India's Rocket Man Dr K. Shivan appointed as new BoG chairman of IIT Indore

Former Chairman of International Space and Research Organization (ISRO) and former secretary of Department of Space, India's Rocket Ma Dr K.Shivan has been appointed as the chairman of the board of Governors of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore for the three years

Dr K. Shivan

 

Dr Shivan is replacing Professor Deepak B Phatak whose tenure ended on August 31 The IIT Indore has thanked Professr Deepak B Phatak for mentoring and guided them from front with his immense experience and taking the Institute to newer heights and out-of-the-box solutions.

IIT Indore director Suhas S Joshi said that the institute has introduced 10 new academic programs, including B Tech in Space Science and Engineering with a total strength which includes 4 woman students.He expects IIT Indore to contribute to the country's space mission by working in the untapped areas of Space and Engineering under the valuable guidance of Dr K Shivan.

India to become the world’s second-largest economy by 2075

India to become the world’s second-largest economy by 2075, surpassing not only Japan and Germany, but the U.S. too, says Goldman Sachs. Currently, India is the world’s fifth-largest economy, behind Germany, Japan, China and the U.S.

Indian Economy Growth

India’s population is 14 billion now which is world’s largest having progressive GDP growth that boosts the labor work force participation. India’s progress lies in innovation and technology, higher capital investment and rising worker productivity

The dependency ratio of any country is measured by the number of dependencies against the total working age population. It is expected that the dependency ratio of India to be lowest among large economies in next 20 years. The low dependency ratio indicates that there are more working age adults who are able to support both youth and elders.

India’s top priority growth relies on the infrastructure services creation and setting manufacturing capacity to spur investments especially in roads and railways. This is the right time for private sector to scale up creating capacity in manufacturing services to generate more jobs and quality labor work force.

India’s trajectory economic progressive growth is seen in the field of Information technology, Business process management and software product innovation and the revenue is expected to reach $245 billion by the end of 2023.

Capital Investment will also play the significant role in India’s growth. With the decrease of dependency ratio, Income rising ways and deeper financial sector development savings rate is likely to increase that make the pool of capital available that drives further investment.

As according to survey report predictions India will become the third largest economy by 2030. India’s GDP growth for first quarter is expanding 6.1% year-on-year. India’s growth rate is @ 7.2% this year and it is expected to expand dramatically in upcoming years.

ISRO is all set to launch Chandrayaan-3 Mission on July 14

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is going to launch Chandrayaan-3, the third lunar ambitious exploration mission to the moon on July 14 @ 2.35 PM from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. It is expected to reach moon in 45-48 days after the launch. 

 

Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 comprises of lander and rover but doesn't have an orbiter like in Chandrayaan 2 The Propulsion Module will act as a communication rely satellite that carries until the space craft is in 100 km Lunar Orbit . It also carries a payload called Spectro Polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth ( SHAPE) to study  various  Spectric and Polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.

 

ISRO has set three main objectives for the Chandrayaan-3 which includes Safer and Soft Landing on the Moon. The rovers demonstrating and observing capabilities on the moon, In-site Scientific experiments and observations  regarding various chemical and natural elements like water, soil etc on the Moon's surface, Understanding and Practicing the composition of the moon 

Once the spacecraft enters the gravitational area of the moon it will undergo the orbit reducing procedures to lower its attitude and enters the circular orbit around the moon known as Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI). LOI involves precise engine firings that slows down the speed of the spacecraft and allows to capture the gravity of the moon.

 

 

The Key features of the India's Majestic New Parliament building - A new symbol of Indian democracy

The Existing original parliament building, a Century old structure was built on 1927 found to be inadequate to meet present-day requirements. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha passed resolutions to construct new parliament building for future needs. The foundation stone was laid on December 10 2020 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Parliament Building

The Old building will accommodate 543 members in Lok Sabha and 250 members in Rajya Sabha. The New Parliament building will provide space for 888 members in Lok Sabha and 384 members in the Rajya Sabha. The New Parliament building will not have a Central Hall like in the existing building.The New design was done by Ahmedabad based HCP Design and Management Pvt Ltd. Tata Projects won the new building contract.

