantry award, by the President and Supreme Commander of the Indian armed forces, Ram Nath Kovind.
Full list of Padma Awards 2022
A Defence Ministry statement said: “The President has approved awards of 384 Gallantry and other defence decorations to armed forces personnel and others on the eve of 73rd Republic Day celebrations.”
These include 12 Shaurya Chakras, 29 PVSMs, four Uttam Yudh Seva Medals, 53 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals, 13 Yudh Seva Medals, 125 Vishisht Seva Medals, 84 Sena Medals (Gallantry), two Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry), 40 Sena Medals (Devotion to Duty), eight Nao Sena Medals (Devotion to Duty), and 14 Vayu Sena Medals (Devotion to Duty).
Subedar Neeraj Chopra won the Olympic gold in javelin at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He enrolled in the 4th battalion of the Rajputana Rifles as a direct entry Naib Subedar on May 15, 2016.
Awarded for distinguished service of exceptional order, the PVSM is mostly awarded to officers of the Lieutenant General rank and equivalent, and rarely to officers of lower ranks, and even less so to Junior Commissioned Officers.
Also read: Gen. Rawat, Kalyan Singh awarded Padma Vibhushan
The five personnel conferred Shaurya Chakra posthumously are Naib Subedar M. Sreejith and Sepoy Maruprolu Jaswanth Kumar Reddy from the 17 Madras Regiment; Havildar Anil Kumar Tomar from the Rajput Regiment; Havildar Kashiray Bammanalli from the Corps of Engineers and with the 44 Rashtriya Rifles (RR); and Havildar Pinku Kumar from the Jat Regiment and with the 34 RR.
The sixth Shaurya Chakra awardee is Rifleman Rakesh Sharma, 5 Assam Rifles.
All the six personnel have been awarded the Shaurya Chakra for their role in counter-insurgency operations, of which all five personnel awarded posthumously were for operations in Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC).
The sixth Shaurya Chakra awardee, Rifleman Sharma, was part of an ambush that took place after receiving information on the movement of insurgents for extortion and killing of civilians in a village in Assam in May 2021.
In addition, the President has awarded one President’s Tatrakshak Medal (PTM), three Tatrakshak Medals (TM) and one TM for meritorious service to Coast
** Google to invest up to $1 billion in a partnership with Airtel
The amount will include equity investment as well as a corpus for potential commercial agreements
Bharti Airtel and Google on Friday, January 28, 2022, said that they will partner on a long-term, multi-year agreement to accelerate the growth of India’s digital ecosystem, under which Google intends to invest up to USD 1 billion.
The amount is part of the USD 10 billion ‘Google for India Digitization Fund’, which was announced by CEO of Google and Alphabet Sundar Pichai in 2020, and will include equity investment as well as a corpus for potential commercial agreements, to be identified and agreed on mutually agreeable terms over the course of the next five years, the companies said in a statement.
** Philippines inks deal worth $375 million for BrahMos missiles
This is the first export order for missile developed jointly by India, Russia
Philippines on Friday signed a $374.96-million deal with BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd. for the supply of shore-based anti-ship variant of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. This is the first export order for the missile, a joint product of India and Russia.
The contract was signed by Delfin N. Lorenzana, Defence Secretary of Philippines, and Atul Dinkar Rane, Director General of BrahMos Aerospace Pvt. Ltd., in a virtual ceremony at 2 p.m. Manila time (11:30 a.m. IST).
** DCGI gives nod to Bharat Biotech for intranasal booster dose trials
Experts have noted that an intranasal vaccine as a booster will be easier to administer in mass vaccination drives.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech approval for conducting Phase-III clinical trials of an intranasal booster dose for those who have received both doses of Covaxin.
Only the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL), Kasauli, certified batches shall be used in the clinical trials, which will be conducted at nine sites, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Bihar. The Chimpanzee Adenovirus Vectored COVID-19 Vaccine (BBV154) is to be administered through an intranasal route and each single dose is 0.5 ml.
The trials will evaluate BBV154 intranasal vaccine for both the 2-dose primary schedule and booster dose schedule.
** India to convert 150 villages into ‘Villages of Excellence’ with technical help from Israel: Tomar
The Israel government has established 29 Centre of Excellence (CoEs) in 12 States
The Centre on Friday said it has decided to convert as many as 150 villages into ‘Villages of Excellence’ in 12 States with technical assistance from the Israel government.
Already, the Israel government has established 29 Centre of Excellence (CoEs) in 12 States, which are producing more than 25 million vegetable plants, over 3,87,000 quality fruit plants and can train more than 1.2 lakh farmers per year.
The 150 villages that are located around CoEs will be converted into ‘Villages of Excellence.’ “Out of which, 75 villages are being taken up in the first year to commemorate the 75th year of India’s independence, where India and Israel will work together,” Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar conveyed in a meeting with new Israeli Ambassador to India Naor Gilon on January 27 here.
The Minister expressed joy over the completion of 30 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel and said that the government is satisfied with the functioning of 29 CoEs, according to an official statement.
The Ambassador of Israel, Mr. Gilon, said these CoEs are a great example of cooperation between the two countries and proposed the certification of CoEs to further enhance the standards and quality of services being provided to the farmers.