TELANGANA

Telangana retains fourth spot on Innovation Index

Telangana, which bagged big-ticket investments through the Covid-19 crisis and is acknowledged as a leader in innovation and emerging technologies, has managed to hold on to the fourth spot in the India Innovation Index 2020 rankings that were released by NITI Aayog.

Telangana, which stood fourth in the Innovation Index 2019 rankings among major states, could not push past states like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu this year despite having improved its scores on various parametres where it fared badly last year.

Telangana has been ahead of other states in terms of fostering innovation with initiatives like the country’s largest incubator T-Hub and the first exclusive women’s incubator WE-HUB.

This year, Telangana retained 4th spot in the overall performance front despite improving its rankings in the pillars of knowledge output and knowledge diffusion to 2nd and 4th spot as compared to 4th and 5th spot respectively last year.

It was also able to improve its standing in the overall enabler rankings to 7th from 9th but lagged behind other states in pillars like safety & legal environment, human capital, investment and business environment.

On the investment front too, Telangana’s ranking slipped one spot to 8th this year from 7th in 2019 despite bagging one of the largest investments of $2.77 billion from Amazon Web Services and attracting marquee names into the state.

Though the state improved its scores on the safety & legal environment aspect to move up to 9th spot from 16th spot (behind states like Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh) last year, it was obviously not enough to help it move up the Innovation Index rankings this year.

INTERNATIONAL

US Sanctions Russia Ship Over Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline

The US informed German officials of its plans to impose sanctions on the Russian pipe-laying vessel ‘Fortuna’ over its involvement in the construction of the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.

The Baltic Sea pipeline is reported to be more than 90% complete.

Construction was suspended in late 2019 after the US imposed sanctions. Russia resumed work on the pipeline in December 2020.

Nord Stream 2 is a gas pipeline project.

Its purpose is to bring Russian gas under the Baltic Sea direct to Germany.

NATIONAL

Budget Session of Parliament to begin on 29th of January

The Budget Session of the Parliament will begin on the 29th of this month.

The seating arrangements have been made in view of COVID-19 guidelines.

The Budget session will commence with President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to the joint sitting of both the Houses.

This session every year starts with the President’s Address to both Houses.

The Union Budget will be presented on 1st February.

Govt. decides to celebrate birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as ‘Parakram Diwas’ on 23rd of January every year

Government has decided to celebrate the birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as ‘Parakram Diwas’ on 23rd of January every year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Parakram Diwas event in Kolkata and will inaugurate an exhibition there.

Another event is planned in Haripura, Gujarat where Netaji was elected president of Congress in 1938.

A High Level Committee, headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been constituted to commemorate the birth anniversary of Netaji.

354th birth anniversary of Guru Govind Singh

Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti is celebrated across India with great fervour and enthusiasm.

The main function is organised at Takhat Sri Harmandir Sahib Gurdwara, Patna Sahib, the birth place of Guru Gobind Singh.

Born at Patna Sahib in 1666, Guru Govind Singh was the 10th Sikh guru.

He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur ji as leader of Sikhs at the age of just nine.

GoI Strengthened the Chabahar Port

The Indian government has strengthened the cargo handling capacity of Iran’s Chabahar port.

India has provided cargo of two Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC) to Iran’s Chabahar Port. According to the contract agreement, the total value of the contract exceeds USD 25 million and a total of 6 MHCs are supplied.

This is a stage towards India’s responsibility towards infrastructure development of ‎Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar.

The bilateral contract between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of India was signed in 2016, with a total value of USD 85 million, for the equipment, mechanization and start of operation at Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar development Phase- I.

In order to achieve this ambitious goal, an SPV namely India Ports Global Limited (IPGL), Mumbai was incorporated under the ambit of the Ministry of Ports, ‎Shipping and Waterways.

The development of Chabahar Port is the anchor point for the expansion of economic and mutual relations between India and Iran, and it will further promote the maritime trade between both countries.

The geographical location of Chabahar Port has strategic advantages and huge potential. It can establish connectivity between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and other CIS countries (especially the eastern countries of the CIS) to increase these Trade between countries.

Bird Festival in Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary

The Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal will organize a bird festival. This holiday is the first time. It is organized by the Darjeeling Wildlife Department. Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary is known as an important bird and biodiversity area.

Important bird and biodiversity areas have been identified as an internationally recognized set of standards that are vital to bird protection. The important bird sanctuary concept was developed by Birdlife International.

Currently, there are 12,000 important bird areas in the world. The thresholds for important bird sanctuaries are set by the corresponding national regulatory agencies. In order to be included in an important bird sanctuary, the site must meet at least one of the following conditions:

♦ A1: Species threatened globally – The site should be kept in the IUCN Red List as a critically endangered, vulnerable or endangered bird population.

♦ A2: Restricted range species – The site should be an endemic bird area. The International Bird Conservation Organization classifies endemic birds as those with limited habitat. The International Bird Conservation Organization has identified approximately 218 endemic bird sanctuaries. Endemic species means that the species is native to a single geographic location and cannot be found elsewhere.

♦ A3: Biome restricted range species – The site should retain restricted biome species. The location should constitute a selected group of appropriate representatives of all species in the biological community. In other words, the species living in that location should be endemic and should only be found in that specific biome (and not anywhere else in the world).

♦ A4: Congregation – This applies to shorebirds, seabirds and wetland birds. This was created in accordance with the Ramsar Convention.

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