India & Russia Signed Agreement to Strengthen Bilateral Nuclear Cooperation
India and Russia signed a protocol to amend the 2008 intergovernmental agreement focusing oncooperation in constructing additional nuclear reactors at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP)site and new Russia-designed nuclear power plants at new sites in India.
The KKNPP in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu(TN) is a joint initiative of India and Russia. This is a flagshipproject of bilateral technological and energycooperation.
Signatories: Alexey Likhachev, DirectorGeneral of Rosatom State Nuclear EnergyCorporation (Russia), and Ajit KumarMohanty, Chairman of the Atomic EnergyCommission (AEC) of India and Secretary ofthe Department for Atomic Energy (DAE) ofthe Government of India, signed theagreement during their visit to KKNPP site inTN.
Points to note:
- The negotiations resulted in the signing of asignificant document under the jointRussian-Indian project, namely, A protocol to the intergovernmental agreement on the construction ofpower units for the 2nd and 3rd stages of the KKNPP in 2008.
- During the visit, the Russian delegation involved an assessment of power units in the 2nd and 3rd stages,including reactors 3–6.
- The delegation also addressed ongoing construction tasks for Units 3-6, emphasizing long-termcooperation, including potential collaboration within Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa(BRICS).
- Apart from construction of nuclear power plant, the Rosatom State Corporation organises the delivery ofreliable nuclear fuel for water-water energetic reactor (VVER)-1000 to India. This will enhance theoperating efficiency through the utilisation of extended fuel cycles.
Kudankulam Plant Development:
- India’s only nuclear power plant established with another country (Russian technical support) is theKKNPP in Tamil Nadu.
- The bilateral cooperation is guided by the new roadmap for Science, Technology, and Innovation signedduring the 21st India – Russia Annual Summit in New Delhi (Delhi) in December 2021.
MoH&FW Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launches AIIMS-SBI SMART PaymentCard in AIIMS, New Delhi
Union Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) launchedAIIMS-SBI Smart Payment Card to providehassle-free payments for treatment at the AllIndia Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
Initially the card is launched for AIIMS, NewDelhi. Its services will be extended across all theAIIMS in India in future.
The validity of the card is 5 years with effectfrom the date of issue.
Key Points:
- The AIIMS Smart Payment Card resolves theissue of patients carrying cash to the hospital.
- This will enable the patients or their caretakersto get the card from facilitation centers at AIIMS, New Delhi, and use it for payments at hospital counters.
- The card will be provided free of cost to all patients and has no service charges.
- It will be linked to the patient’s Unique Hospital Identification (UHID) number and Ayushman BharatHealth Account (ABHA) ID issued under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM).
- Top-ups and refunds require One Time Password (OTP) verification received on the mobile linked to thepatient UHID.
- If the cost is lost, a replacement card will be provided free of cost and the remaining balance will betransferred to the new card.
GoI to honour PV Narasimha Rao, Chaudhary Charan Singh & MS Swaminathan withBharat Ratna
Government of India (GoI) announced that two former Prime Ministers(PMs), Chaudhary Charan Singhand PV Narasimha Rao, and father of India’s ‘green revolution’ Dr MS Swaminathan will be awardedBharat Ratna in 2024.
With this, the total number of BharatRatna recipients in 2024 becomes five.This is the highest number of BharatRatnas awarded in a year since itsinception in 1954.
Note: In January 2024, GoI announcedBharat Ratna for Former Deputy PrimeMinister Lal Krishna (LK) Advani andFormer Bihar Chief Minister KarpooriThakur (posthumously).
About Ministry of Home Affairs:
Union Minister– Amit Shah(Constituency- Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat)
Ministers of State– Nityanand Rai (Constituency- Ujiarpur, Bihar); Ajay Kumar Mishra (Constituency-Kheri, Uttar Pradesh); Nisith Pramanik (Constituency- Coochbehar, West Bengal)
Sportstar Aces 2024: Neeraj Chopra and Sheetal Devi win Sportstar of the Year
Indian Olympian Neeraj Chopra was awarded the Sportstar of the Year (Male) award at the 2024 SportstarAces Awards held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai,Maharashtra.
The 2024 Arjuna Awardee Sheetal Devi (para-archer) wonthe Sportstar Aces Award for the Sportstar of the Year(female). She also won the Moment of the year award.
