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Prelim Bits 08-06-2018

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June 08, 2018

Women’s Safety XPRIZE

  • New Delhi based Leaf Wearable have won a million dollar prize by developing a wearable smart device that women can use to send out emergency alerts if threatened or assaulted.
  • It was inspired to find solutions for women safety following the Nirbhaya incident in 2012.
  • The prize was given for their project ‘Safer Pro’, an enhanced new version of their earlier smart safety devices.
  • The million dollar prize instituted by eminent Indian-American philanthropists Anu & Naveen Jain called ‘Women’s Safety XPRIZE’.
  • The Jains, prominent entrepreneurs and philanthropists, partnered with non-profit organisation XPRIZE to create the Anu & Naveen Jain Women’s Safety XPRIZE aimed at addressing the safety of women and girls by leveraging technology.

Ex-Malabar 2018

  • Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri, Shakti and Kamorta of the Eastern Fleet currently on an overseas deployment to South East Asia and the Western Pacific to participate in the 22nd edition of Exercise Malabar, off Guam, USA.
  • Exercise Malabar started as a bilateral exercise between the US Navy and the Indian Navy in 1992.
  • It has evolved over the years with the participation of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) from 2007.
  • It is for the first time that the exercise is being conducted off Guam, a major US Naval Base in the Western Pacific.
  • US has recently named their Hawaii-based Pacific Command as the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
  • Malabar 17 was held in July last year on the Eastern Sea Board of India, off Chennai and Visakhapatnam.

Operation NISTAR

  • The Indians who were stranded in Socotra island after cyclone Mekunu hit the area were evacuated by INS Sunayna in an operation  “Nistar”.
  • The cyclone Mekunu had badly hit various parts of Oman and the Socotra Island.
  • Socotra also called Soqotra is located between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea.
  • It is the largest of four islands of the Socotra archipelago.
  • The territory is located near major shipping routes and is officially part of Yemen, and had long been a subdivision of the Aden Governorate.

Google-RailTel

  • Google-RailTel completed its 400th high-speed Internet project at Dibrugarh Railway station.
  • 8 million people actively use the public Wi-Fi service on a monthly basis provided under “RailWire”.
  • Railwire is a joint project by Google and State-owned telecom infrastructure provider RailTel Corporation.
  • As part of the Next Billion Users initiative, Google is now building on the success of RailTel project to expand the public Wi-Fi outside train stations, into Indian cities and around the world.
  • The company has already launched a pilot of its Google Station - the public Wi-Fi platform - in Pune under the Smart City project.

Consortium for Women Entrepreneurs

  • The UN India Business Forum and the Women Entrepreneurial Platform of NITI Aayog formed a consortium to reduce gender disparities in start-up investments.
  • It will provide mentorship and networking opportunities and accelerating financial and market linkages for women entrepreneurs.
  • The consortium aims to strengthen women’s entrepreneurship by creating an enabling ecosystem for investments.
  • Women entrepreneurs will be identified through key partners, including WEP, UN Women, and UNDP. The consortium secretariat will then connect entrepreneurs with relevant member.
  • In full potential scenario when women participate in the economy, equally to men, it could add $2.9 trillion to India’s GDP by 2025.

RITES

  • The Government aims to divest 12 per cent stake in RITES through Initial Public Offering.
  • The IPO is a part of the Government’s strategic disinvestment plan.
  • The company is owned by the Railway Ministry and has enough funds for its immediate capital expenditure.
  • RITES Ltd is a Government of India Enterprise was established in 1974, under the aegis of Indian Railways.
  • RITES Ltd., an ISO 9001:2008 company, is a multi-disciplinary consultancy organization in the fields of transport, infrastructure and related technologies.
  • It provides a comprehensive array of services under a single roof and believes in transfer of technology to client organizations.
  • RITES is internationally recognized as a leading consultant with operational experience of over 55 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, South America and Middle East regions.
  •  It is the only export arm of Indian Railways for providing rolling stock overseas.

 

Source: PIB, The Hindu

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