MeitY organised Digital Payment Utsav

As a part of Azadi Ka Digital Mahotsav, the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) hosted a unique event called Digital Payment Utsav on December 10, 2021.

Under the Digital Payment Utsav, the journey and rise of digital payments in India was celebrated.

It brought the leaders from Government, fintech companies, Banking sector,

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and start-ups, together.

Digital Payment Utsav witnessed the launch of innovative solutions such as:

Significance of the launch

In India, electrification of public transport especially across bus sector is key to decarbonization strategy. The launch of e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition is

a step of ensuring steady and paced electrification of bus transport system in the country. It will help in address the challenges of procurement, operations & financing e-bus deployment in a bid to achieve net zero emissions.

NITI Aayogs e-Sawari India E-Bus Coalition

in association with the Convergence Energy Service Limited (CESL) & World Resources Institute, India launched the e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition (e-Sawari India e-Bus Coalition). This coalition is also supported by Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI).

With the launch of e-Sawaari India Electric Bus

Coalition, central government agencies, State Government agencies, city-level government agencies, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), transit service providers, financing institutions, and ancillary service providers would be able to share their learnings and knowledge on e-bus adoption in India.

Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code

Central government noted in Lok Sabha that there is no proposal under its consideration to do away with the sedition law.

As per a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that, on May 31, 2021 Supreme Court

in its order on a had observed that ambit & parameters of provisions of Sections 124A, 505 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 requires interpretation, especially with respect to right of electronic & print media to communicate news.

As per minister, SC has also issued notice to Centre on a plea in which petitioners have asked for an appropriate writ, order or direction to declare Section 124A of IPC, 1860 unconstitutional and void.

India signs Air bubble agreement with Australia

Indian government has signed an air bubble agreement with Australia, under which all eligible passengers will be allowed to travel between both the countries.

Australian airline Qantas has started flights between Sydney and New Delhi, recently. It is also set to start flights between New Delhi and Melbourne before Christmas.

Air India also operated direct commercial flights to connect New Delhi with Melbourne and Sydney before Indian government suspended scheduled international flights.

Air India flights between India and Australia will resume

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in coming days, said a senior official with the airline.

Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2021 – SSG

Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2021 has been launched. Swachh Survekshan Gramin 2021 was launched in the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission.

Highlights:

The Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) will undertake the Survekshan (survey) nationally to assist the acceleration of ODF Plus interventions and extend momentum for enhancing ODF Sustainability as well as Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) activities throughout villages.

More than 17000 villages in 698 districts will be included this time.

As

part of the survey, schools, anganwadis, public Health centers, haats/bazaars, religious places, etc. will be visited.

Around 1,74,750 households will be interviewed for their comments on SBM issues.

Main Bhi Digital 3.0 – Campaign for Street Vendors

Main Bhi Digital 3.0 was launched A unique Campaign for Training for street vendors and Digital Onboarding.

The campaign has been launched by the Ministry of Housing Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology throughout 223 cities in the country.

This drive is a part of the PM SVANidhi scheme.

BharatPe, Mswipe, PhonePe, Paytm and Aceware are participating in this event to issue UPI

IDs, QR codes and provide digital training.

Digital payment aggregators will work with street vendors to increase the adoption rate and behavior change of digital transactions.

To promote digital transactions, guidance has been issued to the Lending Institutions (LIs) to handover a long lasting QR Code and teach the beneficiaries for conducting digital receipt and price transactions within a week of disbursement.

India Rankings 2021 – Education Ministry

The Minister of Education released the 2021 India ranking established by the National Institutional Ranking Framework.

Highlights:

This is the

sixth consecutive version of India Rankings of HEIs in India.

In the first edition in 2016, university categories and rankings in three specific fields were announced, namely engineering, management, and pharmacy rankings.

Over the years, three new categories and five new subject areas have been added, bringing the total to four 4 categories and seven subjects.

Medium Range Surface to Air Missile System

DRDO passed over the air DEFENCE missile (MRSAM) System to the Indian Air Force.

About MRSAM System:

MRSAM (IAF) is an advanced Network-centric combat air defense system developed by DRDO and the Israel Aerospace (IAI) in cooperation with Indian Industry, which includes the private and public sectors, including small, medium and micro enterprises.

The MRSAM system provides point and area air defense for ground assets to resist various threats, including fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters, guided and unguided munitions, subsonic and supersonic cruise missiles, etc.

It is capable of engaging multiple targets at ranges up to 70 kms in extreme saturation scenarios.

The missile is powered by an indigenously developed rocket

motor and control system for reaching excessive manoeuvrability during the terminal phase.

Strategic Clean Energy Partnership – US and India

The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm co-chaired a virtual ministerial meeting to launch the reformed US-India Strategic Clean Energy PARTNERSHIP .

Highlights:

SCEP was launched under the US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 partnership announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden at the Climate Leaders Summit in April this year.

The SCEP organizes an inter-governmental

engagement throughout 5 pillars of cooperation. They are: (1) Power and Energy Efficiency; (2) ; (3) Responsible Oil and Gas; (4) Sustainable Growth and (5) Emerging Fuels.