Economic support to other countries

India rushes emergency technical support to Mauritius to control oil spill as part of extended neighbourhood outreach
Key points:

1. Delhi as part of its Indian Ocean Region outreach has dispatched over 30 tonnes of technical equipment and material on board an Indian Force Aircraft to Mauritius to supplement the country’s ongoing oil spill containment and salvage operations.
2. The move in India’s extended neighbourhood was made following a request of the Government of Mauritius (GoM) for assistance in dealing with the environmental crisis due to oil spill on its south-east coast.
3. The specialized equipment on board IAF aircraft, consisting of Ocean Booms, River Booms, Disc Skimmers, Heli Skimmers, Power packs, Blowers, Salvage barge and Oil absorbent Graphene pads and other accessories, is specifically designed to contain the oil slick, skim oil from water, and assist in clean up and salvage operations, according to a MEA statement.
4. A 10-member Technical Response Team, consisting of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) personnel specially trained for dealing with oil spill containment measures, has also been deployed to Mauritius to extend necessary technical and operational assistance at the site.
   (Economic Times, 16 August 2020) News Link

Investment in Bharat by other Countries

India’s key Central European partner Poland keen to increase two-way investments in post-Covid scenario
Key points:

Central Europe’s biggest nation and India’s traditional partner in the region is keen to invest in India and simultaneously keen to expand basket of Indian investments in the country.

India is the primary location in Asia for Polish investors (currently 270 mln USD).

Increasing two-way investments was one of key issues discussed at the Indo-Polish Foreign Office Consultations held last week through a virtual meet. Poland has also proposed cooperation with India on research and innovation.

It may be recalled that the Polish Investment and Trade Agency opened a new Foreign Trade Office in Mumbai in 2018.

Poland is India’s largest trade partner and export destination in the Central European region, with bilateral trade growing almost seven-fold over the last ten years. As per Indian statistics, the overall value of bilateral trade in 2018 was $ 2.351 billion.

India and Poland signed a Memorandum of Understanding last year to enhance bilateral cooperation in the coal and mining sector.
(Economic Times, 16 August 2020) News Link

Manufacturing in Bharat by Bhartiya companies

1. BEL supplies 30K ventilators in 4 months amid corona pandemic

Key points:

1. Contributing its share to the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, state-run Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has rolled out a whopping 30,000 ventilators in four months to treat Covid-19 patient across the country, an official said on Sunday.
2. The Health Ministry had in April placed an order with the BEL to make 30,000 ICU ventilators to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure for combating the coronavirus pandemic across the country.
3. The ventilators were made in collaboration with the Mysuru-based Skanray Technologies Ltd under a licensing agreement while the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) provided the design.
4. Braving odds due to the Covid-induced lockdown restrictions that disrupted the supply chains, the ventilators were manufactured in a record time with the support of the Karnataka government

(Economic Times, 16 August 2020) News Link

Vaccine Development

1. 3 COVID Vaccines In Trial Phase, India Ready To Mass-Produce Says PM Modi

Key points:

1. PM Modi saluted Indian scientists and said that there are over three homegrown vaccines being worked on right now.
2. While Covaxin, which has been produced by Bharat BioTech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune was one of the first to be launched, another candidate in the race is ZyCOV-D, which has been developed by Ahmedabad based Zydus Cadila, using a DNA and recombinant measles virus strain.
3. Both the vaccines, which started trials in early July entered phase II trials in August, making them one of the quickest vaccines to reach the mid-scale phase of testing.
4. PM Modi, who also announced the launch of National Health Mission for the public also discussed plans of how vaccines will be distributed in the country. 

(TOI, 16 August 2020) News Link

Startup in Bharat by Bhartiya

1. आईआईटी बॉम्बे से पढ़ाई की, लेकिन नौकरी के लिए रिज्यूम भी नहीं बनाया, आज ऑर्गेनिक फार्मिंग से सालाना 9 लाख रु कमा रहे

Key points:

1. मध्यप्रदेश के शाजापुर जिले के कालापीपल तहसील के छापरी गांव के रहने वाले तथागत बारोड़ बतौर डिग्री तो इंजीनियर हैं लेकिन अब प्रोफेशन से किसान बन गए हैं।
2. उन्होंने मौलाना आजाद नेशनल इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ टेक्नोलॉजी (मैनिट) भोपाल से बीटेक और फिर आईआईटी बॉम्बे से मास्टर्स करने के बाद किसी मल्टीनेशनल कंपनी में नौकरी करने के बजाय खेती को करियर चुना और ऑर्गेनिक फार्मिंग की शुरुआत की।
3. उन्होंने एक गौशाला भी शुरू की है। जहां अभी 17 गाय हैं। जिनसे दूध और उससे बने प्रोडक्ट वो तैयार करते हैं।
4. साथ ही उन्होंने गोबर गैस प्लांट भी लगाया है, जिसके गैस से उनके घर का काम चलता है, खाना पकता है। पशुओं के गोबर और मूत्र से वे तैयार खाद का प्रयोग अपने खेतों में करते हैं, उन्हें बाहर से खाद नहीं खरीदनी पड़ती है।
5. तथागत ने अब तक करीब 140 परिवारों तक अपनी पहुंच बना ली है। वे उनके घर के लिए प्रोडक्ट तैयार करते हैं।

(Bhaskar, 16 August 2020) News Link