DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS: 15.07.2020 TO 17.07.2020 .12.2018 NATIONAL Indian Railways first cable.2018-stayed bridge ‘Anji Khad Bridge’ being set up in Jammu & Kashmir India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge ‘Anji Khad Bridge is being constructed by the Indian Railways’ in Jammu & Kashmir.11.2018 to connect Katra and Reasi Section of Jammu–Baramulla line. The Rs. 458 crore railway bridge is being developed by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited, a Government of India undertaking. The total length of the Anji Khad Bridge is 473.25 metres, standing at a height of 331 metres above the Chenab river bed. The project is a part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project of the Indian Railways’. The USBRL project also involves the construction of Chenab river bridge, a steel and concrete arch bridge. Once completed, the Chenab bridge will become the world’s highest rail bridge. Hyderabad Airport Introduced India’s first Completely Contactless Car Parking facility Amid Pandemic The GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) has introduced India’s first fully contact-less airport car parking facility due to the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In November 2019, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, had introduced India’s first- ever”NETC FASTag Car Park” in collaboration with NPCI. But that facility was available only for ICICI Bank holders. Now keeping in mind the current situation, GHAIL has scaled up its NETC (National Electronic Toll Collection) FASTag car parking in collaboration with NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) by integrating 10 NETC FASTag issuer banks. The NETC FASTag car parking solution is based on a simple to use, reloadable electronic Radio- frequency Identification (RFID) tag which will enable automatic deduction of applicable parking charges, while one drives through the car park without stopping for any cash transaction. However, the traditional mode of transaction with digital payment over-the-counter option will also be available. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ Launched World’s Most Affordable COVID-19 Diagnostic Kit ‘Corosure’ Developed by IIT Delhi The Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD), Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal’ Nishank’ virtually launched the World’s most affordable RT-PCR based COVID-19 diagnostic kit ‘Corosure’ in New Delhi. The low-cost COVID-19 Diagnostic Kit has been developed indigenously by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, in line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of becoming a self- reliant India. The kit has been approved by the ICMR and DCGI. It is much cheaper than other kits. This will make the cost per test considerably cheaper compared to currently available kits in the market. IIT Kanpur developed UV sanitizing device ‘SHUDH’ to disinfect room in 15 mins A team of engineers at IIT Kanpur has developed an Ultraviolet (UV) sanitizing product named SHUDH, which is capable to disinfect a 10 sqft room in about 15 minutes. SHUDH stands for Smartphone operated Handy Ultraviolet Disinfection Helper. It has been jointly developed by J. Ramkumar, Amandeep Singh and ShivamSachan. SHUDH has six UV lights of 15 Watts each that can be individually monitored from a distance and can be rotated up to 360 degrees. Users can use the number of lights based upon the size of the room. Simply by installing an Android application, user can remotely control the on-off, speed and location of the product using the available smartphone. It can also run with Bluetooth technology. The device will be useful for disinfecting places like hospitals, hotel, malls, offices, schools, etc. to prevent infection, without the need to touch the device. IIT Kanpur Incubated Start-ups Develops Smart Water Quality Testing Device “PADMAVATI” Two of the IIT Kanpur Incubated Start-ups namely Earth face Analytics Pvt. Ltd. & KritsnamTechnologies Pvt. Ltd. have developed a device, named as ‘PADMAVATI’, to analyze and monitor the quality of water. 1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar-750015 1 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web :www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected] DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS: 15.07.2020 TO 17.07.2020 The device will monitor.12.2018 the water quality with the help of easy to use colorimetric test-strip, based on smart-phone technology.2018 that screens multiple important water quality parameters in less than 2 minutes. