SmartE
- The first batch of E-rickshaws under the brand name of “SmartE” was launched in Gurugram by Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways.
- The E-rickshaws have been manufactured in India and are fitted with GPS and tracking system.
- It has established strategic partnerships with the Haryana government and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to launch 1000 vehicles in Gurugram and Faridabad in 2017.
- It will provide the last mile transport connectivity in the area and meaningful self-employment for marginalised youths in next 4-5 years.
SAUNI Yojana’
- Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojna is a project to divert flood waters of Narmada to Saurashtra region and fill up the reservoirs through giant pipelines.
- There are 4 link canals through which the water is diverted.
- Link I takes water to Jamnagar and Dwarka districts and Link II to Botad, Bhavnagar and Amreli Districts.
- These two pipelines are designed to pump Narmada water in 17 identified dams in the regions such as Krushnasagar dam, Bhimdad dam (Botad), Bhogavo dam etc.
- Recently, President of India laid the foundation stone of SAUNI Phase-II Link-4 canal in Rajkot.
- The project targets to provide irrigation water for 10.22 lakh acres of land in Saurashtra region.
Geographical Indicators
- The Cell for IPR Promotions & Management (CIPAM) has launched a social media campaign to promote Indian Geographical Indicators (GIs) with #LetsTalkIP.
- It is initiated to make more people aware about the importance of Intellectual Property Rights.
- A Geographical Indication or a GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
- It conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.
- Darjeeling Tea, Mahabaleshwar Strawberry, Blue Pottery of Jaipur, Banarasi Sarees and Tirupati Laddus are some of the GIs.
Polavaram Project
- It is a multi-purpose irrigation project in East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh State.
- The dam across Godavari River is under the construction and it aims to transfer the surplus water from Godavari to Krishna river basin.
- The project is considered as “lifeline of the State” and has been declared as a national project under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
- As per the act, the central government shall execute the project and obtain all requisite clearances, including forest, environmental and rehabilitation and resettlement.
- The regulation and development of the project is under the control of Union government and accordingly it constituted the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) for the purpose.
- Recently, NGT has directed the Environment Ministry and the AP government to examine about huge quantity of waste material being dumped in agricultural lands near Polavaram project.
Initial Coin Offering
- China has recently banned individuals and organisations from raising funds through initial coin offerings (ICO) saying the practice constituted illegal fund-raising.
- ICO is an unregulated means of crowd funding for a project via use of Cryptocurrency.
- The right of ownership or royalties of a project is offered to investors in the form of digital coins in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies (usually bitcoin).
- The value of the coin will appreciate if the business is successful.
- Presently, there is no regulator for this kind of crowd sourcing.
Secure mobile phones
- There is a wave of concerns over the security of mobile phones being sold by foreign firms in the country.
- Thus it has decided to secure its communication network by offering customised mobile phones to top officers in rank of Joint Secretaries and above.
- The mobile phones run on Android OS and have a pre-stored directory that contains the number of all officials above the rank of joint secretary.
- The Government already operates a secure landline communication network called RAX. But it has certain limitations.
Source: PIB, Business Line
