Gita Gopinath appointed IMF Chief Economist

Indian-origin economist Gita Gopinath was appointed the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday, becoming only the second Indian after Raghuram Rajan to hold the prestigious post. Rajan held the post from 2003 to 2006 before he joined the finance ministry as chief economic adviser and later the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Gopinath, 46, succeeds Maurice “Maury” Obstfeld. Gopinath currently serves as the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University.

Village Rockstars is India’s official entry for Oscars 2019

Rima Das's Assamese film 'Village Rockstars' has been selected as India's official entry in the Foreign Language Film category for Oscars 2019. 'Village Rockstars' had bagged the Best Feature Film trophy at the 65th National Film Awards, besides also winning Best Child Artist, Best Location Sound Recordist and Best Editing. The coming-of-age film is set for a country-wide release on September 28, 2018.

Kochi-based company develops India's first underwater robotic drone

India’s first underwater robotic drone developed at Maker Village here, which can send real-time video of ships and other underwater structures to help with their repair and maintenance, was launched on 14th September 2018. The first commercial remotedly operated vehicle (ROV)/ underwater drone, Eyerovtuna, was developed by EyeROV Technologies, a company incubating at Maker Village which is the largest hardware incubator in the country. NPOL, a laboratory of Delhi-headquartered defence research and development organisation (DRDO), made the first order of the product.

G. Satheesh Reddy appointed as new DRDO chairman

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Adviser to Raksha Mantri to the post of Secretary, Department of Defence Research & Development (DDR&D) and Chairman, Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) for a period of two years with effect from the date of assumption of charge or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Indian men’s hockey team defeats Hong Kong 26-0, breaks 86-year old record

Indian men hockey team broke their 86-year old record as they defeated Hong Kong China 26-0 in a one-sided Pool B match of the Asian Games in Indonesia. India recorded their biggest International win and beat their own 86-year old record when they defeated USA with a 24-1 margin in Olympics. New Zealand hold the biggest margin win record when they beat Samoa 36-1 in 1994.

Ballistic Missile Interceptor AAD Successfully Flight Tested

DRDO conducted the successful test of the Ballistic Missile Interceptor Advanced Area Defence (AAD)  from Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha. The endo-atmospheric missile, capable of intercepting incoming targets at an altitude of 15 to 25 kms was launched against multiple simulated targets of 1500 km class ballistic missile. One target among simultaneously incoming multiple targets was selected on real time, the weapon system radars tracked the target and the missile locked on to it and intercepted the target with a high degree of accuracy. The complete event including the engagement and interception was tracked by a number of electro-optical tracking systems, radars and telemetry stations. All the mission objectives were successfully met.

Technology for detecting contamination in water

National Centre for Compositional Characterisation of Materials (NCCCM), has developed visual detection kits for detection of Fluoride, Chromium (VI) and Iron. The detection can be done in 5 minutes. Portable Visual Kits for detection of Fluoride, Chromium and Iron have been developed and technology for indigenous manufacturing of these kits is transferred to six private entrepreneurs and product is available in the market. In all detection kits developed, reagents kept inside different bottles are to be added to the water sample. Reagents are added and mixed for two minutes.  Within 5 minutes, colour develops in the top layer, the intensity of colour is compared with a colour chart by visual inspection to obtain the concentration range of contaminant in water.

Iron Contamination detection kit is at advanced stage of development and very soon will be available to private entrepreneurs.