1. Nitin Gadkari launches Toyota’s pilot project on Flex-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) in India
Tags: place in news National Science and Technology
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Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari launched Toyota’s first of its kind pilot project on Flex-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) in India on 11 October 2022, which would run on 100% petrol as well as 20 to 100% blended ethanol and electric power.
The Toyota car which was unveiled by the minister has been imported from Toyota Brazil. Flex-fuel vehicles are at present available in Brazil, the USA and Canada.
Ethanol in India is mainly derived from molasses of the sugarcane.
An FFV SHEV has a flex-fuel engine and an electric powertrain, providing dual benefit of higher ethanol use and greater fuel efficiency. It can run for a significant time period on its Electric Vehicle mode, wherein the engine is shut off.
Flex-fuel compatible cars can run on more than one type of fuel and also a mixture of fuel. It typically runs on a blend of petrol and ethanol or methanol is used.
FFVs provide an opportunity of greater substitution of petrol by ethanol as it is capable of using any of the higher blends of ethanol mix from 20 per cent up to 100 per cent.
Toyota was also the first company in India to launch India's first green hydrogen-based advanced fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), Toyota Mirai.
Toyota Motor Company of Japan has a joint venture with Kirloskar in India and the company is called as Toyota Kirloskar Motor ltd.
2. Praveen Giri wins silver medal in Water Technology at World Skill Competition 2022
Tags: place in news Awards Person in news
B.Tech final year student in Mechanical Engineering of C.V. Raman Global University Odisha, Praveen Kumar Giri, won the silver medal for India in Water Technology at the World Skills Competition 2022, held at Stuttgart, Germany on 10 October 2022.
He is the second Indian to win a medal in the world skill competition after Aswastha Narayana won the gold medal in water technology at the 2019 event in Kazan, Russia.
In water technology, a total of 7 countries participated this time including Singapore, Japan, South Africa, Germany, and Korea.”
The Gold Medal was won by Singapore, Silver by India and Bronze was won by Japan.
3. Army Day Parade 2023 to be held in Bengaluru
Tags: place in news Defence
The Indian Army has announced that the annual Army Day Parade 2023 will be held on 15 January in Bengaluru, Karnataka as per the Prime Minister's vision to move significant events and festivities out of the national capital.
Army Day is observed every year on 15 January and till date it was held in New Delhi.
Recently for the first time the Air Force Day and flypast was held in Chandigarh on 8 October.
Indian Army Day
It was on this day that for the first time an Indian took over the command of the Indian Army from the Britishers.
On 15 January, 1949 Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa (K. M. Cariappa), took over as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) from General Francis Robert Roy Bucher.
Current Chief of Army Staff : General Manoj Pande
4. 10th India -UAE High Level Joint Task Force on Investments held in Mumbai
Tags: place in news Summits Economics/Business
The 10th meeting of the UAE-India High Level Joint Task Force on Investments took place in Mumbai on 11 October 2022. It was co-chaired by the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The Joint Task Force was established in 2013 to promote trade, investment and economic ties between the UAE and India.
This was the first meeting of the Joint Task Force since the signing of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and unveiling of the Joint UAE-India Vision Statement in February 2022 during the virtual summit between India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
India -UAE Trade relation
- The United Arab Emirates is the third largest trading partner of India after the United States and China in 2021-22.
- In 2021 – 22, total trade between India and the UAE was $72.8 billion, with India’s exports of $28 billion and imports of $44.8 billion.
- UAE is a major market for Indian commodities such as basmati rice, tea, electrical equipment, apparel and machinery among others.
- One of the key goals of the CEPA is to increase bilateral trade between the UAE and India over $100 billion in the next five years, including raising services trade beyond $15 billion.
- Besides trade, the UAE is a major employment destination for Indians. Of the nearly 90 lakh Indians living in West Asia, Emirates is home for 34 lakh of them, who work there in the finance industry, hospitality, medical sector, oil industry, construction and others.
United Arab Emirate (UAE)
- It is a federation of seven Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Khaimah, Ajmain, Fujairah, Umm -Al-Quwain. It is an Arabian country.
- Abu Dhabi is the largest of the emirates and is the centre of UAE oil business.
- It is situated in the West Asia /Middle East region of the world in the Arabian Peninsula.
- UAE in its present form came into existence in 1971.
Capital of UAE: Abu Dhabi
Currency: Emirati Dirham
President of UAE: Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He is the king of Abu Dhabi and the supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
5. India-Norway Joint Working Group on Higher Education held in New Delhi
Tags: place in news National
India hosted the 6th meeting of the India-Norway Joint Working Group on Higher Education on 11th October 2022 in New Delhi.
The meeting was chaired by Ms. Neeta Prasad, Joint Secretary, International Cooperation, and Ministry of Education from the Indian side and by Ms. Anne Line Wold, Director General, Ministry of Education and Research from the Norwegian side. The Ambassador of Norway to India also participated in the meeting.
The Joint Working Group was established to monitor and oversee the implementation of the MoU on Cooperation in the field of Higher Education signed between India and Norway on 25th April 2022.
