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Two solar trees in Chisinau generate green energy

New Delhi (NVI): We have heard the saying that money doesn’t grow on trees, but what about energy? Two solar trees installed in Moldova’s capital Chisinau have a unique tale to share.

The two trees, which were installed in the capital city of Moldova last year, generate photovoltaic electricity, a form of green energy.

The trees offer “smart tree services” and each tree has 6 USB terminals and as many sockets of 230 Volts.

In September 2019, the solar trees reached their “first harvest” hundreds of people gathered at Mircea cel Batran alley, a boulevard in Chisinau where one of the trees has been installed. The gesture marked the people’s will to promote clean energy and eco-friendly behaviour.

People can charge up for free their mobile devices, have access to the Internet and relax against the trunk of these trees. In the evenings, the trees light up the surroundings due to the stored solar energy during the day.

Each solar tree has a total installed power of 810 W and provides night-time decorative lighting at a capacity of 18 W. The technology will provide an annual reduction of more than 700 kg of CO2 per tree, according to a UNDP report.

Rail app helps rescue 2 girls

New Delhi (NVI): Two girls have been rescued from the clutches of human traffickers with the help of Rail Madad app launched by the Indian Railways in 2018.

The office of Union Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal, today shared the information on Twitter regarding the two girls who were rescued on February 16 from being trafficked.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), in a tweet, said that some passengers used the Rail Madad mobile app to report about the suspected trafficking of girls in 15955 Brahmaputra Mail.

“On being alerted through the Rail Madad, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel of the NFR swung into action and carried out an operation in the train,” it said.

“Within a short period, the Railway Protection Force team was able to detect and detain the suspected human trafficker and rescued the girls at New Jalpaiguri,” it added.

Charge sheet filed against 2 LeT militants

(Representational Image)

Srinagar (NVI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today filed a charge sheet against two Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, who were arrested near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gulmarg last year.

The charge sheet was filed against Khalil Ahmad Kayani (34) and Mohammad Nazeem (23) both residents of Tedaban village under Khurshidabad tehsil of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’s (PoK) Haveli Farwad Kahuta district, at an NIA special court in Jammu.

“The case is related to the arrest of the two accused near Nilkanth Nala approximately 700 metres on the Indian side of LoC in Gulmarg Sector of district Baramulla and recovery of arms, ammunition, grenades, IED material, including explosives and detonators, Pakistan-made medicine and eatable items etc from the forest area near LoC, at their instance by the Indian Army on 21.08.2019,” a spokesperson of the agency said.

The spokesperson said their investigation has revealed that Kayani and Nazeem were in contact with their LeT handler and the Pakistani Army in PoK.

“They were engaged in the task of concealing arms, ammunitions, explosives across the LoC in the forest area of the Indian territory for the use by Pakistani terrorists to carry out the terrorist activities in India further investigation is continued in the case,” the spokesperson said.

The official said they were booked under section 120B of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), sections 13, 18, 20, 23 and 39 of UA(P) Act, section 7 and 25 of arms act, sections 4 and 5 of explosives substances act and sections 3 and 3A of Egress and Internal Movement (Control) Ordinance, 2005.

UP Govt presents Budget 2020

UP CM Yogi Adityanath with state Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna while presenting the budget.

Noida (NVI): The Uttar Pradesh government today tabled its fourth budget for the upcoming financial year 2020-21.

UP Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna presented the Rs 5,12,860.72 crore budget in the state assembly that focussed on infrastructure boost to Ayodhya, emphasis on metro networks and airports.

In the budget, the Yogi Adityanath-led government earmarked Rs 500 crore for Ayodhya Airport. An estimated Rs 92.5 crore has also been allocated for airports under the Regional Connectivity Scheme.

The budget, which is Rs 33,159 crore more than the last year’s budget, has provisions worth Rs 10,967.87 crore for new schemes.

Under the budgetary goals, the state finance minister has also fixed a target to build four lakh houses for weaker sections by March 2021.

Matribhasha Diwas to be celebrated on Feb 21

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The 20th International Mother Language Day will be observed on February 21, 2020 as the UNESCO-recognised event seeks to celebrate the linguistic diversity in the world.

The Indian government will also be celebrating ‘Matribhasha Diwas’ across the country. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will be the chief guest at the main event to be organised in Delhi by the Human Resource and Development Ministry (MHRD). The theme of the event is ‘Celebrating our Multilingual Heritage’ reflecting the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat.

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal will be the Guest of Honour on the occasion. MoS, Ministry of Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel and MoS, HRD Sanjay Dhotre will also grace the occasion.

MHRD along with educational institutions and language institutions is celebrating the Matribhasha Diwas for the past three years.

This year also the educational institutions will organize various activities like elocution, debating, singing and essay writing competitions etc as well as events exploring the cognitive, economic, social and cultural activities of multilingual society. Exhibitions depicting linguistic and diverse wealth of India in at least two languages will also be organised.

‘International Mother Language Day’ was conceptualised and approved in 1999, the event was a result of an initiative by Bangladesh to celebrate the many languages and cultures found around the world.

Yet, due to globalisation processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether. UNESCO believes that when languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity.

Piyush Goyal shares video, warns people against doing stunts on trains

Screen grabs from the TikTok video.

New Delhi (NVI): Railway Minister Piyush Goyal today shared a train stunt video gone horribly wrong and warned people against indulging in such dangerous behaviour.

In an undated TikTok video shared by the Railway minister, a man is seen holding to the handrails of a coach while dangling outside. In a matter of seconds, he loses balance and falls off the train. However, he doesn’t come under the wheels of the train as it speeds past him.

