National
MSME Innovative Scheme
⇒ Union Minister for MSME Shri Narayan Rane launched the MSME Innovative Scheme (Incubation, Design and IPR) along with the MSME IDEA HACKATHON 2022 on 10 March 2022.
Benefits of MSME Idea Hackathon 2022:
- Financial assistance up-to maximum of Rs.15 lakh per approved idea is provided to Host Institute for developing and nurturing of the idea into prototype.
About:
» MSME Innovative is a holistic approach to unify, synergize and converge 3 sub-components and interventions with a single purpose.
» MSME Innovative is a new concept for MSMEs with a combination of innovation in incubation, design intervention and by protecting IPR in a single mode approach to create awareness amongst MSMEs about India’s innovation and motivate them to become MSME Champions.
- This will act as a hub for innovation activities facilitating and guiding development of ideas into viable business proposition that can benefit society directly and can be marketed successfully.
Sub-schemes are:
Incubation:
- The primary objective of the scheme is to promote and support untapped creativity.
- Financial assistance up to Rs 15 lakh per idea and up to Rs 1 crore for relevant plant and machines will be provided.
Design:
- The objective of this component is to bring Indian manufacturing sector and Design expertise/ Design fraternity on to a common platform.
- It aims to provide expert advice and cost-effective solution on real time design problems for new product development, its continuous improvement and value addition in existing/new products.
- Financial assistance up to Rs 40 lakh for design project and up to Rs 2.5 lakh for student project will be provided.
IPR (Intellectual Property Rights):
- The objective of the scheme is to improve the IP culture in India with a view to enhance the awareness of Intellectual Property Rights amongst the MSMEs and to encourage creative intellectual endeavor in Indian economy.
- It also aims to take suitable measures for the protection of ideas, technological innovation and knowledge-driven business strategies developed by the MSMEs for their commercialization and effective utilization of IPR tools through IP Facilitation Centre.
- Financial assistance upto Rs 5 lakh for Foreign Patent, Rs 1 lakh Domestic Patent, Rs 2 lakh for GI Registration, Rs 15,000 for Design Registration, Rs 10,000 for Trademark in the form of reimbursement will be provided.
Loan agreement between GoI, Govt of West Bengal, and World Bank
⇒ The Government of India, the Government of West Bengal, and the World Bank signed a $125 million IBRD loan to support efforts to help poor and vulnerable groups access social protection services in the state of West Bengal.
About Project:
- West Bengal runs more than 400 programs that provide social assistance, care services, and jobs. Most of these services are offered through an umbrella platform called Jai Bangla.
- The West Bengal Building State Capability for Inclusive Social Protection Project will support these interventions at the state level.
- The project particularly focuses on vulnerable groups such as women, tribal and scheduled caste households, and the elderly, as well as households in the state’s disaster-prone coastal regions.
About IBRD:
- The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is an international financial institution established in 1944.
- IBRD is headquartered in Washington, DC, United States. It is the lending arm of World Bank Group.
UDISE+ 2020-21 Report
⇒ The Ministry of Education released a detailed report on Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2020-21 on school education of India in March 2022.
Developed by:
The UDISE+ system of online data collection from the schools was developed by Department of School Education & Literacy in the year 2018-19.
Read More About UDISE+ 2020-21 Report
International
New President of South Korea
⇒ Yoon Suk-yeol has won the 2022 South Korean presidential election to be elected as the country’s new President.
- He will assume office as President in May 2022 for a five-year term.
Sri Lanka - India Exercise, SLINEX 2022
⇒ The ninth edition of India – Sri Lanka Bilateral Maritime Exercise SLINEX (Sri Lanka–India Naval Exercise) was held in Visakhapatnam from 07 March to 10 March 2022.
The Bilateral Naval exercise was conducted in two phases:
- The Harbour Phase at Visakhapatnam on 07-08 March 2022 followed by the Sea Phase on 09-10 March 2022 in the Bay of Bengal.
Naval Ships:
» The Sri Lanka Navy was represented by the Sri Lankan Naval Ship Sayurala, an Indian built Advanced Off-shore Patrol Vessel.
» The Indian Navy was represented by the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kirch, a guided missile corvette.
- Other participants from the Indian Navy included INS Jyoti, a Fleet support tanker, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH MK III), Seaking and Chetak Helicopters and Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft.
Harbour Phase:
The harbour phase included professional interactions between two navies on various topics, sports fixtures and formal calls as well as informal interactions.
Sea Phase:
The exercises during the Sea Phase included surface and anti-air weapon firing exercises, seamanship evolutions, aviation operations including cross deck flying, advanced tactical manoeuvres and special forces operations at sea.
Aim:
SLINEX aims to enhance inter-operability, improve mutual understanding and exchange best practices and procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations between both navies.
- The previous edition of SLINEX was conducted off Trincomalee in October 2020.