Gujarat will get the country’s first ‘Satellite Network Portal Site’. An MoU was signed between OneWeb and the state government in Gandhinagar yesterday for the establishment of the Satellite Network Portal Site’ near Mehsana. AIR correspondent reports that the satellite network portal will be set up at two places in Jotana taluka of Mehsana district with an estimated cost of over Rs. 100 crores for Phase-1. 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. 

A two-day Festival of Libraries 2023 will be organised at Pragati Maidan on 5th of next month. President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the festival. Briefing media in New Delhi, Union Minister of State for  Culture, Arjun Ram Meghwal said the festival will focus on the promotion of both physical and digital libraries. He said the importance of the physical library will always remain. He said development of libraries is the priority of the government.
 
Mr Meghwal said the digital library initiative breaks barriers, empowering all citizens with access to knowledge.

The Startup20 engagement Group and Jagriti Foundation under India's G20 presidency decided to launch Global Yatra in promoting inclusive entrepreneurship across the globe. It is set to be one of the world’s largest entrepreneurship journeys ever undertaken, with a diverse cohort of 350 Indian participants and 70 foreign delegates from G20 countries.

Speaking during the launch, Startup20 in New Delhi, Chair Dr. Chintan Vaishnav said, Startup20 is thrilled to join forces with Jagriti Yatra Foundation for this extraordinary endeavour. He added that the Startup20-Jagriti Yatra 2023 presents an unparalleled opportunity to connect aspiring entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, bridge borders, and collectively address the challenges of our time.

The Rural WASH Partners' Forum (RWPF), a platform of Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti, for Development and Sector Partners working in the rural WASH sector in India, is celebrating its 1st anniversary with a two-day National Conference on 21st July 2023 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The conference will be inaugurated by Union Minister of Jal Shakti Shri. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and bring together stakeholders from across the WASH sector to discuss the progress made in the past year and the path forward to support the expeditious implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (SBM-G), the flagship missions of DDWS, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Govt. of India.

The theme of the conference is "Accelerating Progress towards a Swachh Sujal Bharat." The National Conference will provide a forum for partners to share their experiences, learn from each other, and identify new ways to collaborate. The conference will also feature keynote speakers from government

Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD) under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying on Thursday announced the launch of a new credit guarantee scheme. The scheme under the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) aims to facilitate collateral-free credit for MSMEs in the livestock sector.

To operationalize the scheme, DAHD said it has set up a credit guarantee fund trust of Rs 750 crores for credit guarantee coverage of up to 25 per cent of loans disbursed to MSMEs by eligible banks and other lending institutions.

In a historic move, Rajya Sabha has brought gender parity with nominations of 50 per cent women members to the panel of Vice-Chairperson by reconstitution of the post.

The panel reconstituted before the Monsoon Session contains a total of eight names, out of which half are women. This is the first time in the history of the Upper House that equal representation has been given to women members in the panel of Vice-Chairpersons.

Road accidents claim around 1.5 million lives in India every year, contributing 11 per cent to the total number of such fatalities globally, according to a FICCI-EY report. Globally, at least one life is lost every 24 seconds due to road traffic injury, said the report released on Tuesday.

As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), road crash is the 8th leading cause of death with more than 1.3 billion deaths and 50 million serious injuries. It is the leading cause of death amongst youth and kids aged 5 to 29 years, it said.

Senior Mathematician, writer Mangala Narlikar (मंगला नारळीकर) passed away due to cancer in Pune today. She was 80 years old. Mrs. Naralikar, who obtained her master’s degree with a gold medal in Mathematics, obtained PhD in the subject of Analytic Number Theory. After her degrees in mathematics, she initially worked at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai and later worked as a lecturer in the University of Bombay and Pune.

Mrs. Naralikar, who taught in many institutes in the country and abroad, was very good at explaining mathematics in simple language. Many books and research papers are credited to her. She was a pillar of strength to her husband, senior Astronomer Padma Vibhushan Dr. Jayant Narlikar (जयंत नारळीकर) throughout his career.

US President Joe Biden has announced his intent to appoint Shamina Singh, a prominent Indian-American business leader, to the President's Export Council, which serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade.

Singh, who is the Founder and President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, has said that she is "honoured to join the group of esteemed leaders that make up the President's Export Council.” According to a statement from the White House, on July 14, President Biden announced his intent to appoint Singh to serve in the key role.

Saskatoon (Canada), Jul 16 (PTI) India’s Karman Kaur Thandi and her women’s doubles partner Canadian Stacey Fung finished runners-up at the ITF W60 Saskatoon Challenger tennis tournament, here on Sunday.

Thandi and Fung put up a tough fight before losing 6-4, 4-6, 7-10 to USA’s Abigail Renchell and Alana Smith in a pulsating summit clash of the USD 60,000-dollar tournament.