Here are some of the Key features of the India's Majestic New Parliament building

• The New parliament structure was built over an area of  64,500 Square meters
• Constructed on the lines of Central Vista buildings in a triangular structure
• The New Lok Sabha chamber is designed in the shape of India's National Bird, the peacock
• The New Rajya Sabha chamber is designed in the shape of India's National Flower, the lotus
• The New building reflects various architectural resemblances from important heritage buildings
• Around 800 chambers for MPs are constructed in the Shram Shakti Bhavan
• The old building will remain as an historical heritage of India
• All the famous statues will be restored 
• The new building will have six committee rooms where as at present has only three such rooms 
• There will be 92 rooms for the use of the council of ministers
• Each seat will have digital systems and touch screens 
• Two members will be able to sit side by side on each bench in both the houses
• There is provision for open meeting space in the central courtyard premises 
• The new building is designed in such a way that it meets high level security standards
• A special constitution hall is available to showcase India's democratic heritage
• A library, dining room and best parking facilities are planned for future needs
• The building comprises of Rain water harvesting, Water cycling systems features
• 100% power backup facility is also available in the new building
  

Karnataka Elections 2023- The Promised Manifestos of BJP and Congress

Karnataka's 224 seat Assembly elections is scheduled on May10. Both National Parties Congress and BJP are all set for electoral clash. They have already announced their Manifestos and made several promises to the people.

BJP Vs Congress

 

On 2 May Tuesday, The Congress Party released its manifesto 'Sarva Janangada Shanthiya Thota' which means 'Peaceful Garden of all communities' Earlier BJP released its manifesto titled 'BJP Praja Pranalike' (BJP People's Manifesto,

Here are some of the Highlights of BJP and Congress Manifesto's

1.Free Nutrition Scheme : Nutrition Scheme or Poshane Scheme BJP has promised 5Kg of food grains or millets per family through Monthly Ration Kits. Three free domestic cooking gas cylinders annually and half a litre of Nandini Milk everyday to Below Poverty Line households. On the other hand Congress party has promised 10Kg of rice per month to Below Poverty Line families under 'Anna Bhagya' Scheme. The milk subsidies for farmers will increase from Rs 5 to Rs 7 per litre.

2. For Education: BJP has promised that under 'Visvesvaraya Vidya Yojana' scheme the government schools will be upgraded to top standard schools.Under Samanvaya Yojane SME's and ITI's will be collaborated  to promote education and employment. Congress Party promised that a state education policy will be announced They will restore the true values of Bharat and Karnataka and the scientific temper in text books

3, For Women : BJP has promised to install CCTV's equipped  with AI facial recognition software in Bengaluru which will be linked to the Integrated Command and Control Center (ICCC) for women safety. BJP's 'Onake Obavva Samajika Nyaya Nidhi' women scheme that provides a matching deposit up to Rs 10,000 on five-year fixed deposits made under SC/ST households. Congress has promised free travel for women in regular KSRTC/BMTC buses under Shakti Scheme They have also promised Rs 2000 a month to every woman head of the family

4. For Farming and Fishing Communities: BJP has promised to set up a Rs 30,000 crore K-Agri fund that allocates money for the establishment of micro-cold storage facilities, five new agro industry clusters, Three new food processing parks, and farm mechanization acceleration initiatives Congress has announced 'Prakariti Vikopa Nidhi' of Rs 5,000 crore in case of crop destruction, Rs 10 Lakh Insurance coverage for fisherman,Rs 25 per litre subsidy for diesel (up to 500 litres) .Under 'Matsya Kranthi Scheme Rs 12,000 crore would be invested to improve blue economy income With in two years of coming to power the 'Yettinahole' irrigation project will be completed

5.Youth and Employment: BJP is planning to generate 10 lakh manufacturing jobs under production linked incentive scheme where as Congress has announced to setup Gig workers Welfare Board along with separate boards for auto and taxi drivers. They have also promised Rs 3,000 per month for graduates and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders for 2 years Under 'Yuva Nidhi' Scheme

6.Health and Wellness: The BJP has promised to strengthen Public Health Infrastructure through 'Mission Swasthya Karnataka' scheme by establishing One Namma Clinic eqipped with all diagnostic facilities in all Municipal Corporations  There will be provision of free annual master health checkup for senior citizens The Congress has promised that the salaries of anganwadi and mini anganwadi workers would be hiked by Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively The Police Personnel on night duty will get an additional allowance of Rs 5,000 per month. Under 'Griha Jyothi' Scheme the congress has promised 200 units of free electricity for house holds

7.Political: BJP is planning to implement National Citizens Register and Uniform Civil code in the state.The Congress has announced that it will revoke all anti people and anti farmer laws with in one year of coming to power. They will also ban Bajrangdal and Popular front of India which apparently involved in various illegal activities in the state so as to promote rivalry between communities

The Creator of AI foundation technology Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google

Geoffrey Hinton, The creator of foundation technology for Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning systems and the God father of Artificial Intelligence said that the advancements made in the field of AI will  create intense risks to society and humanity.As he is one of the first companies to publish Artificial Intelligence principles, he is committed to a responsible approach to AI.

Geoffrey Hinton- God Father of AI

The computer scientist has quit his job at Google last month and he praised Google for his responsible approach to AI. He speaks out about the risks or dangers associated with AI Chat bot along with the bold innovations of the technology The competition between tech giants was forcing various companies to release new AI technologies at dangerous speeds, risking jobs and spreading misinformation.

