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A new species of old-world monkey recorded from Arunachal Pradesh has been named after Sela Pass, which is a strategic mountain pass at 13,700 ft above sea level, and the New Species has been named Sela Macaque. It was identified and analysed by a team of experts from the Zoological Survey …

Recently, a petition was filed before Delhi High Court, challenging the exclusion of a single man and a woman having a child from surrogacy and demanded the decriminalization of commercial surrogacy. The petitioners have challenged their exclusion from availing surrogacy under the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 and Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021. …

Recently, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) released a revised Draft National Data Governance Framework Policy. The new draft, ‘National Data Governance Framework Policy’, is a replacement of the now scrapped ‘India Data accessibility and Use policy’. The objective of the policy is to modernise the government’s data collection, with …

The Ministry of Coal has prepared a National Mission document to achieve 100 MT (Million Tonnes) Coal Gasification by 2030. Coal gasification is a process in which coal is partially oxidised with air, oxygen, steam or carbon dioxide to form a fuel gas. This gas is then used instead of piped natural …

According to the 2020 report on Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD), the first year of Covid-19 lockdown saw the highest incidences of persons dying of respiratory illnesses in a decade. The scheme of Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD) was introduced in the country under the provisions of the Registration of …

PARAM PORUL, a state-of-the art Supercomputer at NIT Tiruchirappalli under National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) was inaugurated. PARAM PORUL supercomputing facility is established under Phase 2 of the NSM. Majority of the components have been manufactured and assembled within the country, along with an indigenous software stack developed by C-DAC, in line with the Make in India initiative. PARAM …

Recently, two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were renewed at the 7th India-Canada Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee (JSTCC) meeting. The MoUs were signed by the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and National Research Council Canada (NRC), respectively, under the 2005 Agreement for Scientific and …

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) approved the implementation of the Centre’s flagship Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) for the residents in its area. Ayushman Bharat, a flagship scheme of Government of India, was launched as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage …

Recently, the Ministry of Electronics and IT conducted a brainstorming session with Researchers and Start-ups aimed to shape strategy for Digital India BHASHINI [BHASHa INterface for India]. The government intends to integrate start-ups’ innovation, development and consumption of technology. Digital India BHASHINI is India’s Artificial Intelligence (AI)led language translation platform. A Bhashini Platform will make Artificial …

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released the draft notification for Electronic Waste Management for public feedback. India has a formal set of rules for electronic waste management, first announced these rules in 2016 and amended it in 2018. The latest rules are expected to come into effect by August 2022. Earlier, …

Recently, International Labour Organisation (ILO) released a document on “Inclusion of LGBTIQ+ persons in the world of work”. It provides certain recommendations to ensure equal opportunities and treatment for LGBTIQ+ persons at work. LGBTIQ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Inter-sex and Queer. The plus sign represents people with diverse SOGIESC who identify using other terms. …

Recently, in a significant order, Supreme Court has recognised sex work as a “profession” and observed that its practitioners are entitled to dignity and equal protection under law. The court invoked its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. Article 142 provides discretionary power to the Supreme Court as it states that the …

Nikhat Zareen became the fifth Indian woman to win a World title at World Women’s Boxing Championships 2022 in Istanbul by defeating Thai Olympian Jutamas Jitpong at 5-0 in the 52 kg category. Manisha Moun and Parveen Hooda also won bronze medals in separate categories 57kg and 63kg respectively. India last won a World …

World Health Assembly’s 75th session is being held at World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters (HQ), Geneva from 22nd to 28th May, 2022. Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare emphasized upon India’s commitment towards building a more resilient global health security architecture. Health for peace, peace for health is the theme of the World Health Assembly, 2022. India’s …

Total outward Remittances, under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme, shot up to an all-time high of USD 19.61 billion in the year ended March 2022 as against USD 12.684 billion in March 2021. Foreign exchange, including the US dollar and euro, taken out of the country by resident Indians has shot up by 54.60% during …

Recently, the International Labour Organization(ILO) has released the Ninth Edition of ILO Monitor on the World of Work Report, which says that after significant gains during the last quarter of 2021, the number of hours worked globally dropped in the first quarter of 2022, to 3.8% below the employment situation before the Covid-19. The fresh lockdowns in …

Recently, the Inter-State Council(ISC) has been reconstituted with the Prime Minister as Chairman and Chief Ministers of all States and six Union Ministers as members. Ten union ministers will be the permanent invitees to the Inter-State Council. The government has also reconstituted the standing committee of the Inter-State Council with Union Home as Chairman. The …

Recently, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD)has started the process to identify 4% of posts of junior engineer (civil and electrical) to be reserved for persons with disabilities (PwD) as mandated by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016(RPwD Act). The Central construction agency wrote to its regional offices to identify 4% of …

Recently, ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) has organized a conference named Indian Metal Industry: Current Outlook and Future Trends. With the emergence of economies driven by industrialisation at the beginning of the twentieth century, countries with sound metal industries benefited from a first-mover advantage. Metals have been one of the core …

The adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips have risen in recent times with chipmakers designing different types of these chips to power AI applications. AI chips are built with specific architecture and have integrated AI acceleration to support deep learning-based applications. Deep learning, more commonly known as Active Neural Network (ANN) or Deep Neural Network (DNN), …