1) India ranked second in renewable energy attractiveness index
•India has moved up to the second spot from third position in this year's 'Renewable energy country attractiveness index' released by EY (Earnest and Young).
•China, which has been ranked first in the index and India have surpassed the US, which fell for the first time since 2015 to third place in the ranking of top 40 countries.
•India continued its upward trend in the index to second position with the government's programme to build 175 GW in renewable energy generation by 2022 and to have renewable energy account for 40% of installed capacity by 2040.
2) Andhra Pradesh ropes in Singapore firms to develop start-up area in Amaravati
•Singapore-based Ascendas-Singbridge Pvt Ltd and Sembcorp Development Ltd were awarded a contract by the Andhra Pradesh government to act as the master developer for a start-up area, spanning 1,691 acres, to be built in the capital city of Amaravati.
•The Rs528 crore project will be completed in three phases over a span of 15 years. For the speedy implementation of the project, a high-level joint implementation steering committee (JISC) will also be formed.
•The JISC will be co-chaired by the AP CM chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Minister of trade and industry of Singapore govt S.Iswaran.
3) ISRO, NASA to jointly inspect 'oldest civilisation' site in Haryana
•Teams of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would inspect the excavation being carried out at an archaeological site in Haryana's Fatehabad district to verify claims of it being the oldest civilization in the world.
•Archaeologists have recovered artifacts pre-dating the Harappan Civilisation from the site, located in village Kunal in Fatehabad district.
4) India’s ‘Ujala’ to light up homes in United Kingdom
•India has taken a new initiative to supply cheap LED bulbs for the citizens of London in the United Kingdom. Taking this process to the final stages India will launch ‘UJALA’ scheme in United Kingdom.
•The initiative is aimed at saving the energy of European country. UJALA is globally one of the largest efficiency programmes and being run by Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, an energy services company promoted by Indian state-run power majors. The programme has already turned India into the world's LED capital, accounting for 10-12% of the global market 4 billion bulbs.
5) Admiral Sunil Lanba attends international maritime review in Singapore
•Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba attended Singapore's first International Maritime Review (IMR) held at the country's prime Changi Naval Base.
•Lanba attended the review along with navy ships INS Sahyadri and INS Kamorta. A total of 46 warships and four aircraft from 28 countries, including Singapore, participated in an exercise that included a parade, a land review and a sea review, as part of the IMR. The INS Sahyadri was part of the land review INS Kamorta was part of the sea review.
6) Indian Navy signs MoU with Space Application Centre
•The Indian Navy and Ahmedabad- based Space Application Centre (SAC) inked a pact on data sharing and scientific cooperation in the field of meteorology and oceanology.
•The pact provides for creation of a common platform for sharing expertise achieved by SAC with the Navy in a number of areas, including satellite data acquisition technology. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Vice Admiral S N Ghormade, Director General Naval Operations, and SAC Director Tapan Misra at an event in Ahmedabad.
