National
Amritsar-Jamnagar Greenfield Corridor
⇒ The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has said that the Amritsar-Jamnagar Greenfield corridor will be completed by September 2023.
- Amritsar-Jamnagar Greenfield corridor is one of the most important Greenfield corridors being developed by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Shri Gadkari informed especially, Bikaner to Jodhpur section of 277 km is targeted to be completed and opened to public by the end of this year.
The Union Minister also said:
- The flagship 1,224 km long Amritsar – Bhatinda – Jamnagar Corridor is being developed at a total capital cost of Rs 26,000 Crore.
- The corridor will connect the economic towns of Amritsar, Bhatinda, Sangaria, Bikaner, Sanchore, Samakhiyali and Jamnagar across the four states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
- The corridor will connect the northern industrial and agricultural centres of the country with the key ports of western India like Jamnagar and Kandla.
- This will help boost the industrial revolution connecting industrial belt of Baddi, Bhatinda and Ludhiana through spurs and the state of Jammu and Kashmir through Delhi – Amritsar – Katra Expressway.
Amazon Smbhav Awards 2022
⇒ Amazon Smbhav Entrepreneurship Challenge 2022
1st Prize:
Shri Subhash Ola, an innovator from Rajasthan who has developed the technology of saving energy in boilers by recycling steam, has won the 1st prize for the Amazon Smbhav Entrepreneurship Challenge 2022.
About Technology:
- The technology was first developed to make khoya and other milk products, and the portfolio of applications were later extended to textile, milk and food, pharma, plywood, paper mills, leather industry, chemical industry, hospitals and so on.
Start-up of the Year award:
“Geniusenergy Critical Innovation Private Limited”, an enterprise incubated by NIF, has won the Start-up of the Year award.
About Geniusenergy Critical Innovation:
- Shri Subhash Ola is the CEO of Geniusenergy Critical Innovation Private Limited.
- Geniusenergy Critical Innovation, a start-up recognized by Govt of India, was incubated by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India.
- It serves clientele in a variety of industries for their energy needs, helps them reduce cost, and at the same time protects the environment.
About Shri Ola:
- Shri Ola has received a variety of support from NIF. He was conferred with NIF’s 8th Biennial National Grassroots Innovation and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge Award in the year 2015 and was also invited to be part of the 4th Batch of Innovation Scholar-In-Residence Programme of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Most Promising Grassroots Innovation Startup award:
Notion Technocrats India, another enterprise incubated by NIF which has developed a low-cost, energy-efficient, environment friendly natural water cooler based on the principle of heat exchange, has won the “Most Promising Grassroots Innovation Startup” award.
About enterprise owner:
- The enterprise owned by Shri Arvindbhai Patel from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is an innovator turned entrepreneur who manufactures and distributes the Natural Water Cooler.
- He was conferred with NIF’s 7th National Grassroots Innovation and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge Awards in the year 2013.
About:
- Amazon Smbhav Entrepreneurship Challenge is a platform for high-potential startups to accelerate their growth and create long-term impact at scale.
- Amazon Smbhav Awards 2022 aim to celebrate the spirit of businesses and individuals who have excelled across sectors.
International
7th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of NDB
⇒ Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs and India’s Governor for the New Development Bank (NDB), Smt Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 7th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of NDB through video-conference in New Delhi on 19 May 2022.
The meeting was also attended by Governors/Alternate Governors of Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa and the newly joined members Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates.
Theme:
This year’s theme for the Annual Meeting was “NDB: Optimising Development Impact”, which is particularly important and relevant in the current global economic scenario.
» The Finance Minister, in her statement, underscored the importance of multilateralism and the spirit of global cooperation for economic recovery.
Smt. Sitharaman also said:
- India’s economic growth in the current financial year has been robust and is estimated to be 8.9 per cent which is the highest among all large economies. This reflects India’s strong resilience and speedy recovery.
- NDB has successfully established itself as a reliable development partner for Emerging Market Economies.
- NDB has demonstrated strong results within its core mandate.
» The Union Finance Minister also appreciated the progress made towards setting up of the India Regional Office in Gift City, Gujarat.
About NDB:
- NDB is a multilateral development bank, set up by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) in 2014.
- It has been set up with the objective of mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS as well as other EMDCs of the world.
- The Bank was operationalized in 2015, with its Headquarters in Shanghai, China.
Sports
2022 IBA Women's World Boxing Championships
⇒ The 2022 IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships was held in Istanbul, Turkey from 8 May to 20 May, 2022.
- It was the 12th edition of the IBA (International Boxing Association) Women’s World Boxing Championships. 310 boxers from 73 countries participated in the championship
Performance of India:
» India won a total of 3 medals including 1 gold and 2 bronze medals and finished 4th in the tally.
Gold:
» Indian Boxer from Telangana, Nikhat Zareen won the gold medal in the flyweight 52kg category.
- With this win, Zareen, a 2019 Asian Championship bronze medallist, became only the fifth Indian boxer to be crowned world champion.
- This is India’s first gold medal in four years. Mary Kom (48kg) had won the last title in 2018.
Bronze:
» Indian boxer from Haryana, Manisha Moun won the bronze medal in the Featherweight 57 kg category.
» Indian boxer from Haryana, Parveen Hooda won the bronze medal in the Light welterweight 63kg category.
Top winner:
» Host country Turkey topped the table with 7 medals including 5 gold and 2 bronze medals.
ISSF Junior World Cup 2022
⇒ The ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) Junior World Cup 2022 was held in Suhl, Germany from 09 May to 20 May 2022.
Indian shooters concluded their campaign on top with a total of 33 medals at the ISSF Junior World Cup 2022. India’s tally of 33 medals- including 13 golds, 15 silvers and 5 bronzes- was the most by any country at the 2022 edition.