1. Asia’s biggest telescope MAST inaugurated at Udaipur Solar Observatory in Rajasthan
i. Multi-Application Solar Telescope (MAST), Asia’s biggest telescope
was inaugurated at the Udaipur Solar Observatory in Rajasthan. It was
inaugurated by Professor U.R Rao, Chairman of Physical Research
Laboratory, inaugurated.
ii. The telescope was installed under the project undertaken by Union
Ministry of Science and Technology and was funded by Department of Space
(DoS). The project will be monitored by Ahmedabad based Physical
Research Laboratory.
iii. MAST has a lens of 50 cm in diameter. These lenses were developed
on the basis of optical and mechanical system of Belgium. The rear part
of MAS has been developed by the observatory while its front part was
developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
iv. It will provide 3 Dimensional (3D) images of solar activities such
as solar blast and solar flares. It will also in vital studies about
other planetary movements even in the day time.
v. MAST has been designed in 2004 and its optical elements were added to
it in 2008. In 2013, it was installed at the Udaipur Solar Observatory.
2. Mathematician Dr. Amalendu Krishna wins 2015 Ramanujan Prize
i.
Mathematician Dr. Amalendu Krishna has won the Ramanujan Prize for year
2015. He has been bestowed with this award for his outstanding
contributions in the area of algebraic cycles, algebraic K-theory and
the theory of motives.
ii. Presently, Dr. Krishna is mathematician professor at the Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. He hails from Bihar
and had completed his early college and schooling education there.
iii. Ramanujan Prize was established in 2005. It is named after the
noted Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. It recognizes a
researcher from a developing country who has conducted outstanding
research in a developing country and is less than 45 years of age.
iv. Dr. Krishna is the second Indian to win this award. First was Sujatha Ramadorai who had won it in 2006.
3. IDFC Bank to start operations from October
i. IDFC Bank is set to start lending operations from October 1.The stage
is set for this with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granting IDFC Bank
licence for undertaking banking business, said IDFC in a notification
to bourses.
ii.
According to the terms and conditions of the bank licence, the transfer
of business of IDFC Ltd. to the proposed bank should coincide with
commencement of banking business.
iii. The auditor certificate certifying transfer of business as on date
of commencement of operations of the bank should be submitted to the
RBI, the financial institution informed the bourses on Tuesday.
iv. The board of directors of IDFC and IDFC Bank, at their meetings held
on July 30 and July 27, respectively, have determined that the demerger
scheme could be effective only upon receipt of requisite operational
licences from the RBI and IDFC Bank Ltd. will commence the banking
business from October 1.
4. NDDB wins award for geographical info system
i.
The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) on Tuesday said it has won
the Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award 2015 for exemplary work in
Dairy Geographical Information System.
ii. The award ceremony was held recently at the annual Esri
International User Conference in San Diego and presided over by Jack
Dangermond, President and Founder of Esri.
iii. With the advancement of Internet-based GIS technology, it is now
possible to integrate and quickly disseminate the tremendous amount of
attribute and graphical data of villages into usable information for
decision-making by all stakeholders of the dairy sector.
iv. NDDB’s Internet-based Dairy Geographical Information System (i-DGIS)
application is the first of its kind in India, where village-level
integration of data has been done, at such a large scale, for the dairy
sector.
5. Ministry of Rural Development launches ‘SAMANVAY’ portal for Gram Panchayats
i. Union Ministry of Rural Development has launched ‘SAMANVAY’ web
portal to monitor progress and implementation of the Sansad Adarsh Gram
Yojana (SAGY) for development of Gram Panchayats. It was launched by
Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh.
ii.
SAMANVAY web portal consist a compilation of all Government schemes of
both Centra and State governments for Gram Panchayats.
iii. The purpose of this portal is to help Member of Parliament’s (MPs)
to utilise relevant schemes in the planning and implementation of SAGY.
It will act as a database for compiled and mapped information on various
gram panchayat related activities through various schemes undertaken by
the Centre and State Governments. In SAMANVAY, around 1800 state
schemes from across all states have been documented.
iv. Apart from this, minister also launched a magazine Panchayat Darpan
to monitor the progress of the SAGY. The magazine will act as a mirror
of all the development activities by identifying 35 indicators
undertaken in the village panchayats under SAGY.
6. Delhi Government decided to have tram network in Old Delhi
i. Delhi government on 4 August 2015 decided to run trams in several
walled city areas including Lal Quila, Jama Masjid and Old Delhi Railway
Station. The decision was taken to augment transport infrastructure of
the city.
ii. The tram network in Old Delhi will comprise Jama Masjid, Chandni
Chowk, Sheeshganj Gurudwara, Old Delhi Railway Station and Fatehpuri
Masjid. It will also link New Delhi Railway Station and several other
localities.
iii. The government also decided to make Shahjahanad Redevelopment
Corporation, set up to carry out infrastructure projects in Old Delhi,
on the lines of New Delhi Municipal Council.
iv. As of 2014, the Kolkata tram in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is the only public tram system in the country.
7. Alibaba to invest INR 4000 crore in Paytm
i. To tame the world’s e-commerce giant Amazon, Alibaba is to invested
4000 crore rupees in m-commerce giant Paytm. Alibaba has picked up 25
per cent stake in Paytm’s parent company One97 through its subsidiary
Ant Financial.
ii. Earlier it has done investments in Snapdeal, FreeCharge and now
Paytm which is the largest mobile payments space in India. Paytm has
around 80 million digital wallets and Alibaba is interested in this
major mobile commerce player in this mobile-first market to topple the
largest global rival Amazon.
iii. Through the partnership with Alibaba Indian e-commerce players now also has access to Chinese market.
iv. It should be noted that the Indian merchants are second biggest sellers on Alibaba portal after the Chinese.