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Cabinet approves City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain 2.0 (CITIIS 2.0) from 2023 to 2027 What is CITIIS 2.0? CITIIS 2.0 is a program conceived by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in partnership with: the French Development Agency (AFD), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the European Union (EU), and National Institute …

Cabinet approves Constitution and Empowerment of an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) for Facilitation of “World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector” The Union Cabinet approved the constitution and empowerment of an Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) for facilitation of the World’s Largest Grain Storage Plan in Cooperative Sector by convergence of various schemes of various ministries: the Ministry …

Recently, Hvaldimir, the beluga whale, was spotted off the Swedish coast. It is speculated that the beluga was supposedly Russia’s newest spy. The beluga whale is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the white …

China launched a spacecraft – Shenzou-16 carrying three astronauts, including its first civilian, to its Tiangong space station. The three astronauts will replace the crew of Shenzhou-15 aboard the Tiangong space station. The new crew will stay there for the next five months. It will carry out “large-scale in-orbit tests and experiments in various fields as planned. They are …

India is considering cutting its import tax on solar panels by half and is seeking a rollback in goods and services taxes on the devices. The decision is aimed to make up for the shortfall in local output amid rising demand for renewable energy. Government plans to cut the import tax on solar panels from 40% …

India will unveil 18 new petaFLOP supercomputers for weather forecasting in 2023. Presently India gives forecasts with a 12-kilometre resolution. The new supercomputer will improve it to six-kilometre resolution. The ministry of Earth Sciences aims to achieve one-kilometre resolution forecasts. The new supercomputer is expected to improve weather forecasts at …

According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Annual Report 2022-23, India’s growth momentum is likely to be sustained in 2023-24. Highlights of the RBI annual Report: According to RBI, in the atmosphere of easing inflationary pressures, Indian economy will be supported by: Sound macroeconomic policies Softer commodity prices A robust financial sector …

An Indian Navy MiG-29K fighter jet made the maiden night landing on the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. It is an important step towards the warship becoming fully operational along with its air wing. The Mikoyan MiG-29K is a Russian all-weather carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft developed in the late 1980s. INS Vikrant (IAC-1) is the first …

India and Indonesia have completed a joint feasibility study on the development of strategically valuable Sabang port. Sabang port is roughly 700 km from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is located in the Aceh, province of Indonesia. The successful development of Sabang Port would allow India easier access to the Malacca …

China plans to place astronauts on the moon before 2030 and expand the country’s orbiting space station. China’s latest announcement came against the backdrop of rivalry with the US for reaching new milestones in outer space. The US aims to put astronauts back on the lunar surface by the end of 2025 as part of …

Jammu and Kashmir gets its first full-fledged Jambu Zoo in a naturally green landscape at Khanpur Nagrota. Details: Khanpur Nagrota is located in the foothills of Shivalik along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on the outskirts of Jammu city. Initially the Zoo will have 27 species of rare animals and birds brought from different …

In continuation of the declining trend that has been observed since June last year, India’s exports and imports continue to shrink across many nations for most items. Details: The imports have declined more than the exports thus narrowing the trade deficit. While the decline in exports was widespread, affecting most of the major …

According to the Agricultural Ministry, India will achieve foodgrain production of 3305.34 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) in the current agricultural year According to the third advance estimates of production of major crops, government is estimating record production of rice, wheat, maize, soybean, rapeseed and mustard, and sugarcane. The total foodgrain production is likely to …

In an important step towards realising India’s ambitious Gaganyaan mission to put an Indian in space, the Indian Navy and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released the Gaganyaan Recovery Training Plan at the Water Survival Training Facility (WSTF) at INS Garuda, Kochi. The human flight, after two unmanned flights, …

The Union Food Ministry on Friday countered the Opposition Congress’s allegation that the distribution of fortified rice through fair price shops is being done despite multiple warnings by experts and institutions such as NITI Aayog and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). A spokesperson of the Ministry …

SEBI will soon introduce a new light-touch regulatory framework for passively managed mutual funds like exchange traded funds (ETFs) and index funds, which have seen a sharp uptick in assets under management (AUM) in recent years, a member said. “We are going to introduce new mutual fund regulations which we …

After remianing a net purchaser of US dollar for three consecutive years, RBI became the net seller of US dollar in FY2023. RBI sold $25.52 billion on a net basis in the spot foreign exchange market in FY 2023. The rupee came under heavy pressure due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and interest rate hikes by the …

India has a long history of producing agricultural commodities, and has been a hub for the global spices, tea, and coffee trade for several centuries. Its scale and diversity have gone from strength to strength over the last three decades, such that the share of high-value agricultural commodities in the …

The recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc. versus Goldsmith et al. has added more unpredictability to the process of being exempted from copyright infringement liabilities. The judgment is set to have implications for how we regulate a powerful form of artificial …

In an unprecedented situation the US government is on the verge of Defaulting on its borrowing that could potentially hit economies around the world. The US government has never defaulted, and a default could have catastrophic consequences for America and for the world. The issue was serious enough for the American President to cancel …