On December 29, 2021, government released the “Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievement (ARIIA) 2021” award list was released.

Key Points

• Top position was achieved by IIT Madras. It topped the ranking as the most innovative educational institute in India in technical category.
• IIT Madras won this recognition for the third consecutive time.
• Institutes which are among top 10 institutions include- IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Roorkee, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and IIT Hyderabad.
• Under the “University & Deemed to be University (Govt. & Govt. Aided) (Technical)” category, Punjab University and Delhi Technical University were at top position. Under this category, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Khordha achieved the first position while Chitkara University achieved the second position.
• Under ‘Colleges/Institutes (Govt. & Govt. Aided) (Technical)’ category, College of Engineering in Pune and PSG college of Technology won the awards.
• Under “non-technical institutions” category, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Delhi and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode won the awards.

Who released the award list?

Minister of State for Education, Dr Subhas Sarkar, released the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievement 2021 award list.

The Indian Army recently established the “Quantum Laboratory” at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh, highlighting its steady and significant strides in emerging technology domains.

Key Facts

• The Quantum Laboratory was established with the help of National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS).
• It was established at Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE) in Mhow with the objective of spearheading research and training in the key developing field.
• The Army has also established an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centre at the MCTE, by making more than 140 deployments in forward areas and with active support of academia and industry.
• Training on cyber warfare is being given through cyber security labs and state of art cyber range.

Background

Idea of Army’s involvement in Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations was put forward during a seminar on Electromagnetic Spectrum & National Security, which was organised in October 2020. Since then, thrust has been given to Technology Institutions of Indian Army, for investing in AI, Quantum and Cyber.

On December 28, 2021, Israeli foodtech firm SavorEat launched a plant-based burger system, that has been personalized to each customer.

Highlights

• SavorEat has become one of the first companies to use 3D printing technology on cook food.
• Usually, vegan burgers from companies such as Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are frozen and cooked on a grill later.
• But the SavorEat’s technology are made on site by a self-contained 3D printer, comprising of three cartridges containing oils and other ingredients.
• Through this technology, customers can also choose how much fat and protein they want in each burger.
• The burger takes about six minutes to cook.
• These burgers are made with a combination of potato, chickpea and pea protein.
• In initial phase, burgers will be served at local burger chain.

Funding to SavorEat

SavorEat is funded mainly by Israeli institutions. On December 28, the Tel Aviv-listed shares increased by 11 percent.

The Indian government and Saudi Arabian Government have finalised an air bubble agreement, to allow all eligible travellers to travel between both the countries.

Highlights

The air bubble agreement will allow flights between the two countries, starting from January 1, 2022.

Eligible fliers between India and Saudi Arabia

Following passengers would be eligible to fly From India to Saudi Arabia:

1. Nationals or residents of Saudi Arabia.
2. Indian national or national of Nepal or Bhutan who are holding a valid visa of Saudi Arabia and have been destined for Saudi Arabia only. It will be for airlines that are concerned to ensure that there is no travel restriction for Indian or Bhutanese or Nepalese to enter Saudi Arabia.

What are Air travel bubbles agreements?

Air Travel Bubbles agreement are temporary arrangements between two countries. Such arrangements aim to restarting commercial passenger services, in case regular international flights are suspended.

With which countries India have bubbles agreement?

Amid the covid-19 pandemic, India has signed an air bubble agreement with 35 countries, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Australia, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Canada, Germany, Finland, France, Japan, Iraq, Kenya, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Oman, Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Qatar, Seychelles, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Switzerland, Tanzania, United Kingdom, United States of America, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Uzbekistan.

On December 30, 2021, Central government declared entire Nagaland as a “disturbed area” for six more months, under the AFSPA Act.

Key Facts

• This declaration will be in effect, starting from December 30, 2021.
• Government has also termed the state’s condition as “disturbed and dangerous”.
• This decision was taken days after the central government constituted a high-level committee for examining the possibility of withdrawal of controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from Nagaland.
• AFSPA has been operational in Nagaland for decades.

Centre’s view

Central government is of the view that, area comprising whole of the Nagaland is in such disturbed and dangerous condition that use of armed forces to aid the civil power is necessary.

Which section of the act gives power to centre?

Central government exercised the powers conferred by Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 to declare entire Nagaland as ‘disturbed area’.

