India is the3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world

37, 000+ startups recognized by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)

India is home to 21 unicorns (startups valued at $1 Bn+) with a combined valuation of over $73 Billion*

39 regulations have been simplified for the startup ecosystem in India

On an average 12 jobs created per startup

The entire startup ecosystem raised $50 Billion funding between 2014-2019**

30 States and UTs now have a State Startup Policy

More than 43% of the total recognized startups have reported one or more women directors

Key outcomes of India’s startup growth story as of September 30, 2020:

VISIONIAS

07th OCT, 2020

NEWS TODAY

2ND INDIA-AUSTRALIA-JAPAN- USA MINISTERIAL MEETINGHELD IN TOKYO

Earlier, PLI Scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing was notified on 1st April, 2020.About the scheme

The meeting has once again put the focus on the Quad – the grouping of the four nations, that first came into existence in 2007.Significance of Quad

The Foreign Ministers of four countries called for:

Containing China amid it’s growing assertiveness and increasing global footprint.

Also, states (like UP, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana etc) are offering incentives above PLI scheme to attract mobile phone manufacturers to set up plants.

A coordinated response to the challenges including financial problems emanating from the pandemic.

Free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region: Indo-Pacific' has emerged as the hub of global trade and energy supply. The two-third container trade of the world passes through this region.Economically, the strategy is regarded as an answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is establishing a China-centric trade route.

Need to share best practices to combat Covid-19.Increasing the resilience of supply chains.Enhancing access to affordable vaccines, medicines and medical equipment.Maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.

It extends an incentive of 4% to 6% on incremental sales of mobile phones and other electronic components manufactured in India.

It is a part of the National Policy on Electronics 2019 (NPE). NPE envisions positioning India as a global hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing.

These incentives include, land rebates, capital and power subsidies, reimbursement of VAT & stamp duties etc.

Tenure: 5 years, from 2019-20.

Eligibility: All electronic manufacturing companies which are Indian or have a registered unit in India will be eligible to apply for the scheme.

GOVERNMENT APPROVES 16 MOBILE COMPANIES UNDERPRODUCTION LINKED INCENTIVE (PLI) SCHEME

CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT OFADVANCED COMPUTING (C-DAC)TO COMMISSION PARAM SIDDHI– INDIA’S FASTEST AI SUPERCOMPUTER

The supercomputer will have speed of 210 AI Petaflops.

This places India among top countries in global AI supercomputing research and innovation.

HPC-enabled AI could provide optimization of supply chains, complex logistics, manufacturing, simulating and underpin modelling to resolve any problem.

Pratyush – ranked 39th worldwide, located in Indian Institute of Meteorology.Mihir - ranked 66th and located in National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting.

This will accelerate experiments and outcomes for India specific grand challenge problems in Health Care, Education, Energy, Cyber Security, Space, Automotive and Agriculture.

PARAM Siddhi will be India’s largest High-Performance Computing and Artificial Intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer.

It will be established under National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) at C-DAC with support from NITI Aayog, Ministry of Electronics and IT, Department of Science and Technology

NSM envisages empowering national academic and R&D institutions spread over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high-performance computing facilities.

World Fastest Super Computer is Fugaku of Japan with speed of 415 petaFlops.

Significance:

India’s first supercomputer was Param Shiva.Other Indian Super Computers

DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE (DPIIT) RELEASED RESULTS OFTHE FIRST EVER NATIONAL STARTUP AWARDS 2020

National Startup Awards were organized by Startup India, a flagship initiative of Government that aims to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and Startups in the country.Awards seek to recognize and reward outstanding Startups and ecosystem enablers that are building innovative products or solutions and scalable enterprises, with high potential of employment generation or wealth creation, demonstrating measurable social impact.Aim is to guide organizations to stop measuring success in just financial gains for investors but also the contribution to social good.

During the event following initiatives were also launched:

Applications were invited across 12 sectors such as Agriculture, Education, Energy, Finance, Health, Space etc.

Startup India Showcase, a part of the Startup India portal, an online discovery platform for the most promising startups of the country. It will help industry, investors and public authorities find and connect with startups for potential partnerships, investments and public procurement respectively.Blockchain-based Certificate Verification System will enable instant verification and access to certificates of recognitions issued by DPIIT.

Six parameters were evaluated: Innovation, Scalability, Economic Impact, Social Impact, Environmental Impact, and Inclusiveness and Diversity.

