Notes:
The Department of Science & Technology (DST), under the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched a scheme called “Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI)”. It owns high-end analytical testing instruments and reduce the dependency on foreign sources.
DST announced that it has planned to set up five SATHI Centres every year for the next four years. There are already three such institutes in the country at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi and BHU, at a total cost of Rs.375 Cr. The SATHI Centre will run 24×7 throughout the year and external users from other academic institutes and start-ups will be given more time to use the instruments.

Notes:
Union Minister of Women & Child Development Smriti Irani recently presented the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana awards to the best performing States, Union Territories and Districts.
Madhya Pradesh bagged the first place in the category of best performance States/ UTs with more than 1 crore population. The state is followed by Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. In the category of states with less than 1 Crore population, Dadra & Nagar Haveli is at the first place, followed by Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

Notes:
The state Government of Kerala declared the disease caused by the novel coronavirus as a “state calamity”. This declaration comes at the backdrop of three people of the state being tested positive for coronavirus.
Kerala reported the first infection from the virus in India and the person is being treated in isolation wards. Later two other patients, who are the students of a medical college in Wuhan, China are also diagnosed with the virus infection. The novel coronavirus was first reported in China’s Wuhan city and has spread to nearly 25 other countries.

Notes:
The Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu recently inaugurated the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project between the twin cities of Karnataka, Hubbali to Dharwad.
The project cost of Rs 970 crore is jointly funded by the state and central governments and the World Bank. The BRTS established between the cities on a trial basis already serves more than 1 lakh passengers per day. It has now become fully operational and is expected to be a major boost in the state’s public transport.

Notes:
The Banker magazine has named the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das as the Central Banker of the Year- Asia-Pacific 2020. ‘Global Central Banker of the Year’ award was presented to Jorgovanka Tabakovi, National Bank of Serbia.
The award is given to central bankers who have significantly managed to stimulate growth and stabilise the economy of their country. Shaktikanta Das was nominated as he successfully managed various economic crises of the country including the Non-Banking Financial companies (NBFC) crisis and Non-performing assets of Indian banks.