Uttar Pradesh govt to develop 800 km roads as Herbal roads
Uttar Pradesh government will develop 800 km roads as Herbal roads in the state. These herbal roads will have medicinal and herbal trees on both sides. Deputy Chief Minister and state PWD minister of state Keshav Prasad Maurya stated that these herbal roads will have trees like like Peepal, Neem, Sehjan along with other herb varieties like brahmi, ashvagandha and jatrofa.
Karnataka govt to launch a project to maintain health database of all citizens
Karnataka government will soon launch a project to maintain the health database of all its citizens. A first of its kind initiative State Health Register will be a robust and standardized health repository of all the citizens. Dr Sudhakar stated that Covid-19 experience has demonstrated the necessity of having robust, real-time public health data and therefore, there is a need to maintain repository of health data of each and every citizen.
IIT Madras develops light-weight alloy to replace steel, aluminium in cars
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), along with the University of North Texas and US Army Research Laboratory, have developed a magnesium alloy with significantly improved properties, that can replace steel and aluminium in automotive and aerospace components. The current industrial application of wrought magnesium alloys in structural components is limited due to their poor moderate or low strength.
UAE-based Secure Cam to launch surveillance campaign in India
Secure Cam IT Solutions, UAE-based security surveillance and IT solutions, has plans to install around 10,000 cameras for free in one city of about 150 countries by 2025 as part of the $5-billion worldwide campaign announced in October last. The company has earmarked about 200 crore for the project in India, stated Chairman and
CEO Rijoy Thomas. The global campaign ‘Secure Our City’ was postponed due to Covid-19 pandemic. The campaign was scheduled on April 20, and has been postponed to September
Webinar on “Van Dhan Scheme organized by DST, Rajasthan in association with TRIFED, M/O Tribal Affairs: learnings for post COVID-19”
A Webinar under Know Your Scheme-Lecture Series on “Van Dhan Yojana : Learning For Post Covid-19” was organized by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of Rajasthan in association with Trifed, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India.
Facebook launches CatchUp, an audio-only calling app that shows who’s ready to chat now
Facebook’s internal R&D group, NPE Team, has launched a new app called CatchUp that makes it easier for friends and family in the U.S. to coordinate phone calls or set up group calls with up to 8 people. While there are a number of group chat apps available to users today, what makes CatchUp unique is that the calls it enables are audio-only, not video, and it flags when users are available. In addition, CatchUp won’t need a Facebook account to use the service — the app works with your phone’s contacts list. Similarly, CatchUp shows users as “Ready to Talk” in the top section of its homescreen, with offline users and other contacts listed below
Indian economy to shrink by 5 per cent during FY21, says S&P
In line with various agencies, S&P Global Ratings estimated that the Indian economy will register de-growth of 5 per cent during fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21), ending March 31. However, for next three years, it forecasts growth rate between 5 to 8.5 per cent. In its research report, SBI stated that FY21 GDP (de) growth would be now around negative 6.8 per cent. Ind-Ra’s forecast varies from a growth of 9 per cent to a contraction of 2.1 percent for FY21. CRISIL, in its latest report, expected India’s GDP growth to fall off a cliff, and contract 5 percent in fiscal 2021.
Flipkart signs MoU with Karnataka Mango Board to enable farmers sell produce online
India’s leading ecommerce marketplace Flipkart has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Karnataka State Mango Department and Marketing Corporation, to enable mango farmers to sell their produce online. According to Flipkart, this partnership will provide farmers with the much-needed market access to consumers, creating a potential revenue stream during these testing times of coronavirus
Aarogya Setu becomes open source
Arogya Setu, India’s Covid-19 contact tracing, syndromic mapping and self assessment mobile app is now open source. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant stated, transparency, privacy and security have been the core design principles of Araogya Setu since it’s inception and opening of the source code upto the developer community signifies Government of India’s continuing commitment to this principle. He stated, it is a unique thing as no other government product anywhere in the world has been open sourced at this scale
Leo Puri to take over as Chairman of JP Morgan
Veteran banker Kalpana Morparia, Chairman, South and South-East Asia at JP Morgan, plans to retire after nearly 12 years with the investment banking firm. She will be succeeded by Leo Puri.
Noted Urdu writer& satirist Mujtaba Hussain Passes away
Renowned Urdu writer and satirist Mujtaba Hussain, who had returned the Padma Shri award to the union government last year, passed away. Hussain was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilan award, in 2007 for his contribution to Urdu literature.
