1. Second phase of wellness mother campaign begins
Tags: Latest National News
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla launched the second phase of Suposhit Maa Abhiyan in Kota to keep pregnant women of the Kota Bundi region well-nourished.
Under the campaign, a target has been set to nourish three thousand pregnant women, so that 2,000 women in Kota and 1 thousand in Bundi will get the benefit of the campaign.
Under this campaign, nutrition kits will be provided to pregnant women for 9 months.
In the year 2020, Suposhit Maa Abhiyan was started by identifying 1000 pregnant women with the goal of removing nutritional deficiency among women.
Nutrition kit has been prepared by Hans Foundation for the beneficiary women and health cards were also provided to the women for monitoring.
Other efforts currently being made
Nutrition campaign
Under POSHAN Abhiyaan (erstwhile National Nutrition Mission), all districts in 36 States/UTs have been covered in a phased manner.
It is an integrated multi-ministerial mission to ensure the achievement of malnutrition free India by the year 2022.
The main objective of POSHAN Abhiyaan is to reduce stunting in identified districts of India by improving access and quality of Anganwadi services. In addition, to ensure holistic development and adequate nutrition for pregnant women and post-delivery mothers and their children.
Goals of National Nutrition Mission 2022
To reduce low birth weight by 2% per annum from 2017 to 2022.
Reducing stunting to the level of 25% by the year 2022.
To reduce the level of anaemia existing in children below 5 years of age and women in the age group of 15-49 years by 3% annually from 2017 to 2022.
2. Development of battery-powered dual-mode locomotive 'Navdoot
Tags: National Science and Technology
West Central Railway has developed a battery operated dual-mode locomotive named Navdoot.
This engine runs on both the modes i.e. battery and electricity.
Presently it is being used during shunting of trains at Jabalpur, Murwara and other stations on trial basis.
This dual mode locomotive has also received the Best Innovation Award from the Railway Board.
With this new locomotive, Railways will save 1000 litres of diesel per day and it will be used more after clearing all the trials.
About the Nav Doot
This e-engine can haul 18 coaches at a speed of 30 kmph.
It has 84 batteries and currently has a towing capacity of 400 tonnes.
It has been developed by the Electricity Department of New Katni Junction.
After clearing all the tests, it will be used more widely for purposes like carrying goods, coal, oil tankers etc. to other stations.
3. Government set up Cotton Council of India for holistic development of the Cotton sector
Tags: National News
The Union Government has announced the formation of the Cotton Council of India under the Chairmanship of Suresh Bhai Kotak. This was announced by the Union Textile Minister Piyush Goel after a meeting with the stakeholders of the cotton industry from farmers to industries.
The Cotton Council will have representation from Textiles, Agriculture, Commerce, and Finance Ministries along with Cotton Corporation of India and Cotton Research Institute.
The council will discuss, deliberate, and prepare a robust action plan for bringing out a tangible improvement in this field.
Cotton In India
India has the distinction of having the largest area under cotton cultivation which is about 37% of the world area under cotton cultivation between 12.0 million hectares to 13.5 million hectares.
India is the largest producer of cotton in the world accounting for about 24% of the world cotton production.
The yield per kgs hectare which is presently 469 kgs/ha is still lower against the world average yield of about 808 Kgs kgs /ha.
The biggest task of the Cotton Council of India will be to increase productivity of cotton in India so that it can meet the needs of the textile industries and increase the income of the farmers.
4. DRDO And Indian Navy Test-Fire New NASM-SR Missile
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted the maiden flight test of the indigenously developed “Naval Anti-Ship Missile-Short Range" or NASM-SR.
It was launched from Indian Navy helicopter Seaking 42B from DRDO‘s Interim Testing Range, Balasore in Odisha on 18 May 2022.
According to DRDO, the NASM-SR would be a 380 kilogram projectile with a maximum range of 55 kilometres that will be deployed to replace the previous Sea Eagle missiles on Indian Navy Sea King helicopters.
In a tweet, Indian Navy said, this firing is a significant step towards achieving self-reliance in niche missile technology and reaffirms the Indian Navy’s commitment to indigenization.
The Naval Anti-Ship Missile-Short Range has been developed in association with Defence Research and Development Organisation,
It is the first indigenous air-launched Anti-ship missile system for the Indian Navy.
The missile employed many new technologies, including an indigenously developed launcher for the helicopter, state-of-the-art navigation system and integrated avionics.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO):
It is a premier defence research and development agency under the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
It aims to make India self-reliant in critical defence technology and systems.
It was set up in 1958.
Headquarters: New Delhi
Chairman: G. Satheesh Reddy
5. Country's first '5G testbed' launched
Tags: Science and Technology National News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the country's first 5G testbed, which will enable industry players and startups to test and validate their products locally.
This testbed has been set up at a cost of Rs 220 crore.
This 5G testbed has been developed as a multi-institution collaborative project by 8 institutes led by IIT Madras.
