Indian Institute of Technology Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation, a technology innovation hub from IIT-M, will collaborate with five city startups to develop and commercialise space technologies including those needed for rapid launch capabilities, satellite design and future generation communication like 6G. The consortium is calledIndian Space Technologiesand Applications Design Bureau (I-STAC.DB) and will focus on developing next generation technologies.

The consortium aims at developing an end-to-end atmanirbhar ecosystem for next-generation space technologies including rapid launch capability, satellite design and assembly, sensors, future generation Communication like 6G, security of satellites, ground stations, data processing, assimilation for communication and geo spatial application sectors.

Chief ministerM K Stalinon Wednesday announced that Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board set up to improve the lives of poor will henceforth be known asTamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board.

The chief minister said the board was formed by former chief minister M Karunanidhi during his first stint in Fort St George in 1970. He built thousands of tenements for the poor which was appreciated by former Union minister Jagjivan Ram, affectionately called Babuji.Babujialso expressed his wish to see such a scheme being followed by all states. To that extent, the slum clearance board has been effectively extending its service, Stalin said.

The renaming of the board was being done with to uplift the livelihood of the people living in huts and raise their standard of living, not just removing the huts, the chief minister said.

The slum clearance board, a pioneer in providing housing to urban poor, has programmed 9.53 lakh tenements and individuals under Housing for All scheme for the urban slum/poor families before 2030. The board implements various housing schemes, including in-situ tenement schemes, integrated townships, construction of houses by the beneficiaries and reconstruction of dilapidated tenements.

‘Tamil Nadu to announce Samadhan scheme soon’

The will announce the Samadhan-scheme”>SAMADHAN Scheme for value added tax (VAT) regime within two to three weeks, said minister for finance and human Resources management Dr Palanivel Thiaga Rajan in Coimbatore.

Addressing the gathering at the special interaction session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Coimbatore here, he said that the Samadhan scheme will soon be launched to settle the pending dues under VAT and other legacy legislations.

Reacting to one of the questions claiming the executives deputed at the backend of GST helpline respond only in Hindi, the minister said he would escalate this issue to the Centre and claimed 80 per cent of the funds by the Union Government are not reaching MSMEs properly.

SAMVEDAN 2021 – IIT Madras and Sony India to Host

IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation and Sony India Software Centre Pvt Ltd have joined hands to organise a national-level hackathon named SAMVEDAN 2021 Sensing solutions for Bharat. With this hackathon, the basis ambitions to encourage citizens to use IoT Sensor Board in order to remedy India-specific issues of societal interest.

It is primarily based on the Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporations SPRESENSE Board, which participants can use for this challenge. A group with a maximum of three participants can register for the grand challenge, held in three stages.

Indias first offshore wind energy to come up off Tamil Nadu coast

India will add 58 GW of capacity over the next seven years at an Investment of over 4 lakh crore. This would take the cumulative installed capacity of onshore wind energy to 100 GW as part of the Centres plan to create 500 GW of non-fossil fuel based installed capacity by 2030. Currently, 42.8 GW of onshore wind energy has been installed.
On the other hand, the Union ministry of new & RENEWABLE ENERGY will float a tender for seabed licensing to setup 4 GW of India’s firstoffshore wind energyoffTamil Nadu coastbefore the end of CY2023.

Meanwhile, Union ministry of new & renewable energy is tapping the offshore wind energy potential and identified 14 sites, each with a capacity to install one GW, off theTamil Naducoast in the Gulf of Mannar. Tenders would be floated before the end of this year for the seabed license, wherein the successful bidder would prepare the detailed project report in five years. In the first phase, bids would be for leasing out 4GW of power through open access, captive, bi-lateral third party sale and merchant sale.

Tamil Nadu’s Namakkal district ranks 2nd in country in water conservation

Nadu’sNamakkaldistrict has been ranked second in the conservation and management of Resources“>Water Resources in the country for the year 2022.

District collector Shreya P Singh said they had implemented measures to conserve and manage water resources in the five municipalities, 19 town panchayats and 322 village panchayats in the district last year.

Desilting, check dam constructions and pipeline formations were carried out at 1,713 small, medium and big water bodies in the district.

Tamil Nadus egg production: sunny side up

Nadu, the second largest egg producer in India, has seen a consistent increase in output over the past decade and a half. According to data from theRBI handbookofstatistics, TNsegg productionhas grown more than three times since 2004-05 when it produced 63,948 lakh. The tally grew consistently year on year 62,225 lakh in 2005-06, 80,435 lakh in 2006-07, 83,937 lakh in 2007-08, 88,098 lakh in 2008-09 and 108,476 lakh in 2009-10.

In the next ten years egg production doubled to hit 201,208 lakh in 2020-21. This despite disruption in both production and consumption during the pandemic years when misinformation about egg and chicken consumption impacted the sale of Poultry in the state. In 2020-21, TNs tally was second only toAndhra Pradesh, which produced 249,639 lakh eggs.

Bird watchers spotted these birds for the first time in Nanjarayan Tank in Coimbatore. From the first week of October, migratory birds will arrive at the water tank from all over the world and depart at the end of March the following year. Bird Species: Pacific golden plover: Because its breeding habitat in the Arctic tundra extends from Alaska, USA to Russia, it usually migrates to South Asia in winter. IUCN status: least concerned Ruddy Shelduck: Also known as Brahminy Duck. It is a migratory bird that spends the winter in the Indian subcontinent and breeds in Southeast Europe and Central Asia. IUCN status: least concerned

Gadwall: The Gadwall door is widely found in North America, and thrives in northern Europe, ancient North America, and central North America. It is rare in India. status: least concerned

5,000 GPS devices to help track Tamil Nadu fishers

The Union Government has given GPS devices to 5,000Tamil Nadufishermen, minister of state for , animal husbandry and dairyingL Murugansaid.

The devices would help track fishermen out at sea and warn them when they cross the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), he said at a function here, adding that they would also help prevent incidents where Indian fishermen are detained bySri Lankannaval forces.

After launching the second phase of National Surveillance Programme for Aquatic Animal Diseases, Union minister for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying,Parshottam Rupalasaid that the first phase, launched in 2013 and ended in 2022, involved researchers identifying aquatic animal diseases and finding solutions, in the second phase, suggestions of all stakeholders would be taken and improvements made.

On the genetic improvement programme of Indian white shrimp (Penaeus indicus), he said currently most hatcheries buy brood stock of American white shrimp L vannamei, which is pathogen free, and export it after raising it.

Recognising this initiative, the Union government sanctioned the genetic improvement programme and allocated 25 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana.

Battery swapping policy charges up TN electric vehicle brigade

Budget 2022 has brought cheers for Naduselectric vehicleIndustry which, with Rs 15,000 crore Investment, is the largest EV cluster in India. With the finance minister announcing abattery swapping policyfor setting up charging Infrastructure and interoperability standards, TNs EV hub in Hosur should attract incremental investments, say industry experts.

SUN Mobility chairman Chetan Maini said thebattery swappingpolicy will accelerate penetration of EVs. There are some 50 companies working in the battery swapping spaceOEM, battery companies, swapping operators, OMC, energy companies, mobility solution companies and tech companiesand the new policy framework will accelerate investments in hubs like Tamil Nadu, he said.