The startup behind the popular Open AI Chat bot  ChatGPT started building systems using huge amounts of data than before These systems were overshadowing human intelligence and be leveraged by 'bad actors' in many ways because of the data they were analyzing. It is because of what is happening in this systems is far better than what is going on in the brain

Hinton's research in deep learning has a significant impact on speech recognition and object classification  Artificial Intelligence has been used to support humans, the rapid expansion of chat bots like ChatGPT could put jobs at risk The potential spread of misinformation created by Artificial Intelligence makes that the average person will not be able to know what is true anymore. 

An open letter signed by more than 1,000 people prompted by the release of GPT-4, a much powerful and advanced version of the technology used by ChatGPT but Hinton told scientists not to scale more until they have understood whether they can control it   

The Importance and History of International Women's Day

International Women’s Day is observed on March 8 every year. It is the day that belongs to everyone and everywhere. It's a special day to celebrate women's strength, cultural, socio and political achievements, resilience and role in country's progress They are always a source of motivation inspiration and determination for the family and also the society today and every day for sustainable tomorrow.

International Women's Day

Women's day was first celebrated on 28 February 1909 and it was known as National Women's Day. In New York more than 15000 women marched demanding voting rights, better pay and shorter working hours. At the same time The Second International Conference of Working Women was held in Denmark  under the leadership of Clara Zetkin proposed the idea of an International Women's Day on March 9, 1911.

The United Nations started celebrating International Women's Day officially on March 8 1977 and it was declared and widely observed on March 8 every year.International Women's day has become a symposium to raise awareness and energize change in society. As according to United Nations The theme for this year International Women's Day is DigitALL: "Innovation and Technology for gender inequality". 

The prime focus of International Women's Day is to bring attention to several issues like Gender equality,  Violence, abuse and reproductive rights against women.International Women's Day was celebrated in a wide variety of ways world wide to promote the achievements of womanhood.International Women's Day was honored first in various countries Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland

India's UPI and Singapore's PayNow has launched the realtime cross border payment systems linkage

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das and the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong has launched the cross-border connectivity between Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and PayNow of Singapore on Tuesday.

UPI-PayNow

The UPI Integration with PayNow enables Low-cost, Faster and 24*7 cross border payments using Google Pay, Paytm and other digital payments to transfer money instantly through mobile number to people  in Singapore and Vice versa. UPI was developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). UPI process will eliminate the risk of sharing bank account details creation through Virtual Payment Address (VPA).

PayNow is just like UPI in which users can send/receive payments in Singapore easily with the Mobile number.People in both the countries will be able to send/receive payments in real time using QR code scanner or just by entering Mobile number.

This facility will benefit Students and Migrant workers as it allows cost effective, faster and efficient fund transfer between both the countries. It also creates a new path in the development of next generation infrastructure for cross border payments between India and Singapore.

     

Andhra Pradesh government aims to showcase Powerful presence of MSME's and Startups in Global Investors Summit 2023

The Andhra Pradesh government is conducting two day Global Investors Summit 2023 on March 3 and 4 at Visakhapatnam. The main theme of this Global Investors Summit is " Advantage Andhra Pradesh - Where Abundance meets prosperity". The aim of AP government is to achieve remarkable growth in the Industrial Sector.

Global Investors Summit 2023-Andhra Pradesh

At the Summit AP government will showcase its booming presence of MSMEs , Startups , Good Infrastructure Facilities, Favorable Business friendly environment, Industry focused policies, Young and Skilled pool of talent. The state government has also held several road shows in Chennai, Mumbai and Bengaluru to attract investors.

The government is going to extend its support to MSMEs to the fullest as they are backbone of the economy and Job creation. In the last four years, more than 3000 crores of financial incentives has been released to MSMEs under various schemes. 

The government is committed in ensuring the progress of existing MSMEs and also aiming to create 20,000 more MSME units with more than 5 lakh jobs creation. There has been a gradual increase in MSME development and job creation opportunities in the state. In three years 37956 MSME units have grown to 60800 units employing 5,61,235 from 4,04,939 in 2019.

AP is focusing more on various high growth potential sectors like Agriculture, Defense, Aerospace, Food Processing. Automobiles, Information Technology, Electronics, EVs , Healthcare, Medical Equipment , Logistics, MSME, Petroleum, Startups, Pharma, Renewable Energy Hospitality, Textiles and Tourism

The state government has ranked  first in Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) for the last three years. The State government has launched two schemes called "YSR Cheyutha and YSR" to support women entrepreneurs. The government has  also set a target of grounding 100 clusters in the next two years out of which 52 clusters are proposed to be established during the FY 2022-23.

