• In Ladakh, Indian Army’s Fire and Fury Corps extended ‘Ignited Minds’, a project to train the students for Medical and Engineering entrance exams, to Kargil.
• The project ‘Ladakh Ignited Minds’, an Indian Army initiative to provide holistic educational training for Ladakhi youth.
• A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and National Integrity and Educational Development Organization (NIEDO) to provide full time residential training program exclusively for Kargil girls.
• Under this joint initiative, Kargil girls get full and free residential coaching for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). Ladakh domiciled 12th students who passed with 70 percentage of marks or appeared this year, whose family income is less than three and half lakhs annual income are eligible to apply.
• Ignited Minds project launched last year has been successful in Leh. Kanpur based NGO, NIEDO will execute the project while Army will provide administrative and logistic support and funding by HPCL.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Kartavya Path – a stretch of the Central Vista from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.
• It symbolizes a shift from erstwhile Rajpath being an icon of power to Kartavya Path being an example of public ownership and empowerment.
• The entire stretch has been revamped under the Modi government’s ambitious Central Vista redevelopment project.
• On the occasion, Mr Modi will also unveil the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate.
• The jet black granite statue, measuring a total of 28 feet, will be placed under the Canopy near India Gate.
• The statue is completely hand sculpted using traditional techniques and modern tools. The statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is being installed in the same place where a hologram statue of Netaji was unveiled in January this year by Mr Modi on Parakram Diwas to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji.
• These steps are in line with Prime Minister’s second Panch Pran for New India in Amrit Kaal – remove any trace of colonial mindset.

About Kartavya Path

• Kartavya Path will exhibit improved public spaces and facilities including lawns with walkways, green spaces, improved signages, new amenity blocks and vending kiosks.
• Besides, new pedestrian underpasses, improved parking spaces, new exhibition panels and upgraded night lighting are some of the other features of the Kartavya Path which will enhance the public experience.

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will participate in the 2nd India-Japan 2plus2 Ministerial Dialogue in Tokyo.
• The Japanese side will be represented by Minister of Defence Yasukazu Hamada and Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi.
• The 2plus2 Dialogue will review bilateral cooperation across domains and chart out the way forward. India and Japan are pursuing a Special Strategic and Global Partnership.
• This year marks 70 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
• In addition to the 2plus2 dialogue, the defence minister will separately hold bilateral talks with his Japanese counterpart to further strengthen defence cooperation between the two countries across various sectors.
• Mr Singh will also attend a community event organised by the Embassy of India in Tokyo and interact with the Indian diaspora in Japan.

About 2+2 talks

• The 2+2 dialogue is a format of meeting of the foreign and defence ministers of India and its allieson strategic and security issues.

India’s strategic 2+2 partners:

• India has 2+2 dialogues with four key strategic partners: the US, Australia, Japan, and Russia. Besides Russia, the other three countries are also India’s partners in the Quad.
• The US is India’s oldest and most important 2+2 talks partner.

• Science and Technology Minister Dr Jitendra Singh has said that Healthcare sector in India is expected to reach a size of 50 billion dollar by 2025.
• Addressing the 14th CII Global MedTech Summit in New Delhi, Dr Singh said, over the past two years healthcare has become more focused on innovation and technology.
• He said, 80 per cent of healthcare systems are aiming to increase their investment in digital healthcare tools in coming five years.
• India aims to achieve 10 to 12 per cent of the global market share of the medical devices sector.

• The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet approved child adoption leave of 180 days for regular women employees of the State government.
• The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting in Shimla chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
• The nod was given by adopting Rule 43-B of CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972.

About:

• The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, recognizes that adoptive mothers too need to take some time off to tend to their children, represents some progress.
• Adoption in India is a contested issue rife with legal and bureaucratic hurdles.
• It’s governed under two different laws: the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956; and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
• There are several strict rules in place that determine the eligibility and suitability of prospective parents.
• These include parameters on composite age for couples, rules of adoption for single parents, a minimum duration of marriage for couples seeking to adopt, and the age of the prospective adopted child.

• Dedicated efforts to improve the handwriting of about 90,000 students and training teachers to make the the teaching-learning process more effective and hi-tech have helped Virender Kumar become a proud recipient of a national award for teachers.
• Virender Kumar is serving as a teacher at Government Senior Secondary School, Dhorogra, in Sunni (Shimla).
• The other recipient of the national award from the state is Yudhveer Tandon, a teacher of Government Primary School, Anoga, in Sundla (Chamba).
• He strongly believes in the implementation of old concepts and has implemented the concepts of honesty shop, Bal Samachar Patrika, Bal Sansad, Swachhta Committee and computer-based intervention in his school.

• Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari conferred the title of Honorary General of the Nepali Army to the Indian Army chief, Gen Manoj Pande, at a special ceremony, continuing the seven-decade-old tradition reflecting the close ties between the two countries.
• General Pande was also presented a sword and scroll during the ceremony held at the President’s official residence, Shital Niwas, in Kathmandu.
• Following the ceremony, General Pande called on the President of Nepal.
• Earlier, Gen Pande laid a wreath and paid homage at Bir Smarak (martyrs’ memorial) at Kathmandu. Thereafter, he visited the Nepali Army headquarters where he was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour.
• General Pande also handed over various non-lethal military items to Nepalese counterpart Gen PR Sharma.

• Warangal and two cities from Kerala have joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) in recognition of their outstanding efforts to make lifelong learning a reality for all at the local level.
• Warangal in Telangana, Thrissur and Nilambur are among the 77 cities from 44 countries which have joined this network of the world body.
• UNESCO GNLC is an international network consisting of cities that successfully promote lifelong learning across their communities.
• It includes 294 cities from all around the world that share inspiration, know-how and best practice among each other, the world body has said in a statement.
• Other cities that have joined the network are the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Durban in South Africa and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) among others.
• The 77 new members bring the total number of cities within the UNESCO GNLC to 294 in 76 countries, UNESCO said.

• An agreement for cooperation in the field of broadcasting between Prasar Bharati and Bangladesh Television was also signed on the occasion.
• As many as seven pacts were signed between India and Bangladesh after bilateral discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his visiting Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina.
• The agreements are related to water resources, IT and space, broadcasting as well as railways.
• These included an agreement on withdrawal of water from the cross-border Kushiyara river, cooperation in space technology, collaboration on IT systems used by railways for freight movement and an agreement for cooperation in the field of science and technology.
• In addition to this, the two sides also inked a pact to provide training to Bangladeshi railway staff and judicial officers in India.

• The long-haul, heavy-duty trucks from Blue Energy Motors, which intends to upend the Indian trucking business by producing clean energy, almost zero emissions vehicles, will run on LNG.
• The business was inaugurated by Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari.
• Blue Energy Motors has a contract in place with FPT Industrial, the global powertrain brand of the Italian Iveco Group, to launch the first LNG trucks with BS VI-compliant FPT Industrial engines.

Key Points:

• The introduction of the 5528 4×2 tractor will serve as the first model for the market entry of LNG-fuelled trucks.
• Blue Energy Motors claims that its “trucks have been built and tested in compliance with the demanding duty cycles of the Indian transport industry.”
• These trucks, which have high-torque FPT Industrial engines, not only have the best TCO in their class but also provide unparalleled ride comfort and driver safety for long hauls.
• One of the most potent natural gas engines is the FPT Industrial engine, which is also compatible with CNG, LNG, and biomethane.
• To ensure best-in-class fuel consumption and lower noise than diesel engines, it uses multipoint stoichiometric combustion.