National
Emergency Landing Field (ELF) on NH-925
⇒ Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh and Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari jointly inaugurated the Emergency Landing Field (ELF) on NH-925, on 09 September 2021.
He also witnessed aircraft operations on the Emergency Landing Field on NH-925 at Gandhav Bhakasar Section (NH-925) South of Barmer (Rajasthan).
This is the first time that National Highway has been used for emergency landing of aircrafts of IAF.
About ELF:
NHAI had developed a 3 Km section of Satta-Gandhav stretch of NH-925A (from Km 41/430 to Km 44/430) as an Emergency Landing Facility for Indian Air Force.
It is part of the newly-developed two-lane paved shoulder of Gagariya-Bakhasar & Satta-Gandhav Section having total length of 196.97 kilometres.
Highlights:
On this occasion, Union minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari has said that Emergency Landing Facilities will be developed at 19 other places to strengthen country’s security.
These are 19 other places in the country:
Phalodi – Jaisalmer road and Barmer – Jaisalmer road in Rajasthan, Kharagpur – Balasore road in West Bengal, Kharagpur – Keonjhar road and near Panagarh/KKD, Chennai in Tamil Nadu, on Puducherry road, in Andhra Pradesh on Nellore – Ongole road and Ongole – Chilakaluripet road, in Haryana on Mandi Dabwali to Odhan road, near Sangrur in Punjab, on Bhuj-Naliya road in Gujarat and on Surat-Baroda road, in Jammu and Kashmir in the Banihal-Srinagar road , Leh/Nyoma area in Assam and on the Jorhat-Baraghat road, near Sivasagar, Bagdogra-Hashimara road, Hashimara-Tezpur route and Hashimara-Guwahati road in Assam
PMGDISHA Drive
⇒ Ministry of Electronics, Minister of State for Electronics & IT, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar attended the ‘Launch Program of PMGDISHA Drive & Announcement of 100% Digital Literacy of all digital villages’ under AzadiKaAmritMahotsav on 08 September 2021.
PMGDISHA Drive:
» The PMGDISHA drive has been launched under PMGDISHA scheme, a flagship Digital Literacy scheme of the Government for rural areas.
» Under the campaign, a three day certification drive will be conducted for rural citizens especially women and disadvantaged communities.
» A certification drive for the PMGDISHA scheme will be conducted in a similar manner.
Apart from this Common Service Center (CSC) also proposed to make all the Digital Villages 100 percent Digital Literate.
About PMGDISHA:
The Government of India introduced its flagship Digital Literacy Programme, “Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)” in February, 2017.
Procurement of Fiftysix C-295MW Transport Aircraft
⇒ Recently, Cabinet Committee on Security approved the procurement of fifty six C-295MW transport aircraft from M/s Airbus Defence and Space S.A., Spain for the Indian Air Force.
About Aircraft:
- C-295MW aircraft is a transport aircraft of 5-10 Tonne capacity with contemporary technology.
- It will replace the ageing Avro aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
- The aircraft has a rear ramp door for quick reaction and para dropping of troops and cargo.
Contract:
- Sixteen aircraft will be delivered in flyaway condition from Spain, within 48 months of signing of the contract.
- Forty aircraft will be manufactured in India by TATA Consortium within ten years of signing of the contract.
- This is the first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company.
WisePOSGo – a POS device
⇒ Karnataka Bank launched WisePOSGo – a POS device (Point of Sales Swiping Machine) to process business payments for the bank’s merchant customers in collaboration with Mswipe Technologies Pvt Ltd.
About Device:
» The ‘WisePOSGo’ (Phone + PoS Machine) device is an all-in-one swiping machine loaded with advanced features like Contactless Payment, Mobile Phone, QR Code, Pay by Link, Magstripe, Barcode Scanner, 5–megapixel Camera etc.
» The device will support 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth and micro–USB and can connect through Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp also.
» The ease of processing transactions through ‘WisePOSGo’ will help the Bank’s retail and MSME customers to augment their businesses by providing their consumers a convenient and flexible way of shopping.
International
IBSA 6th Tri-nation Virtual Conference
⇒ Secretary (MSME) Shri BB Swain inaugurated the IBSA 6th Tri-nation Virtual Conference on Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME) in September 2021.
- India is the current IBSA Chair.
Theme:
The main theme of the 6th IBSA Conference was “Democracy for Demography and Development”.
Objective:
The meetings were held with the objective to promote trade, understand trade barriers, facilitate investments through collective efforts towards better collaborations amongst the three nations.
Host:
The Conference was hosted by the Ministry of MSME in association with the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC), Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE), Department of Small Business Development and Small Enterprise Development Agency, South Africa.
Discussion:
The IBSA 6th Tri-Nations Virtual Conference had four technical sessions divided into two days (2 & 3 September).
During the Conference, experts and senior officials from Ministry of MSME, Govt of India; Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE), Brazil; Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) & Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), South Africa deliberated on various topics like-
Enabling MSMEs in National Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Innovation & Inclusivity, Integration into Global Value Chains, Sustainable Development: Preparedness of IBSA to deal with COVID-19 like crisis in future
About IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) Forum:
IBSA is a unique Forum which brings together India, Brazil and South Africa, three large democracies and major economies from three different continents, facing similar challenges.
Loan Agreement between ADB and GoI
⇒ The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $300 million loan as additional financing to scale up improvement of rural connectivity to help boost rural economy in the state of Maharashtra on 08 September 2021.
The additional financing for the ongoing Maharashtra Rural Connectivity Improvement Project will help improve an additional 1,100 rural roads and 230 bridges for a total length of 2,900 kilometers (km) in 34 districts.
Loan Agreement between ADB and GoI
⇒ The Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $112 million loan to develop water supply infrastructure and strengthen capacities of urban local bodies (ULBs) for improved service delivery in four towns in the state of Jharkhand.
About ADB:
ADB is committed to achieve a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
Established in 1966, ADB is owned by 68 members and 49 of these members are from the region.