As according to the numbers AP has recorded the highest double digit GSDP growth rate @ 11.43%  in 2021-22. AP has maritime infrastructure and it is also called as India's gateway to the south east with 974 km coastline which is the second largest in the country. 

AP has now 6 ports and 4 more are upcoming. Three of eleven industrial corridors are being built in the state.AP has also received the Inertia Award for Energy 2022, The LEADS award for Logistics 2022,The ET Award for port led and the infrastructure project  2022.

 

EPFO had announced a new plan for Higher pension under EPS

Employees Provident Fund Organization ( EPFO), Retirement Fund Body on Monday announced a new plan to enable subscribers and their employees to jointly apply for Higher Pension under Employees Pension Scheme (EPS). Earlier in November 2022 the Supreme Court had advocated Employees Pension (Amendment) Scheme in 2014

EPFO

The EPS amendment of August 22 2014 had increased the monthly pensionable salary capacity from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000. They have also allowed members along with their employers to contribute 8.33% of their actual salaries ( if it exceeded the capacity) towards the EPS

In an official order being issued in compliance with the order of Supreme Court on November 4 2022 EPFO has asked to provide  'Joint Option Form' along with eligible subscribers by field offices of the body in accordance with the supreme court order.

EPFO is going to provide a URL (Unique Resource Location) then regional Provident Fund Commissioner shall serve appropriate notice on the notice board and banners for  wider spreading of information to public

Each application will be processed digitally and the respective receipt number will be provided to the applicant. The Concerned regional provident fund office will examine each case of joint option on higher salary and intimate the information to the application through SMS/email/post. The grievance of applicant can be registered on EPFiGMS(grievance portal) after the submission of his joint option form and payment of due contributions if any.

According to the EPFO Circular on December 29 2022 the central government has directed to implement the court order. The Apex Court had given all the EPS Members, as on September 1, 2014 six months time to opt the amended scheme.In order the Apex court gave 4 more months to eligible subscribers to opt for Higher Pension Scheme under EPS-95.

The court has also made mandating employee contribution of 1.16% of  the salary exceeding Rs 15,000 per month. This will help subscribers to contribute higher to the scheme and get more benefits.The EPFO has also provided higher pension option for all eligible subscribers who are contributing salaries higher than Rs 5000 or Rs 6500 per month The eligible subscribers would have to apply jointly with their employer in prescribed  form  and other relevant documents like joint declaration etc.. by the commissioner to receive benefits      

US President Joe Biden has made a surprise visit to Kyiv in Support for Ukraine

US President Joe Biden has made a surprise visit to Kyiv, and met Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday. He promised that US will increase arms deliveries and continue its unflagging commitment and support to Ukraine in defending Ukraine's territorial Integrity ahead of one year Russian's invasion of the country.     

Joe Biden and Zelensky

Biden and Zelensky walked over together and shared silence for a few moments as a remembrance for the fallen heroes of the Russian- Ukraine war. Earlier Air raid sirens rang out across     Kyiv as the US presidents first visit to country since Russian troops invaded on Feb 24 2022 Military salute played to the two presidents 

US President Joe Biden stated that he will announce another delivery of critical equipment which includes artillery ammunition,anti-armor systems and air surveillance radars to help and protect Ukraine people from various severe serial attacks. Zelensky cheerfully welcomed Biden's visit as an important sign of support for all Ukraines

Tripura Legislative Assembly Polls : Large Voter Turnout recorded at over 87.63%

Tripura has a tentative record of more than 87.63% voter turnout in today's assembly elections poll .86.12 % of Male electors turned up, while 89.17% of female voters turned up and 67.74% of Transgender voters turned up to caste their vote . Across 3,328 polling stations including 1,100 sensitive and 28 marked critical amid high security. Long queues were witnessed at almost all polling booths. Bru migrant voters has also caste their vote after many years.

Tripura Legislative Assembly Polls 2023

As according to Election commission over 28.14 Lakh electorates of which 14,15,233 are male voters and 13,99,289 are female voters and remaining 62 are of transgender are eligible to caste their vote 259 candidates are contesting in the assembly polls to the 60 member Assembly. The counting of votes will be held on March 2 

According to the latest figures, the reserved constituency of Manu ST has recorded a turnout of 92,09% the highest in any assembly constituency in the Tripura state. The lowest turnout of 79.94% was registered at Town Bardowali  assembly constituency.

There have been no reports of any major violence or attack on candidates or polling agents. There have been largely peaceful with no demand for re-poll as of now. Only minor incidents happened during the polling like a CPM leader and two poll agents were injured. 

The  battle is in between the BJP, IPFT, The CPI (M) -Congress Alliance and TIPRA Motha. BJP is contesting in 55 seats, The CPI(M) is contesting in 47 seats while Congress has candidates in 13 seats.TIPRA Motha is contesting in 42 seats .The Trinamool Congress is contesting in 28 seats.