- India-born Arun Netravali wins $100,000 Marconi Prize
The US-based Marconi Society, dedicated to furthering scientific achievements in communications and related technologies, has announced that it will present the 2017 Marconi Prize to Arun Netravali. The prize includes a cash component of $100,000 and will be given at the awards ceremony which will take place in Summit, New Jersey on October 3.
Netravali, former President of Bell Labs (now Nokia Bell Labs), has pioneered work on video compression standards that served as the key base technology for MPEG 1, 2 and 4 that enabled a wide range of video services including digital TV, HDTV and streaming video, ushering in a digital video revolution.
- Tata Communications wins five awards
At 2017 Frost & Sullivan India Digital Transformation Awards. Tata Communications received top honors at the 2017 Frost & Sullivan India Digital Transformation Awards, with four awards in the Enterprise Telecom Services category and one award in the Enterprise Infrastructure category. T
ata Communications took centerstage at the awards ceremony and received four Service Provider of the Year awards for: (1) Enterprise Data (2) Hosted Contact Center (3) Enterprise Telecom – Large Enterprise Segment, and (4) Third Party Datacenter. It also won New Product/Service Innovation Award for IoT – a new award category this year.
- IMP Powers wins ‘Valued Customer Award’ 2016-17
IMP Powers has been awarded the ‘Valued Customer Award’ from CPRI (Central Power Research Institute) for the year 2016-17 under Testing and Certification category.
- Atal Pension Yojana (APY) can now be subscribed digitally
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has now introduced APY@eNPS which involves a complete digital enrolment process. This is the latest in the series of various initiatives taken by PFRDA for expansion of outreach of Atal Pension Yojana (APY), to give additional push to cover the as yet unreached population at greater ease.
PFRDA has conducted meetings with Banks and Deptt of Post at Kolkata, Bengaluru & Mumbai respectively for the earliest roll out of the facility call. The APY was launched by the Prime Minister of India on 9th May, 2015 and became operational from 1st June, 2015.
- Telangana to issue ordinance against online gambling
The Telangana cabinet has decided to issue four ordinances to amend existing acts. One of these ordinances will amend the Gaming Act to ban online gambling, said deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari after the cabinet meeting in Hyderabad. Another ordinance will amend Record of Rights Act to ban registration of government lands in the name of private persons and effect cancellation of past illegal registrations of these lands.
- Govt announces 149 new post office passport kendras
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has announced the launch of 149 new Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK). These will be in addition to 86 POPSKs announced by the Ministry of External Affairs in the first phase, an initiative undertaken jointly by the MEA and the Department of Post. Thus, the NDA government opened altogether 251 PSKs and POPSKs since it came to power in May 2014.
- Bengaluru second Indian city to get a full-fledged Metro
Bengaluru has became the second city in the country, and the first in south India, to have a full-fledged Metro rail in operation following the opening of a final 12-km section of the 42-km first phase of the Metro project. The first phase, comprising an 18-km east-west line and a 24-km north-south line, built at a cost of Rs 13,845 crore, was dedicated to the nation by President Pranab Mukherjee at an event in Bengaluru.
- IIT Kharagpur team develops electronic fabric from silk
A team of experts at the Indian Institute of Technology – Kharagpur has fashioned a hybrid material based on silk protein called silk fibroin. This novel material has the potential to spawn prototype textile-based smart electronic devices for soldiers and defence personnel as well as for biomedical applications.
They have designed a hybrid photodetector using zinc oxide nanostructures on gold-nanoparticle-embedded silk protein for applications that combine electronics and light.
- Sweden pledges to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045
Sweden has committed to becoming a net-zero carbon emission emitter by 2045, following a law passed in the nation’s parliament. The legislation will come into force from the 1 January 2018, and will also see the establishment of an independent Climate Policy Council in addition to a four-yearly cycle for updating the nation’s climate action plan.
- French Prez Macron launches ‘Tech Visa’ to woo tech industry
The French government has launched a “French Tech Visa,” a fast-track four-year residence permit for entrepreneurs and their families if they meet certain criteria.
French President Emmanuel Macron is inviting the world’s innovators, engineers and business-builders to come to France as he tries to transform this country from a land resting on the laurels of its past into a “startup nation.”
- China sends farthest ‘unhackable’ signal from space to Earth
In a major breakthrough for quantum teleportation, scientists in China have successfully transmitted entangled photons farther than ever before, achieving a distance of more than 1,200 km (745 miles) between suborbital space and Earth.
Entangled photons theoretically maintain their link across any distance, and have potential to revolutionize secure communications – but, scientists have previously only managed to maintain the bond for about 100 km (62 miles).
- China plans to send mini-ecosystems to the Moon
In a first, China is planning to send mini-ecosystems — containing potato seeds and silkworm eggs — to the Moon next year, in an attempt to study how the organisms develop on the lunar surface. The 3-kilogramme mini-ecosystem, developed by research teams led by Chongqing University in China, will be sent to the Moon by the Chang’e 4 scheduled to be launched in 2018, authorities announced at the Global Space Exploration Conference. An 18-centimetre-tall cylinder will carry potato seeds and silkworm eggs to be incubated.
- Pakistan beat India to win their 1st Champions Trophy title
Pakistan saved their best for the last as they humbled arch-rivals India by a huge margin of 180 runs to win their maiden ICC Champions Trophy title. This also completed Sarfraz Ahmed’s team’s remarkable comeback, since losing their tournament opener to the same opposition.
The foundation of the win was laid by the batsmen who scored a mammoth 338/4 after being put into bat on a flat Oval track by Indian captain Virat Kohli. India on the other hand capitulated in the face of some great seam bowling by Mohammad Amir and were bowled out for 158 in the 30th over itself.
- Sublime Srikanth lifts Indonesia Open title
Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinched his third Super Series title, lifting the Indonesia Open men’s singles trophy with a straight-game victory over Japanese qualifier Kazumasa Sakai in the finals. World No.22 Srikanth, who had reached the finals at Singapore Open in April, outclassed Sakai, ranked 47th, 21-11 21-19 in just 37 minutes to take home a cheque of USD 75,000.
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