WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark, has been named as the world’s safest city from among 60 global cities, in Safe Cities Index 2021, released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
• Copenhagen scored 82.4 points out of 100, to top the fourth edition of the EIU’s biennial index, which measures the level of urban safety. Yangon is at the bottom of the index, as least safe city, with a score of 39.5.
• From India, New Delhi and Mumbai have found a place in the index. New Delhi is placed at 48th position with a score of 56.1, while Mumbai is at 50th place with a score of 54.4.
• The EIU’s Safe Cities Index is a global, policy benchmarking tool developed to measure global urban safety. The Index was first released in 2015.
• In 2021, cities are ranked based on 76 indicators of security across five broad pillars, which are digital, health, infrastructure, personal and environmental.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• India has emerged as a global manufacturing hub and effectively surpassed the United States to become the world’s second most desired manufacturing destination.
• This indicates the growing interest in India by manufacturers as a preferred manufacturing hub over other countries including the United States and the manufacturing giant nation, China.
• India’s ranking was reflected in Cushman & Wakefield’s 2021 Global Manufacturing Risk Index. The index ranks 47 countries across Europe, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The shares of Information Technology major, Infosys hit a record high during intraday trading, which helped the company cross $100 billion in market capitalisation. Infosys is the fourth Indian company to achieve this milestone.
• Reliance Industries (m-cap of $140 billion), Tata Consultancy Services (m-cap $115 billion) and HDFC Bank (m-cap $100.1 billion) are the other Indian firms in the club with Infosys.
• Infosys has been one of the fastest-growing companies in India, providing business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. In the quarter ending June 2021, Infosys reported a net consolidated profit of ₹5,195 crores, showing a growth of 2.3 per cent

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Abhay Kumar Singh has been appointed as joint secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation. This ministry was recently formed with an aim to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.
• The appointment of Abhay Kumar Singh has been cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by PM Modi.
• Singh, a 2004-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Bihar cadre, has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry for a combined tenure of seven years against the newly created post

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Tiwa tribesmen perform their traditional dance as they take part in Wanchuwa Festival in Assam. This festival is celebrated by Tiwa tribesmen to mark their good harvest. It comes with songs, dances, a bunch of rituals and people clad in their native attires.
• Tiwa is also known as Lalung is an indigenous community inhabiting the states of Assam and Meghalaya and are also found in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. They are recognized as a Scheduled tribe within the state of Assam. They practice Jhum or shifting cultivation

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute (WRI), India, jointly launched the ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport’ in India.
• NITI Aayog is the implementing partner for India. The aim of the project is to bring down the peak level of GHG emissions (transport sector) in Asia (in line with a well below 2-degree pathway), resulting in problems like congestion and air pollution.
• The Forum has been launched under the NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA) project. The NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA 2020-2023) is a joint programme of seven organizations that will engage China, India, and Vietnam in promoting a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transport in their respective countries.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• IIT Madras has developed India’s first indigenous motorized wheelchair vehicle named ‘NeoBolt’, which can be used not only on roads but even on uneven terrains. It has a maximum speed of 25 kmph.
• The researchers collaborated extensively with organisations and hospitals working for people with locomotor disabilities and built the products after factoring in their experiences and making constant design adjustments.
• IIT Madras said the wheelchair will be available to users at an approximate price of ₹55,000.
• It is powered by a Lithium-Ion Battery and can travel up to 25 km per charge. It empowers wheelchair users with a convenient, safe and low-cost mode of outdoor mobility when compared to cars, auto-rickshaws or modified scooters.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The second edition of the joint naval exercise, Zair-Al-Bahr, between the Indian Navy and Qatar Emiri Naval Force (QENF) was conducted between August 9 and 14 in the Persian Gulf. This edition of the exercise included a three-day harbour phase followed by a two-day sea phase.
• The sea phase is comprised of tactical maritime exercises involving surface action, anti-piracy exercises, air defence, maritime surveillance, boarding operations and SAR exercises.
• In the sea phase of the exercise, the Indian Navy’s Stealth Frigate INS Trikand, QENF’s missile boats of Barzan and Damsah class, fast-attack crafts of MRTP 34 class and Rafale fighter aircraft participated.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Swedish green steel venture HYBRIT, which had made the ‘world’s first customer delivery of steel produced without using coal.
• The steel was made using Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology, which uses 100% fossil-free hydrogen instead of coal and coke. The venture has started delivering the fossil-free steel to the Volvo Group as part of its trial run.
• Development for the Hybrit project, which was set up in 2016 and is owned by SSAB, energy firm Vattenfall and LKAB, a mining and minerals group.
• Both Vattenfall and LKAB are owned by the Swedish state. The idea underpinning Hybrit is to use “100% fossil-free hydrogen” rather than coal and coke in steel production

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• NTPC has commissioned the largest floating solar PV project in India of 25MW power on the reservoir of its Simhadri thermal station in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. This is also the first solar project to be set up under the Flexibilisation Scheme.
• This scheme was notified by the Government of India in 2018. NTPC is also planning to set up a hydrogen-based micro-grid system on a pilot basis at Simhadri.
• NTPC’s floating solar installation covers 75 acres of the Simhadri reservoir’s surface. It will produce power from more than a lakh of solar PV modules for lighting 7,000 households.
• The project will annually save 46,000 tonnes of CO2 emission and 1,364 million litres of water, which is adequate to meet the requirement of 6,700 households in a year.