1. Asia’s biggest telescope MAST inaugurated at Udaipur Solar Observatory in Rajasthan
i. Multi-Application Solar Telescope (MAST), Asia’s biggest telescope was inaugurated at the Udaipur Solar Observatory in Rajasthan. It was inaugurated by Professor U.R Rao, Chairman of Physical Research Laboratory, inaugurated.
ii. The telescope was installed under the project undertaken by Union Ministry of Science and Technology and was funded by Department of Space (DoS). The project will be monitored by Ahmedabad based Physical Research Laboratory.
iii. MAST has a lens of 50 cm in diameter. These lenses were developed on the basis of optical and mechanical system of Belgium. The rear part of MAS has been developed by the observatory while its front part was developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
iv. It will provide 3 Dimensional (3D) images of solar activities such as solar blast and solar flares. It will also in vital studies about other planetary movements even in the day time.
v. MAST has been designed in 2004 and its optical elements were added to it in 2008. In 2013, it was installed at the Udaipur Solar Observatory.
2. Mathematician Dr. Amalendu Krishna wins 2015 Ramanujan Prize
i. Mathematician Dr. Amalendu Krishna has won the Ramanujan Prize for year 2015. He has been bestowed with this award for his outstanding contributions in the area of algebraic cycles, algebraic K-theory and the theory of motives.
ii. Presently, Dr. Krishna is mathematician professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. He hails from Bihar and had completed his early college and schooling education there.
iii. Ramanujan Prize was established in 2005. It is named after the noted Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. It recognizes a researcher from a developing country who has conducted outstanding research in a developing country and is less than 45 years of age.
iv. Dr. Krishna is the second Indian to win this award. First was Sujatha Ramadorai who had won it in 2006.
3. IDFC Bank to start operations from October
i. IDFC Bank is set to start lending operations from October 1.The stage is set for this with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granting IDFC Bank licence for undertaking banking business, said IDFC in a notification to bourses.
ii. According to the terms and conditions of the bank licence, the transfer of business of IDFC Ltd. to the proposed bank should coincide with commencement of banking business.
iii. The auditor certificate certifying transfer of business as on date of commencement of operations of the bank should be submitted to the RBI, the financial institution informed the bourses on Tuesday.
iv. The board of directors of IDFC and IDFC Bank, at their meetings held on July 30 and July 27, respectively, have determined that the demerger scheme could be effective only upon receipt of requisite operational licences from the RBI and IDFC Bank Ltd. will commence the banking business from October 1.
4. NDDB wins award for geographical info system
i. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) on Tuesday said it has won the Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award 2015 for exemplary work in Dairy Geographical Information System.
ii. The award ceremony was held recently at the annual Esri International User Conference in San Diego and presided over by Jack Dangermond, President and Founder of Esri.
iii. With the advancement of Internet-based GIS technology, it is now possible to integrate and quickly disseminate the tremendous amount of attribute and graphical data of villages into usable information for decision-making by all stakeholders of the dairy sector.
iv. NDDB’s Internet-based Dairy Geographical Information System (i-DGIS) application is the first of its kind in India, where village-level integration of data has been done, at such a large scale, for the dairy sector.
5. Ministry of Rural Development launches ‘SAMANVAY’ portal for Gram Panchayats
i. Union Ministry of Rural Development has launched ‘SAMANVAY’ web portal to monitor progress and implementation of the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) for development of Gram Panchayats. It was launched by Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh.
ii. SAMANVAY web portal consist a compilation of all Government schemes of both Centra and State governments for Gram Panchayats.
iii. The purpose of this portal is to help Member of Parliament’s (MPs) to utilise relevant schemes in the planning and implementation of SAGY. It will act as a database for compiled and mapped information on various gram panchayat related activities through various schemes undertaken by the Centre and State Governments. In SAMANVAY, around 1800 state schemes from across all states have been documented.
iv. Apart from this, minister also launched a magazine Panchayat Darpan to monitor the progress of the SAGY. The magazine will act as a mirror of all the development activities by identifying 35 indicators undertaken in the village panchayats under SAGY.
6. Delhi Government decided to have tram network in Old Delhi
i. Delhi government on 4 August 2015 decided to run trams in several walled city areas including Lal Quila, Jama Masjid and Old Delhi Railway Station. The decision was taken to augment transport infrastructure of the city.
ii. The tram network in Old Delhi will comprise Jama Masjid, Chandni Chowk, Sheeshganj Gurudwara, Old Delhi Railway Station and Fatehpuri Masjid. It will also link New Delhi Railway Station and several other localities.
iii. The government also decided to make Shahjahanad Redevelopment Corporation, set up to carry out infrastructure projects in Old Delhi, on the lines of New Delhi Municipal Council.
iv. As of 2014, the Kolkata tram in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is the only public tram system in the country.
7. Alibaba to invest INR 4000 crore in Paytm
i. To tame the world’s e-commerce giant Amazon, Alibaba is to invested 4000 crore rupees in m-commerce giant Paytm. Alibaba has picked up 25 per cent stake in Paytm’s parent company One97 through its subsidiary Ant Financial.
ii. Earlier it has done investments in Snapdeal, FreeCharge and now Paytm which is the largest mobile payments space in India. Paytm has around 80 million digital wallets and Alibaba is interested in this major mobile commerce player in this mobile-first market to topple the largest global rival Amazon.
iii. Through the partnership with Alibaba Indian e-commerce players now also has access to Chinese market.
iv. It should be noted that the Indian merchants are second biggest sellers on Alibaba portal after the Chinese.