Recommendation of the panel

This decision was taken following the recommendation of a panel, which was set to examine the possibility of withdrawal of the AFSPA. Notification to extend AFSPA was issued by additional secretary in Home Ministry, Piyush Goyal. He has been also named as the member secretary in the panel. The Panel is headed by secretary-level officer Vivek Joshi. Panel was set up to ease the rising tension in Nagaland because of killing of 14 civilians.

State of Tamil Nadu has released its “New Policy for Women 2021” on December 29, 2021. This policy will be implemented for more than five years.

Key Provisions of the new policy

• New policy provides for martial arts training for school and college girls.
• It talks about 50 more person-days for all single-headed household and women-headed households under MGNREGS.
• Women will also get 33.3% representation in registered parties.
• State will pay greater attention to getting all children back into school, who belong to poor families and special focus groups such as girls & children from SC-ST communities.
• Scope of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya will be extended specifically in educationally backward blocks, in order to cover adolescent girls aged up to 19 years of age. This move will help them in completing their school education.
• The policy also aims to support at least 1,000 women student researchers from disadvantaged sections of society each year, particularly in STEM subjects.

Women Friendly Transportation

Under the new policy, all forms of transport will be made women-friendly. In buses, first half of the seats will be earmarked for women.  Front exit or entrance will be used only by women.

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission released compendium of innovations on December 29, 2021.

Highlights

• The compendium focuses on agriculture featuring 70 start-ups as well as on collection of 41 innovations in technology.
• Both the books are celebration of success stories of young innovators of India.

‘Innovations for You’- compendium

‘Innovations for You’ is a compendium of innovations which focuses on agriculture featuring 70 start-ups. These start-ups are supported by Atal incubation Canters (AICs) of AIM.

‘The Ingenious Tinkerers’ – compendium

The Ingenious Tinkerers is a compendium on “innovations on technology”. It features 41 innovations from Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) of India.

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)

AIM is the flagship initiative of Government of India, launched to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across India. AIM was set up under NITI Aayog. It was launched with the objective of developing new programmes and policies to foster innovation across different sectors of the economy. It also seeks to provide platform and collaboration opportunities to different stakeholders. This mission has played a significant role in advancing India in Global Innovation Index, from 81^st position in 2015 to 48^th position in 2020.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its Financial Stability Report on December 29, 2021.

Key Points

• According to the report, stress tests have revealed that gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) of banks is likely to jump from 6.9 percent in September 2021 to 8.1 percent in September 2022 under the baseline scenario.
• While under a severe stress scenario, it is likely to increase to 9.5 percent for the same period.
• Report highlights that, scheduled Commercial Banks have sufficient capital, at the aggregate as well as individual levels, even under stress conditions
• The report further highlights the collective assessment of Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability & Development Council (FSDC) on risks to financial stability as well as resilience of the financial system.
• It notes that, progress in vaccination on the domestic front has enabled the recovery to regain traction after debilitating second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
• However, signs of slowing pace were witnessed more recently.
• Corporate sector is gaining strength and bank credit growth is also improving.

Capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR)

The capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) have increased to a new peak of 16.6 percent. On the other hand, provisioning coverage ratio (PCR) was at 68.1 percent in September 2021.

On December 29, 2021, the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) announced to add Egypt as its new member.

Key Points

• Egypt is the fourth new member admitted into NDB, following Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Uruguay.
• Inclusion of Egypt has further expanded the global outreach of BRICS Bank.

How this move will benefit Egypt?

The NDB will provide a new platform to Egypt, for fostering cooperation with BRICS countries on infrastructure and sustainable development. NDB will also help Egypt in engaging with other emerging economies and developing countries.

About New Development Bank (NDB)

NDB is a multilateral development bank. It was jointly founded by the BRICS countries in 2014, at the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil. But it was formally opened on July 2015. The bank was set to support the infrastructure and sustainable development efforts in BRICS grouping and other underserved & emerging economies for a faster development through cutting-edge technology and innovation. Its headquarter is at Shanghai, China.

Observer Status in UNGA

NDB had received observer status in the United Nations General Assembly, in 2018. Thus, it established a firm basis for active and fruitful cooperation with the UN.

Objectives of UNGA

NDB has understated objectives:

1. To foster development in member countries.
2. To support economic growth.
3. To promote competitiveness and facilitate job creation.
4. To building a knowledge sharing platform in developing countries.

How the bank fulfils its objectives?

In order to fulfil its purpose, NDB supports public or private projects by means of loans, equity participation, guarantees, loans, an