National
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visits Patna
⇒ The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited to Patna on 12th July, 2022. The Prime Minister addressed the closing ceremony of the Centenary celebrations of the Bihar Legislative Assembly in Patna.
Shatabdi Smriti Stambh:
The Prime Minister inaugurated Shatabdi Smriti Stambh which has been built to commemorate 100 years of Bihar Vidhan Sabha.
Vidhan Sabha Museum:
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of the Vidhan Sabha Museum.
- Different galleries in the museum will demonstrate the history of democracy in Bihar and the evolution of the current civic structure.
- It will also have a Conference Hall with more than 250 people capacity.
» The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of the Vidhan Sabha guest house on the occasion.
Dwarka Expressway will be operational in 2023
⇒ Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has said Dwarka Expressway, also known as the Northern Peripheral Road in Haryana portion, is being developed as the first elevated urban expressway in India. Dwarka Expressway will be operational in 2023.
Union Minister also said:
- Dwarka Expressway will reduce pressure on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway (part of the Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmedabad-Mumbai arm of Golden Quadrilateral) and arterial roads that experience severe traffic congestion, primarily from the commuters of West Delhi.
- Once operational in 2023, it shall immensely help reducing the air pollution in Delhi-NCR.
- It is a 16-lane access-controlled highway with provision of minimum 3-lane service road on both sides.
- The Expressway connecting Dwarka in Delhi to Gurugram in Haryana is being developed at a total cost of Rs 9,000 Crore with total length of 29 km out of which 19 km length falls in Haryana while the remaining 10 km of length is in Delhi.
- Dwarka Expressway would have 4 multi-level interchanges (tunnel/underpasses, at-Grade Road, Elevated Flyover & Flyover above Flyover) at major junctions including construction of longest (3.6 km) and widest (8 lane) urban road tunnel in India.
- The expressway begins from Shiv-Murti on NH-8 (Delhi-Gurugram expressway) and ends near Kherki Daula Toll Plaza, through Dwarka Sector 21, Gurugram border and Basai.
- Dwarka Expressway will have a massive feat of tree transplantation with 12,000 trees transplanted.
- The project is also an engineering ace that includes a 34-meter wide 8-lane highway, a first of its kind being constructed on a single pier.
- The project is estimated to consume 2 lakh MT of steel (30 times of steel used in Eiffel Tower) and 20 lakh cum of concrete (6 times of concrete used in Burj Khalifa) for its construction.
First ever ‘Artificial Intelligence in Defence’ (AIDef) symposium and exhibition
⇒ Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the first ever ‘Artificial Intelligence in Defence’ (AIDef) symposium and exhibition, organised by Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, in New Delhi on July 11, 2022.
- The event featured an exhibition to showcase the cutting-edge AI-enabled solutions developed by the Services, research organisations, Industry and start-ups & innovators and launch of AI products for the market.
» Raksha Mantri launched 75 newly-developed Artificial Intelligence (AI) products/technologies during the ‘AI in Defence’ (AIDef) symposium and exhibition. The products, launched as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations, fall under various domains.
- These include: AI Platform Automation; Autonomous/Unmanned/Robotics systems; Block Chain-based Automation; Command, Control, Communication, Computer & Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance; Cyber Security; Human Behavioural Analysis; Intelligent Monitoring Systems; Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems; Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Operational Data Analytics; Manufacturing and Maintenance; Simulators/Test Equipment and speech/voice analysis using Natural Language Processing.
‘Raksha Niryat Ratna’ Awards:
In consonance with the vision of MoD to achieve defence exports of Rs 35,000 crore by 2025 and provide boost to the domestic industry, ‘Raksha Niryat Ratna’ awards were conferred to Bharat Electronics Limited from the public sector and Indo-MIM from the private sector. They achieved highest defence exports in recent years.
Other Points:
» Three AI products developed by the DPSUs having dual use applications and good market potential, namely AI-enabled Voice Transcription/Analysis software developed by Bharat Electronics Limited; Driver Fatigue Monitoring System developed by Bharat Earth Movers Limited and AI-enabled evaluation of Welding defects in X-rays of Non-destructive Testing developed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers were screened during the event.
» To stimulate new ideas in the field of AI in Defence, three panel discussions were also organised with active participation from the Services, academia, students, research organisations and industry. The panel discussions were on ‘Deploying AI in Defence’, ‘GenNext AI solutions’ and ‘AI in Defence – Industry Perspective’.
» A ‘GenNext AI’ Solutions Competition was organised to get bright innovative ideas from students on futuristic AI solutions. Top three students of ‘GenNext AI’ Solutions Competition, which was organised to get bright innovative ideas on futuristic AI solutions, were also felicitated by the Raksha Mantri.
» An exhibition was also organised which provided a unique opportunity for innovators to display their capabilities, products and state-of-the-art technologies.
International
BRICS Anti-Corruption Ministerial Meet 2022
⇒ 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 addressed the 1st BRICS Anti-Corruption Ministerial meet on behalf of India, on 13 July 2022.
- The BRICS ministers with responsibilities for preventing and combating corruption met under the Chinese Presidency, to discuss our commitments to counter the challenges of corruption individually and collectively with a view to contributing to the Global fight against corruption.
- During the meeting, the communiqué of the BRICS Ministerial Meeting on Anti-Corruption was signed.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said, India under Modi is determined to continue its crusade against corruption and unaccounted money.
» Dr Jitendra Singh informed the Ministers of the BRICS countries and distinguished delegates the various anti-corruption efforts taken by India in the recent past:
- The effective implementation of e-Governance through extensive use of ICT tools which has reduced the scope of corruption substantially at all levels.
- India’s Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which the Modi government amended after 30 years in 2018 to introduce a number of new provisions including criminalizing the act of giving bribe also in addition to taking bribe. At the same time putting in place an effective deterrence for such actions by individuals as well as corporate entities.
- The institution of Lokpal has been operationalized by appointment of Chairperson and Members. Lokpal is statutorily mandated to directly receive and process complaints as regards alleged offences against public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act,1988.
- MCA21 (for corporates & business houses e-measures), Fully automated Income Tax compliances, Commercial taxes compliances, Passport & Visa services, Digi Locker, Pensions, Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) through Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB), Common Services Centres (CSCs), etc. are few of the successful e-Government endeavours launched under various e-Governance initiatives.
- The Central Vigilance Commission in India is the nodal agency entrusted with the task of overseeing preventive and punitive measures.
- Dwelling on the theme of BRICS cooperation to combat corruption, Dr Jitendra Singh highlighted few areas of future action like bringing in processes; where fugitive economic offenders can be traced and extradited faster, and their properties situated abroad brought within the reach of the law of the land from which such offenders escape.