The 6th edition of the Sportstar Aces awards were awardedin 24 categories which includes 5 Popular Choice and 16Jury Awards.
The 2024 Australian Open men’s doubles champion and2024 Padma Shri awardee Rohan Bopanna was awarded the‘Ace of Aces award’.
C-DOT and IIT Roorkee Collaborate to Develop Module for 6G and Beyond
New Delhi (Delhi) Headquartered Centre For Development Of Telematics (C-DOT) and Indian Institute ofTechnology, Roorkee (Uttarakhand), have signed an agreement to develop a 140 GigaHertz (GHz) FullyIntegrated Transmitter & Receiver Module for 6th Generation (6G) Cellular technology and Beyond.
The agreement also aims to generate, antenna integrate and transmit TeraHertz (THz) waves onto a singlechip which supports data rates of up to several gigabits per second.
The agreement was signed under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) scheme of theDepartment of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Ministry of Communications (MoC).
Note: C-DOT is an autonomous Research & Development (R&D) centre of DoT.
Google Launches ‘Lumiere’ AI to Generate 5-Second Videos
Google has introduced a new video-generation Artificial Intelligence(AI) model ‘Lumiere’, a Space-Time Diffusion Model to generate 5-second videos that portray realistic, diverse and coherent motion.
It deploys a text-to-video diffusion model for generating videos fromtext descriptions.
It also supports image-to-video, Stylized Generation, Video Stylization,Cinemagraphs & Video Inpainting.
For this purpose, Lumiere uses Space-Time-U-Net (STUNet)architecture that generates the entire temporal duration of the video atonce, through a single pass in the model.
National Productivity Day 2024 – February 12
National Productivity Day or National Productivity Council Foundation Day is annually observed acrossIndia on 12th February to mark the foundation day of the National Productivity Council of India (NPC)and raise awareness of productivity, efficiency, andinnovation.
National Productivity Day is celebrated as part ofNational Productivity Week, which is observedannually from 12th to 18th February.
The theme for National Productivity Week 2024 is‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)- Productivity Engine forEconomic Growth’.
Background:
- The National Productivity Council was established onthe 12th of February, 1958.
- It was registered under the Societies Registration ActXXI of 1860 under the Department for Promotion ofIndustry Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce andIndustry (MoCI).
About National Productivity Council of India(NPC):
President – Piyush Goyal (Union Minister of Commerce and Industry)
Headquarters- New Delhi, Delhi
Established in – 1958
International Darwin Day 2024 – February 12
International Darwin Day is annually observed acrossthe globe on 12 February to commemorate the birthanniversary of Charles Robert Darwin, a 19thcenturyBritish Naturalist, Geologist who was creditedwith “The Theory of Evolution by NaturalSelection”.The day recognises Darwin’s contributionsto science and promotes scientific development.
Background:
The annual observance of International Darwin Daywas initiated by 3 Darwin enthusiasts namely: Dr. Robert Stephens, Prof. Massimo Pigliucci, and AmandaChesworth.
Union Finance Minister Sitharaman Proposes Rs 1.18 lakh Cr Budget Estimation forFY25 for J&K
Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Ministry of Finance, proposed the budget estimation of Rs 1,18,728crore for the fiscal year 2024-2025(FY25) for the Union Territory(UT) of Jammu and Kashmir(J&K).
The UT Government has proposed the “Vote onAccount” or “Interim Budget” for Rs.59,364 Crore,which includes allocations of Rs 40,081 crore forrevenue expenditure and Rs 19,283 crore for capitalexpenditure.
Highlights of the budget:
- This outlined a fiscal deficit of Rs 20,760 croreand a 7.5% growth in gross State domestic product(GSDP).
- The capital expenditure for the FY25 has beenproposed at Rs 38,566 crore, which is 14.64% of theGSDP. The revenue expenditure stands at Rs 80,162crore.
- The Capital Receipts stand at Rs. 20,867 Croreand the revenue receipts is at Rs 97,861 crore.
About Jammu & Kashmir:
Lieutenant Governor– Manoj Sinha
National Park – Dachigam National Park; Kishtwar National Park
Wildlife Sanctuary – Thajwas – Baltal Wildlife Sanctuary; Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary