Correct Answer :   IIT-Delhi

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Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi claim to have conducted the country's first national-scale mapping of soil erodibility.

Before this, soil erodibility assessments were conducted in specific regions or catchments but a national-scale assessment of soil erodibility was required, according to IIT Delhi officials.

The national-scale mapping of soil erodibility is aimed at highlighting specific areas where the soil is most prone to erosion.

"Soil erodibility is the susceptibility of soil particles from becoming detached and reflects the combined effect of rainfall, infiltration and runoff. It is one of the major factors used to estimate soil loss and reflects the effects of soil structure, texture, permeability and organic matter content in countering soil erosion," said Manabendra Saharia, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi.

"The process of soil erosion starts when rainfall occurs on the soil or when water flow (runoff) displaces the soil particles... Now, we have developed a national-scale mapping of soil erodibility, the first of its kind in the country"

The study by Mr Saharia, his colleague Sumedha Chakma and PhD scholar Ravi Raj, exploring the spatial variation of soil erodibility and its relationship with soil properties in India, was published in scientific journal CATENA.

Soil erosion is a significant trigger for land degradation and a major global geo-environmental issue. Being able to assess its causes and impacts at a high resolution will help us develop a national soil conservation plan that can help our vital agricultural sector..

Source : NDTV

Correct Answer :   Varanasi

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The 4th G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group Meeting began on Wednesday (13 September 2023) at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to finalise the 2023 G20 Sustainable Finance Report.

The two-day meeting under India’s G20 Presidency brings together over 80 delegates from G20 member countries, special invitee countries, and International Organisations.

The delegates presented highlights of their progress in implementing the G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap.

Selected G20 members and International Organizations presented progress on Focus Areas on market development and approaches to align investments to sustainability goals.

After a hectic schedule of the day, the delegates went to see the famous Ganga Aarti on a river cruise in the evening. Tomorrow selected discussion will happen on the progress in the Focus Area on the role of IFIs, public finance, and incentives.

Adoption of the 2023 G20 Sustainable Finance Report and discussion on the implementation of the 2023 deliverables will take place in the afternoon. On Thursday (14 September 2023)evening the delegates will visit Sarnath..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Sandeep Bakhshi

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The Reserve Bank of India has approved the re-appointment of Sandeep Bakshi as ICICI Bank MD & CEO |for a period of three more years and he will remain at the post till 3 October 2026.

ICICI bank in an exchange filing stated,"RBI has, vide its letter no. DOR.GOV.No. S3306/08.88.001/2023-24 dated September 11, 2023,approved the re-appointment of Mr. Sandeep Bakhshi (DIN: 00109206) as Managing Director & CEO of the Bank with effect from October 4, 2023 till October 3, 2026. At the Annual General Meeting held on August 30, 2023, the Shareholders had already approved the appointment of Mr. Bakhshi for the abovementioned period.

Sandeep Bakhshi has been with the ICICI Group for 36 years and has handled various assignments across the group in ICICI Limited, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, ICICI Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

He was appointed as the banks's MD and CEO since October 15, 2018. He has served as Wholetime Director and the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the bank, prior to his appointment as MD and CEO.

Earlier,the ICICI Bank's board of directors has reappointed Sandeep Bakshi as the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) for a period of three years, said in a regulatory filing.

The tenure Sandeep Bakshi was till October 3, 2023. The reappointment period is from October 4, 2023 to October 3, 2026, which is subject to approval from Reserve Bank of India, and the shareholders of ICICI Bank.

“The Board unanimously approved the re-appointment of Mr. Sandeep Bakhshi for a period of three years with effect from October 4, 2023 to October 3, 2026, subject to approval of the RBI and shareholders of the Bank," said the regulatory filing..

Source : Mint

Correct Answer :   UNDP India

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NABARD has partnered with UNDP India to promote data-driven innovation in agriculture.

* The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to co-create data-driven innovations in agriculture and food systems to support smallholder farmers.

* Aim : Under this MoU, both organisations will work to improve the lives and livelihoods of smallholder farmers by sharing open-source data for product development, transfer of technology and supporting the framing of agrarian policies.  

* It was established in 1982.

Correct Answer :   Ladakh

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The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is set to achieve a remarkable feat as it embarks on the construction of the world’s highest fighter airfield at Nyoma in Ladakh.

* The foundation stone of this ambitious project  is scheduled to be placed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on September 12, 2023, at the Devak Bridge in Jammu. This endeavor signifies the BRO’s dedication to strengthening India’s defense capabilities in a region of strategic importance.


Nyoma: An Integral Hub for Ladakh’s Infrastructure and Air Operations :

* Nyoma stands as a prominent village situated in the southern region of Ladakh, India. It hosts an Indian Air Force Base within the Leh district. Nyoma is notably home to an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) established in 1962.

* Nyoma’s elevation reaches an impressive 4,180 meters (13,710 feet) above sea level, making it one of the highest-altitude locations in the region.

Government’s Expanding Budget Allocation for Infrastructure Enhancement Along Borders :

* Highlighting the financial commitment from the central government Lt Gen Chaudhry revealed that BRO’s budget in 2008 used to be approximately ₹3,000 crore.

* In 2017, it increased to ₹5,000-6,000 crore. In 2019, it went up to ₹8,000 crore and increased thereafter. And in the last year, around ₹12,340 crore were spent. This significant budget allocation underscores the government’s dedication to fortifying India’s infrastructure in border areas.


India’s Ascent in Border Infrastructure Development and Achievements :
 
* Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry, who leads the BRO, expresses optimism that India is making substantial strides towards outpacing China in the realm of infrastructure development along the extensive 3,488-kilometer Line of Actual Control (LAC) within the coming two to three years.

* Highlighting the swiftness with which the BRO has advanced, Lt Gen Chaudhry underscores that an impressive tally of 295 projects, with a cumulative value of ₹11,000 crore, has been successfully completed over the preceding two to three years..

Correct Answer :   Nayara Energy

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NTPC Green Energy Ltd (NGEL), an arm of India’s leading integrated power producer NTPC Ltd, and Nayara Energy, an oil refining and marketing company, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore opportunities in the green hydrogen and green energy space.

Aim : The MoU envisages to collaborate and produce green hydrogen for Nayara Energy’s captive usage, accelerate decarbonisation and catalyse reduction in carbon footprint.  

Mohit Bhargava, CEO of NGEL, said, “Green hydrogen would be a crucial element of India’s clean energy future, and with this partnership, we will explore and implement cutting-edge technologies to produce green hydrogen, contributing to a cleaner and more resilient energy landscape.”  

NTPC is India’s largest Power Utility with a total installed capacity of 73+ GW. As part of increasing its RE portfolio, NTPC has formed a wholly-owned subsidiary NGEL to take up renewable energy parks and projects in green hydrogen, energy storage technologies, and round-the-clock RE power.

NTPC Group targets 60 GW of RE capacity by the year 2032 and is currently working on a pipeline of 20+ GW, out of which over 3 GW is operational capacity.

Nayara Energy is an integrated downstream company with presence across the hydrocarbon value chain from refining to retail. It owns India’s second largest single-site refinery at Vadinar, Gujarat with a capacity of 20 mmtpa. The company has over 6,000 operational retail outlets spread across India..

Source : PV Magazine India

Correct Answer :   Kiren Rijiju

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Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju announced the Samudrayaan Mission( MATSYA 6000 ) India’s first manned mission to explore the deep ocean, where three people will be sent into the depth of 6,000 metre in a submersible.

Aim : To sustainably use marine resources for the country’s economic growth and livelihood along with creating job and maintaining the health of the marine ecosystem

It is designed to study the deep ocean resources and conduct biodiversity assessment as well. The submersible project will be only used for exploring biodiversity while letting the marine ecosystem remain intact.

The project will be part of a larger deep ocean diversity exploration and research based mission, which supports the Centre’s Blue Economy policy.

The submersible for the mission has been designed and manufactured by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai.

The Matsya 6000 is designed with the capability of operating in the deep sea for 12 hours while in case of emergency it can also operate up to 96 hours with all the necessary measures for human safety.

The mission is expected to be implemented by 2026. The cost of the Deep Sea Mission which also includes the Samudrayaan Project, over a period of five years, has been estimated at Rs 4,077 crore and it will be implemented in phases..

Source : CNBC

Correct Answer :   Reliance Industries

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US chip company NVIDIA declared AI partnerships with Indian conglomerates like Reliance Industries and Tata Group to build cloud infrastructure, language models and generative applications.

This exciting deal is expected to help NVIDIA deepen its inroads into the emerging AI ecosystem of the South Asian nation as it faces specific barriers in a few chip exports to China and other countries with US restrictions.

Recently, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed India’s potential and possibilities in the AI sector.

With the Reliance partnership, NVIDIA will offer the computing power necessary for developing a cloud AI infrastructure. At the same time, Reliance unit Jio will help maintain the infrastructure and supervise customer engagement.

NVIDIA said, “Reliance will create AI applications and services for their 450 million Jio (telecom) customers and provide energy-efficient AI infrastructure to scientists, developers and startups across India.”

This partnership opportunity will be utilised by India’s no.1 software services exporter, Tata Consultancy Services, to create and process generative AI apps and a supercomputer, the companies made clear in a statement.

TCS is expected to upskill its 600,000-strong workforce by harnessing the partnership. As per the statement, this partnership deal will catalyse the AI-integrated transformation across the Tata Group companies from manufacturing to consumer business. This also helps Reliance access the latest version of NVIDIA’s Grace Hopper Superchip.

Its AI chips are enhanced to perform AI inference functions that power apps like ChatGPT.

Reliance opined that the new AI infrastructure would boost the range of India’s vital AI projects like drug discovery, chatbots and climate research..

Source : India AI

Correct Answer :   3 MoUs

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India and Bangladesh signed 3 MoUs including one on cooperation in Digital Payment mechanisms.

* First MoU was signed between National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Bangladesh Bank on cooperation in Digital Payment mechanism.

* Second MoU focused on the renewal of the Cultural Exchange Program for 2023-2025.

* Third MoU was signed between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council.

* PM Modi, Sheikh Hasina also looked forward to beginning of negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), covering trade in goods, and services, and protecting and promoting investment, the MEA release said.

* The full range of bilateral cooperation, including political and security cooperation, border management, trade and connectivity, water resources, power and energy, development collaboration, and cultural and people-to-people linkages, was discussed by the two
leaders.

* Discussions also included recent regional developments and collaboration in international fora..

Source : NDTV

Correct Answer :   India and Saudi Arabia

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India and Saudi Arabia signed a historic comprehensive cooperation agreement in the field of energy Tuesday (12th Sep 2023).

Aim : The MoU is expected to result in enhanced ties between India and Saudi Arabia in renewable energy, energy efficiency, hydrogen, electricity and grid interconnections, petroleum, natural gas, strategic petroleum reserves and energy security.

It also seeks to encourage bilateral investment in the fields of renewable energy, electricity, hydrogen and storage and oil & gas, as well as create an enabling environment for circular economy and technologies to reduce the effects of climate change through carbon capture, utilisation and storage.

The agreement was inked at the first meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council between Raj Kumar Singh, India’s minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, and Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy.

The agreement comes in the immediate aftermath of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) at the 18th G20 Summit held over the weekend. Saudi Arabia is one of the founding partner countries of the IMEC..

Source : Business Today