Former Intel India head Nivruti Rai has joined as the Managing Director and CEO of Invest India, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry informed. She took over the charge from Manmeet K Nanda, Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), who had assumed this additional charge in March 2023.

• Nanda had taken over Invest India from Deepak Bagla who resigned from his post citing "personal reasons". Bagla quit the leadership role after an audit into the operations of Invest India under him. 
• Rai is the recipient of the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskar for her contributions to the field of technology. She spent 29 years at Intel as a global business and technology leader.
• She led Intel India as Country Head for the past seven years driving the growth and investment of Intel in India.

Newly-appointed Noida Authority Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lokesh M took charge on Friday and held a meeting with officials.

• The CEO highlighted that industrial growth and a better public hearing system would be his key priorities. 2005-batch IAS officer Lokesh M has been appointed as new CEO of Noida Authority after former CEO Ritu Maheshwari was transferred to as Divisional Commissioner Agra.
• After taking charge, the new CEO held a press meet where he said that his focus will be on building a better public hearing system and addressing issues of allottees, farmers and citizen grievances. 
• Lokesh M completed his training from Aligarh in 2006. He was District Magistrate and collector of Mainpuri, Kushinagar, Etah, Ghazipur, Amroha and Kaushambi districts from 2009 to 2016.
• He was on deputation to Karnataka from 2016 to 2021, after which he was made the Divisional Commissioner of Saharanpur before getting posted as Agra commissioner on May 31. 
• He recently served as Kanpur Commissioner before joining as Noida Authority CEO.

An MoU is signed between OneWeb and Gujrat state government in Gandhinagar for the establishment of the Satellite Network Portal Site near Mehsana.

• The satellite network portal will be set up at Katosan and Tejura in Jotana taluka of Mehsana district.
• This project under Digital India aims to provide affordable, secure, and high-speed internet access to villages, district panchayats, local administrative bodies, government departments, and other entities throughout the country.
• It is also expected to create approximately 500 direct and indirect employment opportunities in the state. 
• The satellite network portal in Katosan is scheduled to launch in 2023 with an estimated cost of over Rs. 100 crores for its Phase-1.  

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has recently launched the Heat Index on experimental basis. 

• The experimental Heat Index has been launched by IMD to provide general guidance for the regions within India where, the apparent temperature/feel like temperature (considering the impact of humidity along with the temperature) are on the higher side causing discomfort for the people.
• At present, heat index is derived using the heat index equation similar to what is used by National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA.
• The heat index provides information about the impact of humidity on the high temperatures and thus provides a feel like temperature for human beings which can be used as an indication for human discomfort.
• It provides guidance towards additional care to be taken by people to reduce discomfort.
• Shri Rijiju said colour codes used for Experimental Heat Index are as follows:
• Green: - Experimental heat Index less than 35 deg C
• Yellow: - Experimental heat Index in the range 36-45 deg C
• Orange: - Experimental heat Index in the range 46-55 deg C
• Red: - Experimental heat Index greater than 55 deg C

Manoj Yadava, a distinguished Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the Haryana cadre, has been assigned the prestigious role of Director General of the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

• The Personnel Ministry issued an official order announcing Yadava’s appointment to succeed Sanjay Chander, who is due to retire on July 31.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has wholeheartedly endorsed Yadava’s appointment as DG, RPF, with a tenure lasting until his retirement on July 31, 2025.
• Presently, he is on central deputation serving as DG (investigations) at the esteemed National Human Rights Commission.
• The Railway Protection Force (RPF) stands as an armed force under the administrative and operational control of the Indian Railways, operating within the Ministry of Railways, Government of India. Established by the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957, and enacted by the Indian Parliament, its primary objective is to safeguard railway property and passenger areas. 

The Uttar Pradesh government launched the subsidy portal, upevsubsidy.in, paving the way for people to apply online for the subsidy available on purchase of electric vehicles in the state.

• Customers who bought electric vehicles after October 14 will be eligible for claiming EV subsidy by applying for it through the portal.
• Once the application is submitted, the subsidy amount will be transferred to the customer’s bank account after successful completion of a four-level verification process. 
• This initiative is part of the Uttar Pradesh Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Mobility Policy, 2022, which includes a purchase subsidy incentive scheme.
• The development and maintenance of the portal have been entrusted to UPDESCO (Uttar Pradesh Development Systems Corporation Ltd).
• This scheme is effective from October 14, 2022 and will continue till October 13, 2023. To avail the purchase subsidy incentive, eligible applicants are required to apply through the web portal upevsubsidy.in.

Britain's governing Conservative Party avoided a drubbing Friday(21- July 2023) in a trio of special elections, managing to hold on to former premier Boris Johnson's seat in suburban London.