Due to no 5G testbed till now, startups and industry players had to go abroad to test and validate their products.
This testbed will create a supportive ecosystem for the Indian industry and startups to help them validate their products, prototypes, solutions and algorithms in 5G and next-gen technologies.
Other institutes involved in the project are IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IISc Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT).
6. Village Unnati appointed former Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora as chairman
Tags: National Person in news
Former Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has been named as the new non-executive chairman of the Village Unnati Board.
About Sunil Arora
He is a 1980 batch retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Rajasthan cadre.
He has served as the secretary of two important ministries, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
He was also the 23rd Chief Election Commissioner of India.
About Gram unnati
Gram Unnati is a social enterprise that helps farmers to increase their net income by realising value, increasing agricultural productivity and reducing the cost of cultivation.
Gram Unnati provides physical and technical infrastructure support to agri-processors, banks, agri-input manufacturers, research institutes and others.
Gram Unnati also provides institutional buyers with consultancy services, low cost high quality inputs and market connections to marginal farmers, as well as tailored production, logistics, and end-to-end quality control of agricultural products.
Gram unnati is headquartered in Gurgaon with operations across 6 states currently.
7. Hassan Sheikh Mahmood appointed as the new President of Somalia
Tags: Person in news International News
After a long-pending election in the troubled Horn of Africa nation, Somali legislators have elected former leader Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud as the country's next president.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamed, who served as Somalia's president between 2012 and 2017, won in the capital Mogadishu amid a security lockdown imposed by authorities to prevent deadly rebel attacks.
He defeated Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed in this election.
Mahmoud secured 214 votes against 110 votes in favour of the incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo in the final third round.
Mahmood, 66, is the leader of the Union for Peace and Development party, which has a majority in both legislative chambers.
About somalia
Somalia is a country located on the eastern edge of Africa.
Capital- Mogadishu
Capital- Mogadishu
Prime Minister- Mohamed Hussein Roble
Currency- Somali Shilling (SOS)
8. India hosts SCO-RATS meeting
Tags: Summits International News
Counter-terrorism experts from India, Pakistan and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) discussed ways to enhance cooperation in tackling various regional security challenges in a meeting hosted in New Delhi on May 16.
The meeting is being held under the regional counter-terrorism framework of the SCO.
A major focus of the discussion was on the situation in Afghanistan where all countries are threatened by terrorist groups operating in the Taliban-ruled country.
Pakistan has sent a three-member team for the meeting.
The Afghan issue has figured prominently in almost all the major meetings of the SCO.
Council of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of SCO (RATS SCO)
India assumed the presidency of the SCO (RATS SCO) on 28 October last year for a period of one year.
India has shown keen interest in deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Framework (RATS).
This specifically deals with issues relating to security and defence.
The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest inter-regional international organisations.
The member states of the SCO
Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
Afghanistan is among the observer states of the SCO.
9. Indian Navy dedicated two warships Surat and Udayagiri
The nation witnessed a historic event in the history of the indigenous warship building on May 17, 2022, when two frontline warships of the Indian Navy were commissioned.
These are the warships Surat, which is the destroyer of Project 15B and the other is Udayagiri, which is a frigate of Project 17A.
Both were launched simultaneously at Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai. Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh was the chief guest in both these programs.
The Project 15B class ships are the next generation stealth guided missile destroyers of the Indian Navy, commissioned by Mazagon Docks Ltd. Made in Mumbai.
Destroyer, Surat:
'Surat' is the fourth ship of the Project 15B Destroyer class, which has been developed with several modifications to the P15A (Kolkata class).
It is named after Surat, the commercial capital of Gujarat and the second largest trading centre in western India after Mumbai.
Frigate, Udayagiri:
Udayagiri is named after a mountain range in Andhra Pradesh. This is the third frigate of Project 17A.
Complying with the P17 frigates (Shivalik class), they are equipped with modified stealth characteristics, advanced weapons, sensing equipment and platform management systems. 'Udayagiri' is an incarnation of the old 'Udayagiri', which was a Leander class ASW frigate.
Important Facts:
A total of seven ships are being built under the P17 programme, out of which four are being built at MDL and three at GRSE.
15B and P17A, both ships were indigenously designed at the Directorate of Naval Design (DND).
During the construction activities at the shipyard, about 75 per cent of the orders for equipment and systems were received by indigenous companies, which included micro, small and medium enterprises.
10. Pilot project launched to skill tribal youth
Tags: National News
A pilot project was launched by the Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to skill tribal youth from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
Under this pilot project, about 250 beneficiaries of 17 clusters of 17 districts selected from six states will be given training.
The six states selected for the pilot project include Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Odisha.
Under this pilot project, training will be given in five disciplines (multi skilling)-
Electricity and Solar Energy
agricultural mechanisation
e-governance
Plumbing and Masonry
Repair and maintenance of two wheelers.
The training under these five subjects will help the tribal youth to set up their own business and generate employment opportunities for other youth in their locality.