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal introduces ‘Pragyata- Guidelines for Online Education’ The Union Minister.11.2018 of Human Resource Development, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank released the ‘PRAGYATA’: Guidelines on #Digital Education. ‘Pragyata’ is an eight step guidelines on digital education for school heads, teachers, parents and students, to assist them in e-learning, such as recommended screen time for children, tips on coping with mental/physical stress during #Digital Learning, among other things. These eight steps include: Plan, Review, Arrange, Guide, Yak (talk), Assign, Track, and Appreciate. Some of the areas in which the guidelines have been introduced for administrators, school heads, teachers, parents, and students include: Need assessment Concerns while planning online and digital education like duration, screen time, inclusiveness, balanced online and offline activities, etc. level-wise Modalities of intervention including resource curation, level-wise delivery, etc. Physical, mental health, and wellbeing during digital education Cyber safety and ethical practices including precautions and measures for maintaining cyber safety Collaboration and convergence with various initiatives. Indian Railways to become “Green Railway” in Mission Mode by 2030 The Ministry of Railways has set the target of transforming the Indian Railways into Green Railways by 2030. Therefore, the government has taken a number of major initiatives towards mitigation of global warming and combating climate change to achieve this target. Some of the efforts of the Indian Railways under Green Initiatives are listed below. Electrification of routes: Target of electrification of 7000 Route km (RKM) in the year 2020-21. All routes on Broad Gauge network have been planned to be electrified by December 2023. Roof top Solar panels: 100 MW of Solar plants have been commissioned on roof-tops of various buildings including 900 stations; 400 MW are under different stages of execution. Land Based Solar plants: Indian Railway has 51,000 hectare of land potential of installing 20 GW land based solar plants. Bina Solar Project: Indian Railways has already. Installed first-of-its kind in the world, 1.7 megawatt solar power plant in Bina, Madhya Pradesh. The energy generated from the power plant will be used to run trains. The solar power plant has been set up as a pilot project by Railways in collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) and the pilot project is under extensive testing and trial. Wind-based power plants: 103 MW wind-based power plants have already been commissioned and plan is to commission 200 MW wind energy plants in next 2 years in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka. Other green initiatives: 69,000 coaches have been fitted with more than 2, 44,000 bio-toilets. 100 percent LED illumination of buildings and stations. INTERNATIONAL Iran dropped India from Chabahar Rail Project due to funding delay Iran has dropped India from the Chabahar rail project, for the construction of railway line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, along the Iran-Afghanistan border. The reason that Iran gave for dropping India was delays from the Indian side in funding and starting the construction of the project. Iran has now decided to move ahead with the construction of Chabahar railway line to Zahedan on its own. Around 690 million people were found hungry in 2019, with highest population in Asia: UN Report As per the annual ‘State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World’ report, by United Nations, almost 690 million people (8.9% of overall population) went hungry in 2019. This figure is up by 10 million from 2018, and by nearly 60 million in five years. 1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRPF Square, Bhubaneswar-750015 2 Ph. : (0674) 6556677, 8093556677. Web :www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected] DAILY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS: 15.07.2020 TO 17.07.2020 This means that more.12.2018 people are going hungry while tens of millions have joined the ranks of the chronically undernourished.2018 over the past five years, and countries around the world continue to struggle with multiple forms of malnutrition. China Successfully Launched.11.2018 High-throughput broadband communications satellite APSTAR-6D China successfully launched the APSTAR-6D satellite– a high-power broadband communications satellite into orbit, to provide broadband internet service. The APSTAR-6D telecommunication satellite was launched aboard a Long March 3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center. APSTAR-6D is designed and manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). India ranked tenth globally in intellectual property filings in 2018, China tops: WIPO Report India has emerged as the top tenth nation in the ranking of the total (resident and abroad) Intellectual Property (IP) filing activity, as per World Intellectual Property Indicators-2019 Report. The overall ranking has been topped by China, which was the main source of growth in worldwide IP filings in 2018. China was followed by United States, Germany, Japan, and Republic of Korea as the top five nations in the list. BANKING AND ECONOMY Qualcomm Ventures become 12th Investor in Jio Platforms; Invests Rs 730 crore to acquire 0.15% stake Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of US-based wireless technology company Qualcomm Incorporated has invested Rs 730 crore in ‘Jio Platforms’ for a 0.15 % stake in the company. Qualcomm Ventures is the 12th investor to buy a stake in Jio Platforms. Qualcomm’s investment marks the 13th investment in Jio platforms.