- Ministry of Commerce & Industry
DPIIT(Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) organises Startup India Innovation Week 2024 from 10th to 18th January 2024.
- DPIIT is organising the Startup India Innovation Week 2024 from 10th January 2024 to 18th January 2024 to celebrate the Indian Startup Ecosystem and the National Startup Day (16th January 2024).
- The event will bring together startups, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and other stakeholders.
- On National Startup Day, DPIIT is organising the result declaration and felicitation ceremony for the National Startup Awards 2023 and the 4th edition of the States’ Startup Ranking Framework, two of the flagship initiatives under Startup India.
- The National Startup Awards is an initiative to recognize and reward outstanding startups and ecosystem enablers that are building innovative products or solutions and scalable enterprises, with high potential for employment generation or wealth creation, demonstrating measurable social impact.
States’ Startup Ranking :
- It is a periodic capacity-building exercise developed and released by DPIIT that evaluates States and UTs on their efforts to build an ecosystem conducive to the growth of startups.
- The major objectives of the ranking exercise are facilitating States and UTs to identify, learn and replace good practices, highlighting the policy intervention by States and UTs for promoting the startup ecosystem and fostering competitiveness among states.
2. Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
The Government has notified the ANUBHAV Awards Scheme 2024.
- The online platform ‘Anubhav Portal’ was launched in 2015 by the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare for sharing experiences of retiring/retired Central Government employees while working with the Government.
- To participate in the awards scheme, retiring Central Government employees/pensioners are required to submit their Anubhav write-ups, 8 months prior to retirement and up to 1 year after their retirement.
- Thereafter, the write-ups will be published after assessment by concerned Ministries/Departments.
- The published write-ups will be shortlisted for the Anubhav Awards and Jury Certificates.
3. Ministry of Defence
DRDO conducts successful flight test of New Generation AKASH missile off Odisha coast.
- DRDO conducted a successful flight test of the New Generation AKASH (AKASH-NG) missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.
- The flight test was conducted against a high-speed unmanned aerial target at a very low altitude.
- During the flight test, the target was successfully intercepted by the weapon system and destroyed.
- It has validated the functioning of the complete weapon system consisting of the missile with indigenously developed Radio Frequency Seeker, Launcher, Multi-Function Radar and Command, Control & Communication system.
- The AKASH-NG system is a state-of-the-art missile system capable of intercepting high-speed, agile aerial threats.
- Akash-NG has a range of around 80 km
4. Ministry of Coal
National Coal Price Index Declines by 17.54% in November 2023.
- The NCI is a price index which reflects the change in the price level of coal on a particular month relative to the fixed base year.
- The base year for the NCI is FY 2017-18.
- Prices of coal from all the sales channels of coal, including import, as existing today are taken into account for compiling the NCI.
- The amount of revenue share per tonne of coal produced from auctioned blocks would be arrived at using the NCI by means of a defined formula.
- NCI was rolled out in June 2020 and the same is placed on the website of the Ministry of Coal.
- NCI is composed of a set of five sub-indices: three for Non-Coking Coal and two for Coking Coal.
- The three sub-indices for Non Coking Coal are combined to arrive at the Index for Non Coking Coal and the two sub-indices for Coking Coal are combined to arrive at the Index for Coking Coal.
- Thus, indices are separate for Non-coking and Coking Coal.
- As per the grade of coal pertaining to a mine, the appropriate sub-index is used to arrive at the revenue share.
5. Ministry of Science & Technology
25T Bollard Pull (BP) Tug, Bhishm was launched in Kolkata.
- 25T Bollard Pull (BP) Tug, Bhishm is a part of the “Make in India” initiative of the Govt of India.
- The availability of Tugs will provide impetus tou the operational commitments of IN by facilitating assistance to Naval ships and submarines during berthing and un-berthing, turning and manoeuvring in confined waters.
- The Tugs will also provide afloat firefighting assistance to ships alongside, at anchorage and can conduct limited Search and Rescue Operations.
TAMILNADU AFFAIRS
1.Enrolment ratio high, but proficiency in reading low among teenagers in T.N.
- High enrollment, but not complete literacy: While 97.2% of teenagers were enrolled in education, 21.4% couldn’t read a Class II level text. This is still lower than the national average of 25%.
- Math and English skills: 52.1% could do basic division and 78.3% could read English sentences, with boys generally outperforming girls.
- STEM popularity: 72.7% of Class XI students were enrolled in STEM courses, reflecting their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
- Digital skills above average: Tamil Nadu scored 68.3% in digital tasks, higher than the national average of 63%.
2. Man Melam, and the evolution of nagaswaram
- Utilizes drums made of animal skin instead of wood like modern instruments.
- Features a unique timiri nagaswaram, smaller than the modern pari and producing a high-pitched sound.
- Lacks the distinct “valanthalai” and “thoppi” sections found in other percussion instruments like thavil and mridhangam.
- Primarily used in folk music contexts like weddings and temple festivals
3. World Tamil Economic Conference and Global Economic Summit – Chennai
Theme : Connect, Collaborate, Conquer Your Goals (10th Edition)
