The Chairman of the Railway Board VK Yadav has recently announced that the Government has deferred the timeline for introducing private trains to March 2024.
Earlier, the timeline was fixed at April 2023. It has deferred because the major infrastructure upgradation of the railway network is expected to be completed only in the year 2024. The Board also said that North Eastern state capitals will be connected via rail network by 2023.

Central Institute of Petrochemicals engineering and Technology, CIPET is a premium academic institution under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Recently, CIPET has been accredited by National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for Testing and Certification of PPE kit including Gloves, Coverall, Goggles and Medical masks. The Centre of CIPET at Bhubaneswar has been granted accreditation.

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has flagged off a ‘Plasma Donation Campaign’ at AIIMS, New Delhi.
The campaign programme was co-organized by Delhi Police. As many as 26 police personnel who had recovered from COVID-19 volunteered to donate blood plasma. New Delhi has recently inaugurated the first Plasma bank of the country.

The Government of Kerala has decided to provide food kits to 1,000 transgender persons in the state.
Kerala became the first state in the country to provide food kits to transgender during the 1st phase of lockdown in March 2020. The state government has now sanctioned food kits amounting Rs.700 each to 1000 transgender persons.

Activities regarding the “Yoga Break” protocol of Ministry of AYUSH have been resumed, after it was suspended due to Covid-19.
This 5-minute protocol is intended to introduce yoga to people at work and help them to take a break from the work schedule. This protocol was developed by Ministry of AYUSH in association with Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY).

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has recently announced to set up the country’s biggest film city.
The biggest and the grandest film city of the country in Gautam Buddh Nagar. He also directed the state officials to search for a suitable land in or around Noida, Greater Noida or Yamuna Expressway, for construction.

Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi announced that its arm MI India will distribute over 2,500 smartphones worth Rs 2 crore to Indian children, to support online education.
MI India will partner with Indian non-profit organisation ‘Teach for India’, to carry out the distribution process. The hand sets would be used in shifts to utilise the service effectively, to enable children access quality education.

Strait Island was seen in news, as it is home to the Great Andamanese tribe. Only a little over 50 people belonging to the tribe are alive as on date.
Recently, ten members of the Great Andamanese tribe were tested positive for the Covid-19 and six of them were said to have recovered. More than 5000 Great Andamanese were said to have lived in the island in the 19th century.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to inaugurate the ‘Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra’, an interactive experience centre on the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).
It was first announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year 2017, on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of Gandhiji’s Champaran Satyagraha. The Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra complex comprises of audio-visual show explaining the journey of the country in implementing the SBM.

Hyderabad International Airport has introduced contactless e-boarding facilities for international flyers, in addition to domestic passengers.
It has become the first airport in the country to introduce contactless e-boarding for passengers flying out of the country. It uses an indigenously developed digital solution, using which passengers can avoid all queues and waiting time.

Ministry of Jal Shakti had constituted a multi-disciplinary Technical Committee to recommend innovative ‘field level solution’ technologies in Drinking Water and Sanitation for states and UTs.
The committee was chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India K Vijaya Raghavan. It also has other members from NITI Aayog, DST, CSIR, DRDO, IIT among others. The committee has recently recommended five technology solutions for states/UTs.

The vaccine maker Serum Institute of India is set to achieve “Net Zero State” by cutting down all forms of emission and harmful release in to the environment to zero.
A start-up firm incubated at IIT-SINE named h2e Power Systems and backed by SII would be joining hands to transform SII into a company that runs on renewable and green energy.

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US Special Presidential Envoy for climate John Kerry have agreed to come together and collaborate for the 2030 climate change agenda.
The special focus of the collaboration would be clean and green energy, adequate finance, resilient infrastructure and green hydrogen.

Indian Navy’s Hydrographic Survey Ship INS Sarvekshak successfully completed survey action around the site of ill-fated MV X-Press Pearl on July 2 and handed over the survey data to the Sri Lankan authorities. The X-Press Pearl reported an onboard acid leak and caught fire just as it was due to enter the Colombo harbour on May 20. The fire was put out only after 13 days.

The Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has signed a pact for providing reliable and sustainable power supply to security forces operating in remote, Naxal-affected and high-altitude areas. The MoU between the Navratna PSU BEL and the SFC Energy-AG, Germany, and FC TecNrgy Pvt Ltd (FCTec), signed recently, will ensure cooperation in addressing the emerging requirement of sustainable energy to the security forces through supply of hydrogen and fuel cells.

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has been adjudged the best higher educational institution in 2021 followed by Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IISc) and IIT Bombay. The rankings were announced by education minister Dharmendra Pradhan as part of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), an initiative of the government to rank top Indian institutions. Several key parameters, including research output, teaching learning environment, outreach and inclusivity, resource, graduate outcome, and perception, among others, were considered for preparing the exhaustive list.

The Supreme Court appointed an inquiry committee under its former judge Justice Indu Malhotra to probe the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Punjab.
The committee will also include the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana Court, the Director General of the National Investigation Agency or an officer nominated by him and ADGP (Security) of Punjab Police. The committee will look into the reasons for security breach and suggest safeguards are necessary for the security of the PM and Constitutional functionaries.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat and its reporting structures. It aims to handle work related to various aspects of India’s G20 Presidency starting from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023.
The Secretariat will be guided by an apex committee headed by Prime Minister, and comprising the Finance Minister, Home Minister, External Affairs Minister, and G20 Sherpa (Commerce & Industry Minister).

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare released the Second Advance Estimates of Area and Production of various Horticultural Crops for 2021-22
Total Horticulture production in 2021-22 is estimated to be 341.63 Million Tonne, an increase of about 7.03 Million Tonne over 2020-21. Increase in production of Fruits, Vegetables and Honey while decrease in production of Spices, Flowers, Aromatics & Medicinal Plants and Plantation Crops over previous year, is expected.