Year: 2020

By welcoming Governments opens doors greater private role in defence, power, space by increase of FDI in defence sector from 49% to 74 % and other reforms announced for Make in India for Defence sector. Another important step is level playing field for private companies in satellites, launches and space based services and use of ISRO facilities to private sector. This will increase investment in communication satellites.   The proposed new liberal policy for geo spatial data policy for providing remote-sensing data to tech entrepreneurs. The another important step has been announcement of…

 Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners (CLPC) is on a mission to solve many of the technology issues facing cities and municipalities around the country. For many, the term “smart city” is an unclear concept. For Peachtree Corners, Georgia, it’s about empowering the latest in emerging technologies to solve real-world problems. Put into action, the city has been working with two visionary companies, Go X and Tortoise, to revolutionize e-scooter mobility by solving the biggest issues: 1) Finding a scooter – and 2) Returning scooters to a home base for safe parking,…

The Supreme Court restrained the government from taking coercive action for now against employers who don’t pay workers their entire salary during the lockdown in violation of a Ministry of Home Affairs notification of March 29 that directed them to pay full wages.   District magistrates across the country have subsequently passed copycat orders under the Disaster Management Act asking industrial units and commercial establishments in their territories to follow the notification or face the consequences.   Under the Act, violation of the district magistrate’s order would attract legal action…

An Indian man was charged by German prosecutors for spying on the Sikh community and Kashmir activists in Germany for India’s intelligence service for more than two years.   The federal prosecutor’s office said that espionage charges against the suspect, identified only as Balvir S in line with German privacy rules, were filed at a state court in Frankfurt.   According to prosecutors, the suspect was in regular telephone and personal contact with the Germany-based intelligence officer and passed on information “in numerous cases” until December 2017. They did not…

According to the published study in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists in the U.S. and Japan report that, cats can easily become infected to SARS-CoV-2 (virus causing COVID-19), and can also pass on to the other cats.    The study, led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, Professor of Pathobiological Sciences at the University Of Wisconsin School Of Veterinary Medicine, in which researchers administered to three cats SARS-CoV-2 isolated from a human patient. The following day, the researchers swabbed the nasal passages of the cats and were able to detect the virus in two of the animals. Within three days, they detected the virus in all of the cats.   The day…

US President Donald Trump has said that he “could cut off the whole relationship” with China, in one of his strongest comments against Beijing in the wake of the Asian giant’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the media reported.   “There are many things we could do,” Trump said in a press meeting on Thursday. “We could cut off the whole relationship,” Trump confirmed.   The Trump administration has been mulling avenues to possibly punish or seek financial compensation from China for what it sees as withholding information about the virus, which originated in the city of Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, last December.  …

On Wednesday, Delhi customs seized a large quantity of raw materials for masks, sanitizers, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) which were being smuggled to China.   Export of such items is prohibited by the government. A notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade on 19th March said, “The exports of all ventilators, surgical and disposable masks (2/3 ply), raw materials have been prohibited with immediate effect.” This new notification was issued when the number of COVID-19 cases in India started spiralling up and there was an urgent need for masks, PPE and sanitizers for domestic use.   Senior…