National
Prime Minister inaugurates Shivamogga Airport
⇒ The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the newly constructed Shivamogga Airport along with various development projects that cost over Rs 3,600 crore in Shivamogga, Karnataka on 27 February 2023.
About Airport:
- The new airport is developed at a cost of around Rs 450 crore.
- The Passenger Terminal Building of the airport is spread over 4340 sq. meters and can handle 300 Passengers per hour.
- The Shivamogga Airport is designed like a lotus flower, and It is suitable for A-320-type aircraft. This airport is spread across 758 acres of land.
- The Airport will improve connectivity and accessibility of Shivamogga and other neighbouring areas in the Malnad region.
- The Prime Minister’s focus on enhancing air transportation throughout the country will receive further reinforcement with the opening of the Shivamogga Airport.
Government offers 5G Test Bed free of cost up to January 2024
⇒ The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Ministry of Communications has offered the usage of 5G Test Bed free of cost to the Start-ups and MSMEs recognised by the Government of India up to January 2024.
- All 5G stakeholders i.e. Industry, Academia, Service Providers, R&D Institutions, Govt. Bodies, Equipment Manufacturers etc can utilise this facility at a very nominal rate.
- This has been announced in order to encourage usage of the Test Bed and give a fillip to the development of indigenous technologies/ products in line with ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ vision.
Background:
- In March, 2018, keeping in view India’s specific requirements and to take lead in 5G deployment, the DoT approved financial grant for the multi-institute collaborative project to set up ‘Indigenous 5G Test Bed’ in India with total cost of Rs 224 Crore.
- The eight collaborating institutes in the project were IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Madras, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IISc Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT).
- The Indigenous 5G Test Bed was dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minster, Shri Narendra Modi on May 17th 2022.
- A web-based portal (https://user.cewit.org.in/5gtb/index.jsp) has also been designed for access and usage of the Test Bed.
- The 5G Test Bed is available at five locations viz., Integrated Test Bed at CEWiT/ IIT Madras and other Test Beds are at IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Kanpur and IISc Bangalore.
284th birth anniversary celebration of Banjara Dharmaguru Santh Sevalal Maharaj
⇒ For the first time ever, the yearlong commemoration of birth anniversary of Santh Sevalal Maharaj, the Spiritual & Religious Leader of Banjara Community is being celebrated by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
- The yearlong commemoration under the aegis of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav begins from 26th February 2023.
» A Two-day event as a part of 284th Jayanti celebrations was held at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi on 26-27 February 2023.
- Home Minister Shri Amit Shah was the chief guest on 27th February along with other dignitaries.
- Since last 3 years, Sant Sevalal Maharaj Charitable Trust, New Delhi, whose president Dr Umesh Jadav is the only Member of Parliament of Banjara community, from Kalaburagi Constituency in Karnataka, celebrated the Jayanti in Delhi.
- Like every year, this year also Banjaras from all over the country gathered in Delhi to celebrate this birth anniversary.
About Santh Sevalal Maharaj:
- Santh Sevalal Maharaj was born on 15 February 1739 at Surgondankoppa in Shivamogga district of Karnataka.
- He is considered a social reformer and spiritual teacher of the Banjara community.
- He travelled across the country with his Ladeniya Troup to serve especially the forest dwellers and nomadic tribes.
- Due to his extraordinary knowledge, excellent skills and spiritual background in Ayurveda and Naturopathy, he was able to dispel and eradicate myths and superstitions prevalent in the tribal communities and brought about reforms in their way of life.
- The Samadhi Sthal of Saint Sewalal Ji is situated in Manora Taluka of Washim District of Maharashtra at Pohradevi which is also known as Banjara Kashi.
Banjara community:
- It is believed that there is a population of around 10 to 12 crore Banjara community across the country.
- Among such communities, the Banjara community settled across the country with different names, have permanently abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and settled in their settlements called Tandas.
- In states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, Sant Sevalal Maharaj is a revered symbol of every Banjara family. In all these states, the birth anniversary of Sant Sevalal Maharaj ji is celebrated with great fanfare in the month of February.
International
4th WCSSP India Annual Science Workshop
⇒ Union Minister of State (I/C) Science & Technology; Minister of State (I/C) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the 4th WCSSP-India Annual Science Workshop – 2023 in New Delhi on 27 February 2023.
- Dr Jitendra Singh said there is big scope for collaboration between India and the United Kingdom in Weather Forecasting.
4th WCSSP India Annual Science Workshop:
» The 4th WCSSP India Annual Science Workshop on ‘Pathways to Impact: Building a legacy in Science to Services’ was held from 27th February – 3rd March 2023.
- Workshop sessions was held at MoES in New Delhi on 27 February 2023 and at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) in Noida on 28 February – 2 March 2023.
Host:
The 4th WCSSP India Annual Science Workshop was hosted by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
» The Workshop was held as part of the Implementation Agreement related to the project “Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership India (WCSSP-India)”, signed on 7th February 2019.
- It followed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Weather and Climate Sciences signed between the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India and Met Office, UK on 28th January 2019.
» The Workshop provides a forum to share, discuss and evaluate the advances that have been achieved through collaborative activities in the past year, leading to more accurate forecasts and earlier warnings of high impact weather and enhancing the capacity to transition towards delivery of impact-based forecasting.
Key Points:
- Around 25 UK scientists and around 70 Indian scientists/researchers participated in the workshop in addition to more than 50 online participants.
- The deliberations and discussion during the meeting gave new ideas and directions for this collaborative effort to improve the weather and climate forecast capabilities, especially of the high impact weather over the Indian region.
- The key science objectives of WCPSS-India Project through India-UK collaboration include research on natural hazards in the South Asian Monsoon system and improving tools and techniques for risk-based forecasting of natural hazards at a range of prediction timescales.
- Considerable and significant progress has been achieved through this project including the implementation and successful testing of the global coupled Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) system and improvements in the operational sub-km resolution fog forecast model of NCMRWF.
Important Day
66th Foundation Day of CSIR-CMERI
⇒ CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) celebrated its 66th Foundation Day on 26th February 2023.
About CSIR-CMERI:
- In order to develop indigenously mechanical engineering technology for the industries so that R&D can play a key role in self-reliance, the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute at Durgapur, West Bengal was established in February 1958 with the specific task of development of mechanical engineering technology.
- The Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) is the apex R&D institute for mechanical engineering under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).