• Though the main opposition Labour Party and the smaller centrist Liberal Democrats overturned massive Conservative majorities to win a seat apiece, the Conservatives found some crumbs of comfort in their narrow success in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London.
• Labour won the seat of Selby and Ainsty in northern England while the Liberal Democrats took Somerton and Frome in southwest England, with voters from both parties clearly backing the party most likely to beat the Conservative candidate.
• Facing this level of tactical voting by voters, the defeats will leave many Conservative lawmakers rattled ahead of the likely national vote next year.

Gujarat will host the 69th edition of Filmfare Awards in 2024, with the state government's Tourism Corporation signing an MoU with entertainment and lifestyle content company Worldwide Media to host the event and promote the state as a film destination.

• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed by Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL) MD Saurabh Parghi on behalf of the state government and Deepak Lamba, CEO on behalf of Worldwide Media (WWM) in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel at Gandhinagar.
• Hosting this Filmfare Award 2024 will become another landmark for the state seeking to project itself as a prominent film destination.
• The chief minister added that artists and filmmakers of Gujarat will get an opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with professionals of the Indian film industry and learn about new trends, technology and techniques in film production.

Indian Railways will serve healthy and hygienic food at affordable prices to passengers in general coaches as it looks to expand its F&B service. 

• The menu for these economy meals and snacks/combo has been devised to provide food service to those in general coaches through extended service counters located near these coaches at platforms.
• The economy meals will be priced at ?20 and snacks at ?50. Water services will also be provided at affordable rates, the Indian Railways said in a statement.
• The meals will be supplied from the kitchen units of IRCTC.
• The location of these counters is to be decided by Zonal Railways to align these counters with the location of GS coaches on platforms.

A three-year-old government order (GO) issued on September 3, 2020, by the irrigation department of the Uttar Pradesh government declaring the Gomti as a “non-perennial river” has drawn flak from water experts and river rights activists.

• The order states: As it’s a non-perennial river, e-flow (environmental flow) cannot be maintained throughout the year and no surplus water is available to augment the flow.
• The order also declared a 50 metres area from both banks of the river as a no-construction zone.
• On June 18, 2010, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court ordered the UP government to stop all construction activities within 100 metres of the banks of the river.

About Gomti river:

• Gomti is a tributary of Ganga river and an alluvial river of the Ganga Plain.
• It originates near Mainkot, from Gomat Taala lake also known as Fulhar Jheel in Madhotanda. This is located around 30 kilometres from Pilibhit town in UP.
• The river flows through Sitapur, Lucknow, Barabanki, Sultanpur and Jaunpur before meeting the Ganga at Kaithi, Ghazipur district.
• It empties into the Ganga near Saidpur. The 960-km-long river also supplies around 450 million litres per day of water to Lucknow. 
• As per a CPCB report from 2022, Gomti is the fifth most polluted river in the country.
• Tributaries: Sai river, Sukheta river, Choha river and Andhra Choha river.

Defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) furthered its relationship with the Argentinian defence establishment with the signing of a letter of intent (LoI) with the country’s ministry of defence for productive cooperation and acquisition of light and medium utility helicopters for the South American country’s armedforces.

• The LoI was signed by Jorge Taiana, Argentina’s defence minister, and CB Ananthakrishnan, CMD of HAL, in the presence of Francisco Cafiero, secretary of international affairs, Javier Gobbi, Argentina’s ambassador to India, Dinesh Bhatia, Indian ambassador to Argentina, and other senior officers from the Argentinian sideand HAL, the PSU said.
• Taiana, who spent several hours at HAL in Bengaluru on Thursday, was quoted as saying that the day was a step on the road to an ever growing and strong collaboration with the PSU.
• The defence minister and his team viewed the flying display of various HAL products at HAL Airport before visiting the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and Helicopterdivisions. 
• HAL said the Argentinian team “evinced keen interest in HAL products”.

Union Minister of Steel Sh. Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan Mr. NISHIMURA Yasutoshi held a bi-lateral meeting in New Delhi today to discuss the cooperation in the steel sector and decarbonisation issues. 

• Both the sides stressed on the importance of pursuing a policy approach that takes into account the circumstances of each country's industry, with the underlying fundamental principle of pursuing both the economic growth and low carbon transition in the steel sector.
• They also shared the view that India and Japan are the world's second and third largest steel producers and co-benefit partners in the global steel industry.
• Recognizing the recent expansion of investment activities in India by Japanese steel producers, both the sides decided to support the cooperation between the public and private sectors of the two countries which will lead to the appropriate development of the global steel industry and production of more value-added steel in India.