New Delhi, Feb 20: Joint research projects on Water Quality Research and Energy Demand Reduction in Built Environment were launched here on Monday.
The UK- India projects were jointly launched by NITI Aayog member Dr V K Saraswat, Department of Science and Technology Secretary Ashutosh Sharma and Research Councils UK- India Director Daniel Shah.
The Water Quality Research programme has eight projects and Energy Demand Reduction in Built Environment programme has four projects, with a total joint investment of up to £15 million.
These projects aim to deliver mutual benefits and research solutions not only to the UK and India but also to address shared global sustainable development goals of clean water and clean energy.
A dossier highlighting India’s national efforts in Building Energy Efficiency comprising details of 30 projects was also released on the occasion.
Kosovo on Saturday celebrated a decade since declaring independence, a moment of pride for its ethnic Albanian majority, although sovereignty remains fiercely contested by Serbia.
Pristina-born British pop star Rita Ora headlined a concert for thousands of Kosovans who packed the main square of the capital, which was covered in the blue and yellow colours of the flag for a weekend of festivities.
“It’s been a long journey to get to this point and I think it’s just a start of an ongoing incredible journey for our country,” the 27-year-old told reporters after flying in for the show, which ended with fireworks over the city.
The singer’s family left Kosovo in 1991 to escape the repression imposed by Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic after he stripped the Yugoslav province of its autonomy.
In 1998, a war broke out between Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian rebels and Serbian troops that left 13,000 people dead, most of them Albanians. Belgrade withdrew its forces the following year after a NATO bombing campaign against Serbia.
Kosovo subsequently became a United Nations protectorate and, with the support of Washington and other Western powers, declared independence from Belgrade on February 17, 2008.
“The state of Kosovo has upheld the people’s demand for freedom,” Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said in a special government session in Pristina on Saturday.
But “we are aware that citizens’ expectations for a modern state have not yet been fulfilled”.
Although more than 110 countries have recognised Kosovo’s independence in the past 10 years, Serbia and dozens of other states have not.
Dhaka, Feb 18 : Myanmar’s Aung san Suu Kye, heavyly criticised for failing to stand up for the Rohingyas, could be held accountable for crimes aganist humanity, says UN Special Envoy Yanghee Lee “For complicity or neglecting to do anything.
I am afraid so,” she said in an interview with the UK’s Channel 4 News.
Professor Lee agreed with the interviewer that what has happened with the Rohingyas in Myanmar is a systematic targeting and persecution of people.
Asked whether there has been an effort to destroy the very identity of Rohingyas, which appears to suggest genocide was occurring, her reply was, “Absolutely.”
One has to be legally correct to determine genocide and it has to be through a process of legal procedures.
New Delhi, Feb 18: Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh on Saturday said the government has created an exclusive forum at the NITI Aayog to prepare plans for the development of the North East Region.
The forum would be co-chaired by the Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog and Secretary of DoNER, an official statement said.
Addressing a press conference here, the Minister said that the forum would look at various proposals both at the central and the state levels and prepare plans for the speedy development of the region.
New Delhi, Feb 17: Telecom operators body COAI said it does not see “ease of doing business” in the sector as rules framed by the Centre are not getting implemented at local level for network rollout.
“Law of the land should work as indicated, but ease of business is not there when we get down to local levels,” COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told reporters while discussing issues around call drops.
He said the municipal bodies and panchayats are not following the rules framed by the Centre and obstruct rolling out of telecom network.
During the BRICS summit 2016 held in Goa, the telecom minister, secretary and other top officials from Centre went to the state to get mobile towers installed to handle traffic load but still telecom companies failed to get adequate permission from local bodies, Mathews said.
“In Bangalore, we are asked to pay price equivalent to the market for digging an area for laying optical fibre cable. The amount of money demanded is so huge that it leaves no business case for us,” Mathews said.
He said some states have aligned their policy for rolling out telecom networks with that of the Centre, but there is problem in other states.
As per a presentation by the COAI, Odisha, Haryana and Rajasthan have notified policy as per the rules notified by the Department of Telecom and expect Uttar Pradesh and Assam to soon notify them.
“Telecom operators have been investing huge amount to prevent call drops. In last 12 months, telecom companies have invested Rs 34,677 crore to instal 3,46,778 base stations. Just two operators, Airtel and Jio have committed to invest Rs 74,000 crore in one year to address the problem. We are making best effort to check call drops,” Mathews said.
He said telecom networks are not the only factor responsible for call drops and the regulations do not consider other factors.
As per the COAI, call drops may occur because of interference of signals, congestion on cell sites, weather conditions, faulty handsets and call transfer from one tower to the another. It said that most of the factors on customer side have not been considered under Trai regulations.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has made provisions to impose penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh on service providers if they fail to meet the benchmark for three consecutive quarters.
Mathews said that problem of call drop is more in data based networks like voice over LTE (VoLTE) than the technology used for 2G and 3G.
He said the average spectrum holding, required for transmitting mobile signals, is very low in India and operators can buy additional spectrum only if it is reasonably priced.
New Delhi , Feb.15 : Representatives of firms manufacturing electric vehicles have welcomed the positive feedback and responses that they have received for their offerings at this year’s Auto Expo-2018.
Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric, said, “For our A2B range i.e electric bicycles, we have received a very good feedback and the response from both, domestic and international markets like Iran, Columbia, to name a few.”
“They have shown interest in our products. There are people who came from Taiwan, Korea who wanted to have technology tie-ups on the high speed bikes. Also, for our existing range, i.e, domestic range of scooters, we have received requests for export from our neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh for introducing these products in their respective markets,” he added.
Gagan Agarwal, Director of Shigan, said, “We launched a premium segment of three wheeler and four wheeler LCV cargo and three wheeler passenger electric vehicles during the Auto Expo 2018. Our products in the small and medium cargo category garnered a huge interest among international delegates, Government organisations and businessmen. We are happy to receive such a large number of business queries for our range of solutions in electric mobility.”
Ayush Lohia, CEO, Lohia Auto, said, “We have received queries from dealers from domestic as well as from international markets. In terms of new business deals it takes minimum 3 months to convert these queries. Overall, it has been a fruitful Auto Expo for us.”
This year’s Auto Expo featured 25 branded electric vehicles among the nearly 500 that were placed for display between February 9 and February 14. There were 119 exhibitors at the six-day event that ended Wednesday. Auto Expo sources said that over 6.05 lakh people visited the mega event.
According to a Times of India report, the expo featured 53 original vehicle manufacturers showcased over 100 products, including 22 fresh launches, 81 product unveilings and 18 concept showcase.
It further said that there were 14 new brands, including Kia Motors India, India Kawasaki Motors and Cleveland CycleWerks, besides eleven start-ups.
Legendary sports and Bollywood personalities like Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Taapsee Pannu, Gul Panag, Rahul Khanna, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Gautam Gambhir, R P Singh and others launched vehicles at the event.
Auto Expo 2018 was jointly organised by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.