1. Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana launched a new scheme called ‘FASTER’ or ‘Fast and Secure Transmission of Electronic Records’. Under the scheme, the Supreme Court will instantly transmit bail and other orders to the jail authorities, district courts and the High Courts. This will be done in a secure way electronically. As per the present practice, hard copy of the bail order received by hand mandated.
2. The Labour Ministers of five BRICS nations -Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa took part in the BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers’ Declaration. India’s Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav chaired the 7th BRICS meeting. The five countries resolved to recover with stronger national economies, inclusive labour markets and social protection systems. Russia organized the 6th meeting of Labour and Employment Ministers in Moscow on October 9, 2020.
3. Indian and Sri Lankan Navies and Maldives National Defence Force held a tri-nation table top anti-narcotics and maritime search and rescue exercise, ‘Exercise Shield’. The Table top Exercise (TTX) held virtually, aims to share best practices and fine-tune procedures to curb narcotics smuggling in the region. Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command was the lead agency and the exercise was coordinated by Maritime Warfare Centre, Mumbai.
4. Gira Sarabhai, veteran Architect and Designer, passed away recently at the age of 97, due to age-related illness. The architect played a pivotal role in founding the National Institute of Design (NID), by bringing in top most people of the world as faculty. She also established Calico Museum of Textiles, which houses some of the rare specimens of textile from different parts of the country and the world.
5. The United States Government has started providing monthly pay-outs, as part of an expanded income-support programme. Under the Child Tax Credit programme, that is further broadened under recent COVID-19 stimulus, eligible families collect an initial monthly payment of up to $300 for each child under six years old and up to $250 for each older child.
6. NTPC Renewable Energy (NTPC REL) has inked a pact with the Union Territory of Ladakh to set up a ‘Green hydrogen mobility project’ in the region. Leh would be the first city in the country to implement a green hydrogen-based mobility project, once completed. NTPC is set to ply 5 hydrogen buses and to set up a solar plant and a green hydrogen generation unit in Leh. NTPC’s first solar installations in Leh in form of solar trees and a solar car port were also inaugurated.
7. Bastille Day, also known as the National day of France is grandly celebrated on 14 July every year. The day is celebrated with fireworks and parades, across the country. The National day is celebrated in remembrance of the fall of Bastille on July 14, 1789. It was on the same day when an angry crowd stormed and captured the military fortress and prison (Bastille) where political prisoners were held captive.
8. Karman line is the most widely accepted boundary of space, which is 100km above mean sea level. But the United States uses 80km as the edge of space. It was named after aerospace veteran Theodore von Karman.
Recently, British businessman Richard Branson reached the edge of space, to promote space tourism. But experts are in doubt whether he has really touched the official edge of space. While Branson’s Virgin Galactic flight reached a height of 86km, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin flight is expected to fly above 106km.