PUNJAB

• Punjab government to set common facility centres for 20 industrial clusters

 

• Working on its endeavour to modernise, especially the micro and small sector enterprises, the Punjab Government has planned to set up common facility centres for 20 industrial clusters in the State.

 

• The CFCs have been proposed for industrial clusters including oil expeller and parts, wire drawing, tractor parts, bicycle and parts, sheet metals, hand tools in Ludhiana, metal cluster, advanced machinery cluster, IT in Mohali, auto parts, hand tools, sports in Jalandhar.

 

• The CFCs will be equipped with testing labs, modern machinery, marketing centres and other supportive capacity as per the requirement of industries.

 

• Under the cluster development scheme, the Centre provides maximum amount of Rs 15 crore for setting up CFCs of which 90 per cent borne by the Centre and state governments and 10 per cent by industry, he said.He added that the state government may also provide land for the setting up of the CFCs.

 

• The government has also roped in an expert from Andhra Pradesh who will highlight the benefits of cluster development and common facility centres to the local industry. Andhra Pradesh is known for the development of industry clusters.

 

• Besides, the government has also decided to deploy special officers for the 11 industrial sectors, including food processing, healthcare, repair and maintenance in defence, machine tools, light engineering, to address any issue or concerns of the new investors.

 

• Punjab has already signed MoU with investments proposals worth Rs 47,000 crore in the past few months in different industry verticals.

 

• Besides offering power at the rate of Rs five per unit, Punjab Government is  offering investment subsidy by way of reimbursement of net state goods and service tax (SGST), exemption from electricity duty, stamp duty and property tax, change of land use charges depending upon size of investments and industry verticals.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL

 

·        Intel sets a Guinness world record with 1,218 drones at 2018 Winter Olympic Games

 

• The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games 2018 saw a record-setting performance of 1,218 drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), flying in sync to create huge formations of various Olympic sports and the iconic Olympic rings. This record was set by Intel.
• The drones set a world record for the ‘most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously,’ which was previously held by 500 drones during a 2016 performance in Germany.

 

·        Sister of North Korean leader meets the president of South Korea 1st time in the 2018 Winter Olympics

 

 

• Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister and close adviser, just sat down for a historic meeting with the president of South Korea in the latest surprising development to come out of the North’s decision to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
• North and South Korea marched together under one flag at the Olympics.

 

NATIONAL

 

• Swachh Bharat Sanitation Park” inaugurated in Delhi

 

• The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, in collaboration with the Environmental Sanitation Institute and Tata Trusts, has developed a Sanitation Park which was inaugurated in the Capital by Union Minister, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Sushri Uma Bharti, and Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri ParameswaranIyer.

 

• The Sanitation Park was developed at CGO Complex in New Delhi with an objective to create awareness on various safe technological options.

 

• The Park demonstrates various options pertaining to toilet technologies and solid and liquid waste management technologies, with a brief description of these technologies.

 

 

• Shri RK Singh launches ASH TRACK Mobile App

 

• Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, Shri R.K Singh, launched a Web based monitoring System and a Fly Ash mobile application named ASH TRACK.

 

• These platforms will enable better management of the ash produced by thermal power plants by providing an interface between fly ash producers (Thermal Power Plants) and potential ash users such as – road contractors, cement plants etc.

 

 

• WCD Ministry to set up National Women Entrepreneurship Council

 

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development is considering to establish National Women Entrepreneurship Council (NWEC).

 

• NWEC will promote entrepreneurship as it would be the umbrella organization for socio-economic gender parity, financial inclusion and economic empowerment of women in India.

 

• This information was given by Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Dr. Virendra Kumar in reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

 

 

• Reliance Industries wins Golden Peacock Award 2017 for CSR 

 

• Reliance Industries (RIL) said it has been awarded the Golden Peacock Award 2017 for corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

 

• The award was a recognition of the work done by its CSR arm Reliance Foundation under Founder and Chairman Nita Ambani.

 

• Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by the Institute Of Directors (IOD) in 1991 in India, are regarded as a benchmark of Corporate Excellence.

 

 

• Bengaluru to get electric vehicle charging points across the city

 

• Bengaluru city has the highest number of electric car owners in India, with over 6,000 electric vehicles.
• Now, the government is planning to install 11public charging points for e-vehicles.
• The first charging point will be opened for public from February 15th. It is located at the KR Circle at Bescom’s corporate office.
• Currently, Mahindra is the only manufacturer that commercially sells electric vehicles in India. In the future, manufacturers like Tata, Maruti Suzuki, Toyota and Hyundai have plans to launch electric vehicles in the Indian market too.