₹10.5 trnEstimated worth of electronics produc-tion over next 5 years

₹9 trnMobile phone production (priced ₹15,000 and above)

₹11,000 croreAdditional investment expected

200,000Direct employment opportunities by firms approved under the scheme in next 5 years

₹6.5 trn Electronics goods likely to be exported in this period

Domestic Value Addition is expected togrow from the current 15-20% to 35-40%in case of Mobile Phones and 45-50% forelectronic components.

DIGITAL DRIVE

Singularity: the very centre of a black hole where matter has collapsed in a region of infinite density

Event horizon:the radius around a singularity

where matter and energy cannot escape the black hole's gravity.

The point of no return.

Photon sphere: photons emitted from hot plasma near the black hole which bends their trajectory producing a bright ring

Relativistic jet: when stars are absorbed by black holes, jets of particles and radiation are blasted out at near light speed

Accretion disc of superheated gas and dust whirl around black hole at immense speeds, producing electromagnetic radiation (x-rays)

VISIONIAS

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ALSO IN NEWS

Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS)

Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)

MoU Signed between ISLRTC and NCERT for

Converting Educational Materials in to Indian Sign

Language

National Awards 2020 for Science & Technology

Communication

Dhaulasidh Hydro Electric Project, Himachal Pradesh

Anakkampoyil-Meppadi tunnel road launched

National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga for the

management of COVID-19

Artificial Ripening of Fruits

It is headed by Director General (Bureau of Civil Aviation).It was set up on recommendation of the Pande Committee.

BCAS is a regulatory authority for civil aviation security in India under Ministry of civil aviation with headquarters in New Delhi.The main responsibility is to lay down standards and measures to ensure security of civil flights at International and domestic airports in India.

As part of this MoU, educational print materials and resources of Class I-XII will be converted into Indian Sign Language in Digital format.

As per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India use of Calcium Carbide is prohibited in ripening of fruits.

It was released jointly by Health and AYUSH Ministers.

NCERT, an autonomous organization under Ministry of Education, is responsible for ensuring qualitative improvement in school education.

Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) is an autonomous national institute of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, for developing man-power for popularizing use of Indian Sign Language, teaching and conducting research in Indian Sign Language.

National Council for Science & Technology Communications (NCSTC), Ministry of Science & Technology has invited nominations for the Awards.NCSTC is mandated to communicate Science and Technology to masses, stimulate scientific and technological temper and coordinate and orchestrate such efforts throughout the country.

Central government gave approval for the project.It would be a run of river scheme on river Beas in Himachal Pradesh.

It is a 7-km tunnel, being described as the third-longest in the country. It is part of an 8-km road cutting through sensitive forests and hills of the Western Ghats.

Award is presented every year to an individual or an institution for outstanding contribution in the field of science and technology communication and for promoting scientific temper.

Protocol provides clear guidance to Ayush practitioners of the said two disciplines regarding treatment of COVID-19 patients in different conditions of infection.This brings in uniformity and consistency in the Ayush-based responses to the pandemic across the country.

GTA had been formed under an Act passed by the West Bengal assembly.

GTA is an Autonomous District Council for the region comprising Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas of the West Bengal.

It comprises 50 members: 45 of them will be elected and the rest nominated.

It came into existence after Memorandum of Agreement signed between Government of India, Government of West Bengal and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in 2011.

Calcium carbide has traces of arsenic and phosphorus which are toxic to human body.However, ripening of fruits by using ethylene gas at a concentration upto 100 ppm depending upon the crop, variety and maturity has been permitted.

It connects Kozhikode and Wayanad districts of Kerala.This region is part of an elephant corridor spread between Wayanad and Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu.

Ethylene is a safer alternative. It is also produced in the fruits naturally to stimulate their ripening in a natural way.

NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS 2020Nobel Prize, 2020 for Physics has been awarded to 3 scientists for their research on black holes.

Black hole – refers to a point in space where matter is so compressed as to create a gravity field from which even light cannot escape.Event Horizon - Region of space beyond the black hole is called event horizon. This is a "point of no return", beyond which it is impossible to escape the gravitational effects of the black hole.Event Horizon Telescope Project - is a group of 8 radio telescopes (used to detect radio waves from space) located in different parts of the world through international collaboration.

Roger Penrose was honoured for the discovery that General theory of relativity led to the discovery of black holes.

Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel have been honoured for the discovery of a supermassive black hole at the centre of Milky Way Galaxy, called Sagittarius A*.

He used mathematical methods in his proof that black holes are a direct consequence of relativity theory.General theory of relativity, given by Albert Einstein predicted existence of black holes.

Photographs of Sagittarius A have been captured by Event Horizon Telescope project.