Sharing the video on Twitter, Goyal criticised the stunt as a foolish act. Performing stunts on a moving train isn’t a sign of bravery, but stupidity, he said.

Twitterati also reacted to the post by the Rail Minister, criticising the man for the irresponsible act.

Coronavirus: Pharma industry assures govt of enough drugs, medicines

New Delhi (NVI): Amid rising concerns over shortages of medication in India due to coronavirus outbreak in China, the pharma industry has assured the government that they have enough drugs and medicines to deal with any contingency arising out of the impact of the virus.

In the fifth Task Force meeting on API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) held here yesterday, several important issues were discussed regarding policy relaxations to small, medium, and large API units, and also simplification of the process for environment clearance for production and availability of medicines.

The Government of India has constituted a Task Force on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) under the chairmanship of, MoS Mansukh Mandaviya to formulate a road map for the enhanced production of APIs in the country, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said in a statement yesterday.

The 5th meeting of the Task Force was called by the Ministry where Mansukh Mandaviya took stock of the situation of availability of drugs and medicines.

The Industry representatives explained thoroughly to Mansukh Mandaviya that they have enough drugs and medicines to deal with any contingency arising out of impact of CoronaVirus. They ensured that there will be no shortage of any Drugs, APIs and Medicines in the coming days in India.

In the meeting, the challenges faced by the Pharmaceutical Industry in obtaining Environment Clearance were also discussed. The delegate of Ministry of Environment and Forest, Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has expressed that steps are being taken to expedite Environment Clearances and furthermore referenced that recently MoEF&CC has modified the guidelines so that there is no need to obtain separate Environment Clearance if the production of the Pharma unit is expanded by half.

Delhi CM calls meeting tomorrow

New Delhi (NVI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called a meeting with top official tomorrow to discuss the implementation of “ten guarantees”, his party had promised before the recently held Assembly polls.

These include uninterrupted power supply, garbage-free Delhi, basic facilities for unauthorised colonies, potable piped water supply, education for every child, free bus ride scheme for different sections of society, healthcare facilities, safety of women and cleaning of Yamuna.

This will be the first meeting of Kejriwal with top officers of various department after taking his oath for a third time as Delhi Chief Minister, on Sunday.

Yesterday, Delhi cabinet ministers after taking the charge of their respective offices, said they would work to fulfil promises made in the “guarantee card” which includes reduction in pollution and expansion of metro network.

In the recently held assembly polls, the party recorded a massive victory winning 62 of the 70 seats while BJP bagged the remaining eight seats. The Congress was not able to win a single seat for a second consecutive time.

IDSA renamed after Manohar Parrikar

New Delhi (NVI): Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), the country’s defence think tank, will be renamed as ‘Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’.

The government has taken the decision to honour late Manohar Parrikar, the former defence minister was also awarded Padma Bhushan.

“An epitome of integrity and dedication in public life, throughout his career, late Manohar Parrikar showed a tremendous fighting spirit, taking on the odds with fearlessness,” the Ministry of Defence said in a statement today.

He served as defence minister from November 9, 2014 to March 14, 2017 and steered the ministry through the tough challenges of attacks like Pathankot and Uri and responded to these with exemplary boldness.

Currently, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh chairs the executive committee of the institute’s society.

The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) is a non-partisan, autonomous body dedicated to objective research and policy-relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security. Its mission is to promote national and international security through the generation and dissemination of knowledge on defence and security-related issues.

IDSA was established as a registered society in New Delhi in 1965. The think tank offers advanced research in international relations, especially strategic and security issues, and providing training to civilian and military officers of the Indian government.

Indian Delegation to promote Ease of Filming in India at Berlinale 2020

New Delhi (NVI): The 70th Berlin International Film Festival, to be held from February 20 to March 1 in Berlin, Germany, will see an Indian Pavilion this time, which will provide a platform to popularise Indian cinema in the overseas market and facilitate new business opportunities.

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will inaugurate the Indian Pavilion at Berlinale 2020. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, is also participating at the film festival, in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

This year in Berlin, three Indian feature films, as well as one short documentary film, have been selected, namely Pushpendra Singh’s Laipla Aur Satt Geet, Prateek Vats’ Eeb Allay Ooo!, Akhsay Indikar’s “Sthalpuran” and Ekta Mittal’s short documentary “Gumnaam Din”.

An official statement by the I&B Ministry today said: “India seeks to promote its films across linguistic, cultural and regional diversity and establish multiple international collaborations in the space of distribution, production, filming in India, and script development technology through its participation at Berlinale 2020.”

The Indian delegation, through various interactions, seeks to promote the ease of shooting films in India through Film Facilitation Office, that facilitates Single Window Clearance for filmmakers and provides the platform for ‘Cinematic Tourism’ in India. The delegation will exhibit India as a post-production hub and promote collaborations for films with international production houses, the statement added.

The government delegation to Berlinale will facilitate international participation for the 51st edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2020, Goa. IFFI aims at providing a common platform to the cinemas across the world to project the excellence of the art of film making.

The delegation has meetings scheduled with officials from various countries across the globe. The delegation will meet with officials from Locarno Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Annecy International Animation Festival, among others.

India enjoys comparative advantage in several aspects of the filmmaking process, the ministry statement read. It has a strong domestic film industry across the country and is home to world-class technicians to shoot any type of film, it added.

India’s vibrant media and entertainment (M&E) industry provide attractive growth opportunities for global corporations. With over 1,800 feature films produced in the country, more than 900 television channels, 500 million internet users, 500 million smartphone users, the ministry said.

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