Indian aviation and technology leaders gathered in Bengaluru for industry meet ahead of “Wings India 2020”, Asia’s largest civil aviation event. Shri Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, Smt. Usha Padhee, JS, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Dr. S Unnikrishnan Nair, Chairman, Director, Human Space Flight Centre ISRO along with other senior government officials graced the occasion.

Addressing the event, Shri Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India said " Over the last decade, India has witnessed a robust civil aviation market, and through this event we aim to provide a congenial forum that will cater to the rapidly changing dynamics of the sector, focusing on new business acquisition, investments, policy formation and regional connectivity.”

He added, “Bengaluru being the IT capital of India, it has the potential of becoming the aviation capital of India”.

Wings India 2020, a flagship event of the Indian Civil Aviation industry will be held at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad from 12-15 March 2020.

‘Wings India 2020’- a four-day event themed: “Flying for All’’ is an international platform focused on the new business acquisition, investments, policy formation and regional connectivity in the civil aviation industry.

Wings India 2020 is also Asia’s largest and most popular gathering in the industry. Organized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India, AAI and FICCI the event is expected to attract top leaders, special invitees in foreign ministers for civil aviation and global CEOs, suppliers, strategic partners, organizations and the media.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi will interact with a cross section of Students, Teachers and Parents at "Pariksha Pe Charcha 2020” on 20th January, 2020.

The Third edition of Prime Minister’s Interaction Programme with school students "Pariksha Pe Charcha 2020” is proposed to be held at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi at 11 AM on 20th January, 2020. Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi will answer the questions and interact with selected students about how they can beat examination stress.

A lot of excitement and enthusiasm is being seen among the students, teachers and parents to not only participate in the unique event but also to receive valuable tips from the Prime Minister who is keen to ensure that the students take exams in a relaxed atmosphere and do not come under stress, to ensure better results in the long run.

Functions: The Centre of Excellence will facilitate various government departments in building proof of concepts for use of Blockchain technology in different dimensions of governance, leading to large scale deployment of some such applications.

With National Informatics Centre (NIC) providing a robust and an agile infrastructure, the CoE shall also provide Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) for efficient hosting of Blockchain network, says an official release.

What are Blockchains? Blockchains are a new data structure that is secure, cryptography-based, and distributed across a network.

The technology supports cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and the transfer of any data or digital asset. Spearheaded by Bitcoin, blockchains achieve consensus among distributed nodes, allowing the transfer of digital goods without the need for centralized authorisation of transactions.

How it operates? The technology allows transactions to be simultaneously anonymous and secure, peer-to-peer, instant and frictionless.

It does this by distributing trust from powerful intermediaries to a large global network, which through mass collaboration, clever code and cryptography, enables a tamper-proof public ledger of every transaction that’s ever happened on the network.

A block is the “current” part of a blockchain which records some or all of the recent transactions, and once completed, goes into the blockchain as permanent database.

Each time a block gets completed, a new block is generated. Blocks are linked to each other (like a chain) in proper linear, chronological order with every block containing a hash of the previous block.

Benefits of blockchain technology: As a public ledger system, blockchain records and validate each and every transaction made, which makes it secure and reliable.

All the transactions made are authorized by miners, which makes the transactions immutable and prevent it from the threat of hacking.

Blockchain technology discards the need of any third-party or central authority for peer-to-peer transactions. It allows decentralization of the technology.

About Development Support Services For States/UTs (DSSS) For Infrastructure Projects:

Implemented by NITI Aayog. Aim: To achieve transformational, sustained delivery of infrastructure projects with state of art capacity disseminated at all levels of governance.

The key objective: Creating PPP success stories and rebooting infrastructure project delivery models so a sustainable infrastructure creation cycle is established.

How it works? The DSSS Infrastructure initiative involves providing project level support from Concept plan till financial closure to State Governments / UTs.

Australian Bushfires All this has been exacerbated by persistent heat and drought, and many point to climate change as a factor making natural disasters go from bad to worse.

Regions affected: There have been fires in every Australian state, but New South Wales has been hardest hit. Blazes have torn through bushland, wooded areas, and national parks like the Blue Mountains.

Some of Australia’s largest cities have also been affected, including Melbourne and Sydney — where fires have damaged homes in the outer suburbs and thick plumes of smoke have blanketed the urban center.

What is causing the fires? Each year there is a fire season during the Australian summer, with hot, dry weather making it easy for blazes to start and spread. Natural causes are to blame most of the time, like lightning strikes in drought-affected forests.

Dry lightning was responsible for starting a number of fires in Victoria’s East Gippsland region.

Humans can also be to blame. NSW police have charged at least 24 people with deliberately starting bushfires.

Challenges that Australia is facing: Australia is experiencing one of its worst droughts in decades- last spring was the driest on record. Meanwhile, a heatwave in December broke the record for highest nationwide average temperature, with some places sweltering under temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius (about 113-120 degrees Fahrenheit).

Strong winds have also made the fires and smoke spread more rapidly. Experts say climate change has worsened the scope and impact of natural disasters like fires and floods — weather conditions are growing more extreme, and for years, the fires have been starting earlier in the season and spreading with greater intensity.

What has been the damage so far? Entire towns have been engulfed in flames, and residents across several states have lost their homes. The heaviest structural damage occurred in NSW, the country’s most populated state, where 1,588 homes have been destroyed and over 650 damaged. In total, more than 7.3 million hectares (17.9 million acres) have been burned across Australia’s six states — an area larger than the countries of Belgium and Denmark combined.

The worst-affected state is NSW, with more than 4.9 million hectares (12.1 million acres) burned. Number of total animals affected could be as high as one billion nationwide. Almost a third of koalas in NSW may have been killed in the fires, and a third of their habitat has been destroyed.

When will the fires end? Unfortunately, Australia is only about halfway through its summer season. Normally, temperatures peak in January and February, meaning the country could be months away from finding relief.

The fires are unlikely to end entirely since they are an annually occurring event — and may even get worse if recent years are a guide.

Key facts: The 6.5-kilometre long Z-Morh tunnel is located in Jammu and Kashmir. The tunnel is capable of allowing 1,000 vehicles an hour at a speed of 80 km per hour.

Border Road Organization (BRO) was the previous implementation agency of the project. The project was however transferred to IL&FS in 2016. APCO will now complete the balance work.

It is Indian Army’s biggest airborne exercise conducted recently in the north-eastern theatre.

It is a joint coast guard exercise between India and Japan. The aim is to strengthen the bond between the two countries. The latest edition is being held in India.