1. India gets full membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
i. India today bagged the full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) along with Pakistan.
ii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Pakistan on joining the SCO.
Modi is on a three-day visit to Russia to attend the BRICS and SCO summits
iii. Indian PM Narendra Modi has accepted an invitation from his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to attend a regional summit in Islamabad next year.
2. Bharat Electronics-made Akash inducted into Indian Air Force
i) Defence PSU Bharat Electronics made Akash inducted into Indian Air Force.
ii) BEL, the nodal agency and supplies major sub-systems, today at a ceremony held at Air Force Station, Gwalior, handed over the missile system.
iii) Akash is a great success story of the ‘Make in India’ initiative and Bharat Electronics Limited is proud to be a part of it. Barring a few electronic components, every bit of Akash has the ‘Made in India' tag. Almost 92 per cent of the total cost of inputs is sourced within India.
iv)The induction of Akash into the Indian Air Force was marked by the symbolic handing over of the ‘key’ of the weapon system by S K Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director, BEL, to the Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, who in turn handed over the key to Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chief of the Air Staff. S Christopher, Director General, DRDO, was present. The ceremony was also attended by senior dignitaries of the Ministry of Defence, Indian Air Force, DRDO and Defence PSUs.
3. Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka sets record for spending longest time in space
i. Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka has set a Guinness World Record for spending longest time in space with a total of 804 days as on July 2015. With this he broke the previous record of 803 days, nine hours and 41 minutes set by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev (now retired) across six missions from 1998 to 2005.
ii. Gennady Padalka was selected as a cosmonaut candidate at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in 1989.
iii. Currently, he is the commander of the International Space Station (ISS) which is orbiting the Earth. He is associated with ISS from 2000 and had taken part in various space expeditions.
iv. Padalka is going to return to Earth in September 2015. When he will return to Earth, he would have spent record total 877 days or around 2.5 years in space.
4. Uttarakhand gets India’s first earthquake early warning system
i. Uttarakhand became first Indian state to install a system to detect earthquakes and disseminate warnings. The first system has been installed in its capital Dehradun which will issue warnings 1-40 seconds before earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more occur.
ii. The system is designed and manufactured by Italian firm, Space Dynamics which already has installed it in Japan, Italy and US.
iii. The system is incorporated with sensors which are capable to detect P (Primary) and S (Secondary) waves generated during an earthquake. It is capable to detect the harmless P wave, which travels faster than the S wave for advance warning.
iv. The second system will be established at Pithoragarh in the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand. According to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Uttarakhand falls under seismic zone V i.e. High-Risk Seismic Zone. Apart from it, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rann of Kutch (Gujarat), Northern Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands also fall under this seismic zone.
5. State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has launched the ‘SBT NRI Family Card'
i. State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has launched the ‘SBT NRI Family Card,’ a prepaid card for resident Indians – family member/dependent/acquaintance of NRIs.
ii. The prepaid card can be used for cash withdrawals through ATM, online payments and POS (point of sale) payments at merchant establishments. Jeevandas Narayan, Managing Director, launched the card at a function held at the NRI Premium Banking Branch of the bank here.
iii. A card holder in India can now easily receive remittances from an NRI by way of periodic recharge through the NRI’s internet banking account.
6. Exim Bank, BRICS member development banks ink MoU with New Development Bank
i. Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) today said it has signed a multilateral agreement to cooperate with New Development Bank (NDB) along with other member development banks of BRICS nations.
ii. New Development Bank (NDB) is promoted by the BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The agreement was signed between Exim Bank Chairman and Managing Director Yaduvendra Mathur and Chairpersons or Presidents of other member development banks of BRICS in Ufa, Russia during the BRICS Summit 2015, a bank release said.
iii. Exim Bank also signed a cooperation agreement with Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).This MoU is aimed at sharing of knowledge, information and best practices; capacity building of personnel, including project development skills; promotion of joint events, research and programmes; development of effective and sustainable financing solutions for projects of mutual interest,
7. PM Modi proposes ‘Das Kadam: Ten Steps for the Future’ for BRICS nations
The 10 steps (10 kadam) suggested by PM Modi are:
1. Trade fair
2. Railway Research Centre
3. Cooperation among supreme audit institutions
4. Digital Initiative
5. Agricultural Research Centre
6. State/Local Government's Forum
7. Cooperation amongst cities in field of Urbanisation
8. BRICS Sports Council
9. Annual Sports Meet
10. BRICS film festival
India will be hosting the 8th BRICS summit in 2016