Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has launched the second edition of Fit India Cyclothon via social media. The mega cycling event which started yesterday will run for 25 days till 31st December.

The event will be held across the country in each district and citizens can participate by registering on Fit India website, cycle daily a distance of their choice, and share their images and videos on social media. They may tag @FitIndiaOff and use the hashtag -  FitIndiaCyclothon and #NewIndiaFitIndia.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has declared ‘Invest India’ as winner of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award. The award ceremony took place at UNCTAD Headquarters in Geneva yesterday. The Award recognizes and celebrates the outstanding achievements of the World’s best-practice investment promotion agencies. The evaluation was based on UNCTAD’s assessment of work undertaken by 180 national Investment Promotion Agencies across the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic had generated important challenges for investment promotion agencies. In March 2020, UNCTAD constituted a team to monitor IPAs response to the pandemic. UNCTAD reported best practices from investment promotion agencies in the IPA Observer publications in April and July. IPAs response to the pandemic became the basis for the evaluation of the 2020 United Nations Investment Promotion Award.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give the inaugural address at the virtual India Mobile Congress 2020 today. IMC 2020 is being organised by the Department of Telecommunications, and the Cellular Operators Association of India. It will be held from today to 10th December.

The theme for IMC 2020 is "Inclusive Innovation - Smart, Secure, Sustainable”. It aims to align to the Prime Minister’s vision to promote ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, ‘Digital Inclusivity’, and ‘Sustainable development, entrepreneurship and innovation’. It also aims to drive foreign and local investments, encourage Research and Development in the telecom and emerging technology sectors.

It will see the participation from various Ministries, the telecom CEOs, global CEOs, and domain experts in 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Data Analytics, Cloud and Edge computing, Blockchain, Cyber-security, Smart Cities and Automation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the construction of the Agra Metro Rail Project (AMRP) today through video conference. The ceremony will begin at 11.30 am and will be held at 15 Battalion PAC parade ground in Agra.

According to reports, the inauguration ceremony will also be attended by Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath and other dignitaries.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister said that the Agra Metro project will boost 'ease of living' for the people of Agra as well as tourists.

"At 12 noon tomorrow, 7th December, construction work of the Agra Metro Project will commence. This project is spread across two corridors and will boost 'Ease of Living' for the people of Agra as well as benefit tourists who visit this vibrant city," Modi tweeted on Sunday.

It should be noted that PM Modi had inaugurated the Agra Metro project on March 8 last year, along with the commencement of commercial operations of Lucknow Metro on the entire 23 km long North-South corridor from CCS Airport to Munshipulia.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that India's Covid vaccine is highly effective. Speaking at an all-party meeting with leaders of various political outfits and top union ministers to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country, the PM said that homemade vaccines have shown promising results.

"Indian scientists are very sure of success in developing COVID-19 vaccine, their confidence very high," he said. "Experts believe wait for COVID-19 vaccine will not be long, it may be ready in a few weeks," the PM added.

"India will start COVID-19 vaccination programme after experts give nod," PM Modi said. He said that public health will be top priority as far as COVID-19 vaccine pricing is concerned. "States will be fully involved."

The fourth round of talks which lasted seven hours between the farmers and the Central government failed to end the impasse over the farm laws as the protesting farmers remained firm on their demand for the repeal of new farm laws. 

The next meeting will be held on December 5. Meanwhile, the farmers' agitation will continue as planned.

During the meeting with the farm leaders, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar assured that the MSP will not be touched and no changes will be made to it. "The government will consider giving more legal rights to farmers. MSP will continue, we have assured farmers of MSP," Union minister Narendra Tomar said after the meeting. "It would be good if the farmers can call off the protest," he added.

India and the US have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to co-operate on intellectual property examination and protection for the next 10 years and to strengthen the IP systems in both countries.

The MoU was signed between the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), represented by Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Andrei Iancu, and Secretary from India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Guruprasad Mohapatra, during a virtual meeting on Wednesday.

The memorandum will strengthen the intellectual property (IP) systems of both countries, enabling further innovation and growth, said Iancu.

An earlier MoU between India and the US expired nine years ago.

“It (the latest agreement) will help tie our nations even closer, and it will fortify our commitment to the IP rights of all of our citizens, and the many hundreds of companies that operate in both our markets,” he said.

The present agreement covers for the next 10 years, describing a range of cooperative activities pertaining to securing, using, and enforcing IP rights in the areas of patents, trademarks, copyrights, geographical indications, and industrial designs.

The Union Health Ministry has issued a revised standard operating procedure (SOP) on preventive measures to be followed while conducting examinations to contain the spread of COVID-19, here on Thursday, removing the clause to facilitate symptomatic candidates who insist on taking the exam to do so in isolation.

The revised SOP notes that in the regular course, an asymptomatic candidate should be referred to the nearest health center and given an opportunity to undertake the examination through other means, or the university/ educational institution shall arrange for the exam at a later date when the student is declared fit.

However, if a student is found to be symptomatic, the permission or denial thereof in such cases shall be granted as per the policy already enunciated on the issue by the authorities conducting the examination.

New York: A special session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in response to the coronavirus pandemic will kickstart on Thursday. World leaders, UN leadership and COVID-19 vaccine developers will address the two-day event. The US special session comes a day after the United Kingdom on Wednesday became the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine for general use. Britain Prime Minister Bors Johnson announced a rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech's jab from next week. Following UK’s announcement, Russian President Vladimir Putin directed the health officials to start widespread vaccinations of Sputnik V next week.

The United Nations has termed coronavirus pandemic as the greatest global health crisis since the creation of the global body 75 years ago. The UN has also termed it as a humanitarian, socio-economic, security and human rights crisis.

COVID-19 disease has claimed more than 1.3 million lives, infected more than 54 million people, and upended the livelihoods of even more all over the world.

Researchers have created the smallest memory device yet, an advance that may lead to faster, smaller, and more energy-efficient electronic chips for consumer electronics and brain-inspired computing.

The scientists from the University of Texas at Austin in the US also found the physics that unlocks dense memory storage capabilities for these tiny devices.

In the research, published recently in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, the scientists reduced the size of what was then the thinnest memory storage device, shrinking the cross-section area down to just a single square nanometre.

According to the researchers, getting a handle on the physics that pack dense memory storage capability into these devices enabled them to make the device much smaller.

They said ultrasmall holes in the material provide the key to unlocking the high-density memory storage capability.

"When a single additional metal atom goes into that nanoscale hole and fills it, it confers some of its conductivity into the material, and this leads to a change or memory effect," explained Deji Akinwande, a co-author of the study.

Though they used the compound molybdenum disulfide – also known as MoS2 – as the primary nanomaterial in their study, the researchers believe the discovery could apply to hundreds of related atomically thin materials.