Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 January 2022

::NATIONAL::

Ministry of Education has released the Atal Rankingof Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)2021.

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Atal Rankings of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Education and AICTE to systematically rank higher educational institutions in India on indicators related to Innovation, start-up, and Entrepreneurship Development amongst students and faculty.
It evaluates institutions on parameters like patent filing and granted, several registered students and faculty start-ups, fund generation by incubated start-ups, specialized infrastructure created by institutions to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, etc.
ARIIA 2021 held a virtual program in which an official list from the Education Ministry was released, ranking the institutes of pan India in nine separate categories including Centrally funded technical institutions, state universities, state standalone technical colleges, private universities, private standalone technical colleges, non-technical government and private universities and institutions.

The Army has set up a quantum computing laboratory and a centre for artificial intelligence (AI) at a military engineering institute in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow.

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The two centres will carry out extensive research in developing transformative technologies for use by the armed forces.
The Army, with support from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), has recently established the Quantum Lab at Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, Mhow to spearhead research and training in this key developing field.
Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane visited the facility during his recent visit to Mhow.
Indian Army has also established an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centre at the same institution with over 140 deployments in forwarding areas and active support of industry and academia.
Training on cyber warfare is being imparted through a state-of-the-art cyber range and cyber security labs.
The ministry said the research undertaken by the Army in the field of quantum technology will help it leapfrog into the next generation of communication and transform the current system of cryptography to post-quantum cryptography.

Somalian Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble has been suspended. Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has suspended the Prime Minister, who is facing allegations of involvement in the theft of land.
Mr Farmajo said, he was suspending the Prime Minister pending the outcome of an investigation into the corruption allegations.
Mohamed Hussein Roble accused the President of trying to stage a coup and said, he would continue in office. He urged the security forces to take orders from him rather than Mr Farmajo.
Somalia has not had an effective Central Government since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Siad Barre in 1991.
The country is marred by disputes between rival politicians and clans. It is also battling an insurgency by al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate.

Japan has introduced a minibus lookalike world’s firstdual-mode vehicle (DMV) in its town of Kaiyo.
The vehicle can run on normal rubber tyres on theroad but its steel wheels, which are in its underbelly,descend when it hits the rail tracks.
The DMV can carry up to 21 passengers and runs at aspeed of 60km/h on rail tracks and can go as fast asaround 100km/h on public roads.

IndusInd Bank announced the launch of ‘Green FixedDeposits’.
The deposit proceeds will be used to finance projectsand firms supporting the United Nations SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs).
These deposits will be offered to both retail and corporate customers.
The Bank will use the proceeds from these deposits to finance a wide array of sectors falling under the SDG category including, energy efficiency, renewable energy, green transport, sustainable food, agriculture, forestry, waste management and greenhouse gas reduction.

E.O. Wilson, dies at the age of 92.
He was the former Harvard University biologist and Pulitzer Prize winner whose study of ants and human behaviour made him one of the world’s most influential scientists and prompted his calls for action to protect millions of species on the planet.
To protect Earth earned him the nickname “Darwin’s natural heir”.
He was the author of hundreds of scientific papers and more than 30 books, two of which won him Pulitzer Prizes for nonfiction: 1978’s On Human Nature, and The Ants in 1990.