Kingdom of Norway
It is a Northern European country and lies in the Scandinavian Peninsula. Scandinavian islands consist of Norway and Sweden.
It is one of the largest exporters of crude oil and natural gas in the world .It has significant oil and gas reserves in North Sea.
Prime Minister: Jonas Gahr Støre
Capital: Oslo
Currency: Norwegian krone
6. PM Modi officially declares 'Modhera village' as India’s first solar powered village
Tags: place in news State News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is on a three day(9-11 October 2022) visit to Gujarat, officially declared Modhera village in Mehsana district of Gujarat as India’s first 24x7 solar powered village on 9 October 2022.
The Modhera village is provided round the clock electricity by over 1000 rooftop solar power panels installed in the village and also through Battery Energy Storage System at night.
Modhera is the first modern village in India with a solar-based ultra-modern electric vehicle charging station.
Another distinction of this project is that it is India’s first grid-connected mega-watt hour scale battery energy storage system.
Project Modhera
In 2019 the Central government and the state government started the joint project to power the Modhera village in Mehsana district with solar power.
The Gujarat government had allotted 12 hectares of land for development of this project and an amount of Rs 80.66 crore was spent on a 50:50 basis by Centre and state government in two phases,
More than 1,300 1 kW rooftop solar systems have been installed on houses which generate electricity. And electricity is supplied free of cost to the villagers.
Modhera’s Sun Temple
The Prime Minister also inaugurated the 3-D projection facility powered by solar energy for the Modhera’s Sun Temple. The sun temple is a protected archaeological site and heritage lighting has been installed on the temple premise.
The solar-powered 3-D projection will educate visitors about the history of Modhera.
Sun Temple is situated on the bank of river Pushpavati. It was built by King Bhima-I of Chalukya dynasty in 1026-27.
7. Pankaj Advani wins his 25th World title at Kuala Lumpur
Tags: place in news Sports Person in news
Pankaj Advani of India defeated Sourav Kothari in the final of the 2022 IBSF World Billiards Championship, to win his 25th World title.
The final of the 2022 IBSF World Billiards Championship was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 8 October 2022.
Pankaj Advani has won the World Billiards title for five times in a row.
Pankaj Advani has now won 25 world titles. No other Indian sportsperson has won so many world titles in any sport.
Cue Sport
Cue sport is played on a table where a cue (stick) is used to hit the balls. Snooker, Billiards, and pool are some famous cue sports in the world.
8. Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh to lead Indian delegation at the 145th IPU Assembly in Rwanda
Tags: place in news Summits Person in news
Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Harivansh will lead the 12 member Indian Parliamentary delegation to the 145th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to be held in Kigali, Rwanda.
The 145th IPU Assembly is being hosted by the Parliament of Rwanda at Kigali from 11-15 October 2022.
The theme of the 145th IPU Assembly: Gender equality and gender-sensitive parliaments as drivers of change for a more resilient and peaceful world.
Rwanda is the first country in the world with a female majority in Parliament. 61.3% members in the Chamber of Deputies and 36% in the Senate are women.
The Parliament of Rwanda consists of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
The Inter-Parliamentary Union was set up in 1889. It is a global organization of national parliaments dedicated to promoting peace through parliamentary diplomacy and dialogue.
At present it has 178 member Parliaments and 14 Associate members.
Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
President: Saber Hossain Choudhary of Bangladesh
Every year 30 June is observed as International Day of Parliamentarians .
9. Nitin Gadkari and Yogi Adityanath jointly inaugurates Indian Roads Congress in Lucknow
Tags: place in news Summits Person in news State News
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath jointly inaugurated the 81st annual session of the Indian roads Congress in Lucknow on 8 October 2022.
The 81st Indian roads Congress is being hosted by the Uttar Pradesh government in Lucknow from 8-11 October 2022.
Speaking on the occasion Nitin Gadkari announced road projects worth eight thousand crore rupees for Uttar Pradesh including 13 Road Over Bridges with the fund of one thousand crore rupees.
Road Congress will discuss modern techniques in road construction and it will have many sessions regarding it.
The Indian Roads Congress (IRC) is the Apex Body of Highway Engineers in the country. The IRC was set up in December, 1934 on the recommendations of the Indian Road Development Committee best known as Jayakar Committee set up by the Government of India with the objective of Road Development in India.
10. First Global Drone expo held in Chennai
Tags: place in news Summits
The first ever Global Drone Expo 2022 was held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 8 October 2022. The Drone expo was organised by Indian Drone Association (IDA) in collaboration with Garuda Aerospace. The central government intends to make India a global drone hub by 2030.
Representatives from 14 international drone companies participated in the expo which was inaugurated by Member of Parliament, Bangalore Central PC Mohan.
Drone Expo 2022 is mainly organised to attract investors, youth and all relevant stakeholders to explore their potential and synergy in the drone industry.
What is a Drone?
Drones are also called pilotless aircraft or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
It means it is not flown by humans but is remotely controlled by the humans.
It is equipped with infrared cameras, GPS and laser. It is used in Space ,in the military, for transporting goods, for spraying insecticides for land mapping etc .
