The government in its budget 2020 has announced a National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications (NM-QTA) with a total budget outlay of Rs 8000 Crore for a period of five years to be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST).

Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in Union Budget 2020 speech said that the new economy is based on innovations that disrupt established business models. Artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things (IoT), 3D printing, drones, DNA data storage, quantum computing, etc., are re-writing the world economic order.”

Quantum technologies are rapidly developing globally with a huge disruptive potential. The next generation transformative technologies that will receive a push under this mission include quantum computers and computing, quantum communication, quantum key distribution, encryption, crypt analysis, quantum devices, quantum sensing, quantum materials, quantum clock and so on. The areas of focus for the Mission will be in fundamental science, translation, technology development, human and infrastructural resource generation, innovation and start-ups to address issues concerning national priorities.

Central Board of Direct Taxes has said that The Finance Bill, 2020 has proposed that an Indian citizen shall be deemed to be resident in India if he or she is not liable to be taxed in any country or jurisdiction. 

It said that the new provision in Finance Bill, 2020 is not intended to include in tax net those Indian citizens who are bonafide workers in other countries. 

CBDT issued a clarification on the new provision pertaining to residence in India saying this is an anti-abuse provision since it is noticed that some Indian citizens shift their stay in low or no tax jurisdiction countries to avoid payment of tax in India. 

CBDT noted that the interpretation by some section of the media that Indians who are bonafide workers in other countries, including in the Middle East, and who are not liable to tax in these countries, will be taxed in India on the income that they have earned there is incorrect. 

Madhya Pradesh has bagged the first position for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana. Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani will present this award to Madhya Pradesh at a function in New Delhi today.

Madhya Pradesh Minister for Women and Child Development Imarti Devi and Principal Secretary Anupam Rajan will receive the award. Indore district has also bagged the first place for better performance of the scheme. AIR correspondent reports that the main objective of the Matru Vandana Yojana is to provide incentives of five thousand rupees for the loss of wages of working women and to ensure their proper rest and nutrition during pregnancy. The payment of the incentive amount is deposited directly into the bank account.

In Madhya Pradesh, more than 14 lakh 55 thousand beneficiaries have been registered under the Pradhan Mantri Matra Vandana Yojana. The first installment has been paid to about 13 lakh 40 thousand women, while second installment to around 12 lakh and third installment has been paid to 8 lakh 80 thousand beneficiaries.

In tennis, Serbia's Novak Djokovic won his record 8th Men's singles title in Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne yesterday.

He beat first-time Australian Open finalist Dominic Thiem  of Austria.

The men's doubles title was clinched by Joe Salisbury of UK and American Rajeev Ram who beat Australia's Luke Saville and Max Purcell.

Indian women's team captain Rani Rampal became the first-ever hockey player to win the prestigious 'World Games Athlete of the Year' award.

The World Games announced the winner last night after 20 days of polling in January this year by sports fans worldwide.

Congratulating Rani, the World Games said with 1,99,477 votes, she is the clear winner of the Athlete of the Year race. All in all, over 7,05,610 votes were cast during the poll.

Last year, India won the FIH Series Finals, and Rani was named Player of the Tournament.

Under Rani's leadership, the Indian women's team qualified for just the third Olympic Games in its history.

Rani, who was recently named among the Padma Shri awardees, dedicated the award to the entire hockey fraternity, her team and the country.

A 60-year-old pharmacy worker has become the first deaf person on record to row an ocean by finishing a 3,000-mile journey across the Atlantic. Mo O'Brien and her fellow crew members, including her daughter, landed on the Caribbean island of Antigua 49 days after setting out from the Canary Island of La Gomera in December.

Their arrival late yesterday local time makes them the fastest female trio to complete the challenge. The Ocean Rowing Society, which is responsible for monitoring ocean rowing records, confirmed the world first. Ms O'Brien, rowed almost 3,000 miles (4,800km) of Atlantic Ocean with her daughter Bird Watts, and their friend Claire Allinson.

Well-known theatre person Sanjana Kapoor will receive the prestigious French honour of ‘Chevalier dans lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) for her outstanding contribution to the field of theatre.

French Minister of Culture Franck Riester, who’s currently on an official India visit, will confer the insignia of the distinction on Kapoor in a special investiture ceremony on January 28 at the French embassy in New Delhi.

Kapoor was born in an illustrious family of Indian and English theatre personalities -- Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal. She debuted on screen with Aparna Sen’s 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981) and played the leading actor in Hero Hiralal (1989). She also appeared in Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay (1988).

An Air India special flight will depart today from Delhi for China's Wuhan for evacuation of Indians following outbreak of novel Coronavirus in the neighboring country.

Sixteen crew members will be on-board for the evacuation process.

The crew is traveling with masks, gloves and disinfectant sprays and will not get off the aircraft in Wuhan.

There will be minimal contact with the passengers during the flight.

The Air India jumbo from Mumbai picked up special medical kits in Delhi being procured by the health ministry.

Air India will board only those passengers who do not show symptoms of the infection. In its first ferry, approximately 325 passengers will be evacuated.

Indian women's team captain Rani Rampal became the first-ever hockey player to win the prestigious 'World Games Athlete of the Year' award.

The World Games announced the winner last night after 20 days of polling in January this year by sports fans worldwide.

Congratulating Rani, the World Games said with 1,99,477 votes, she is the clear winner of the Athlete of the Year race. All in all, over 7,05,610 votes were cast during the poll.

Last year, India won the FIH Series Finals, and Rani was named Player of the Tournament.

 Under Rani's leadership, the Indian women's team qualified for just the third Olympic Games in its history.

Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics with a throw of 87.86 metres at the Athletics Central North East meeting in South Africa. The 22-year-old Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallist breached the Olympic qualification mark of 85 metres in his fourth attempt at Potchefstroom last night.

Neeraj had missed the IAAF World Championships, the Diamond League and the Asian Championships due to an elbow injury. His last major international competition was the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games where he won gold with a national record of 88.06 metres.

Another Indian in fray, Rohit Yadav threw 77.61 metres.